The research reported in this paper compares the experiences of twenty‐two secondary teachers and twelve university tutors as they embark on a course of a ‘new’ in‐service professional development programme in Greece, in relation to adult learning. It harnesses a qualitative methodology and draws upon a set of ideas that cohere under the rubric programme development to build up a heuristic guiding research technique and analysis procedure. The analysis focuses on two key parameters of programme development for adults i.e. climate and planning, and on their associated elements. The findings identify the ‘them’ and ‘us’ image that continues to perpetuate the ‘new’ courses and indicate some tentative points that might have implications for the design of the in‐service training of teachers.