Across the country of Ethiopia, a centrally planned and prescribed professional development programme was implemented in schools, with the intention of enhancing teachers' knowledge, skills and disposition, thereby improving student learning and achievement. This article explores and describes the lived experiences of teachers involved in continuous professional development in Ethiopian secondary schools. Grounded in constructivist and critical perspectives, data from the study illuminate that there was a disparity between what is conveyed rhetorically about professional development programmes and the actual practices in schools. The major barriers besetting the realization of teachers' professional development were the narrow conception of professional development, a managerial approach to implementing professional development initiatives, ineffective educational leadership, appalling staff needs and motivation, and the intensification of teachers' work.