It was about five years ago that ‘in-service training’ started to become part of the everyday jargon of education. It was a more impressive phrase than the term ‘refresher courses’ which had served faithfully for for many decades. Indeed, it was so impressive and lent itself so readily to prefixes like plans for and a programme of that many teachers felt sure that the change in terminology would be matched by a change in the actual process by which teachers keep themselves up to date with changes in their subjects and the techniques of teaching them.