Performers and postulates: the role of evolving socio-historical contexts in shaping new teacher professional identities

Abstract

In this article we investigate the generative causes of variation in the professional identity of new teachers. Building on previous work that has shown a link between professional identity and socio-political context, we argue that the context experienced in late adolescence and early adulthood is particularly significant in shaping how beginning teachers think of themselves as teachers. This finding suggests that the linear response to neoliberal education reform described in much of the critical literature may be too simple to account for the range of ways teachers interact with the system. There is, therefore, a need for greater diversity in research approaches to work with the complexity of social systems in and around schools. To support this call for methodological diversity, we borrow the life story model of identity as a theoretical framework and use a computer-assisted phenomenographic analysis technique to find new ways into the research data.Keywords: teacher professional identity; life story model of identity; neoliberal reform; computer-assisted qualitative research Arguments that effective school reform requires an understanding of the complex ways teachers interact with the drivers of change has been present in the school change literature for over a decade (see for example Bascia & Hargreaves, 2000;Sarason, 1996). These interactions are shaped by the dominant and popular discourses of teacher's work which critical scholars including Connell (2009) andMoore (2004) have shown are shaped by the broader social and political setting, including the persistent government reforms of education over the last 20 years or so across the globe. Such work illuminates the connected evolution of popular discourses, the contexts within which reform takes place, and the identity of teachers, reflecting

Performative technologies and teacher subjectivities: A conceptual framework

“…Rather, as suggested by the CMIS‐framework and elsewhere (see e.g. Leonard & Roberts, ), they should be conceptualised as ‘multiples’ with highly heterogeneous and fluid qualities. Qualities which imply that we ‘need to allow for a greater complexity than, say, a direct link between neoliberal elements of policy discourse and reduced professionalism’ (Leonard & Roberts, , p. 315).…”

Fold-back: Using emerging technologies to move from quality assurance to quality enhancement

“…It can allow a picture to be built of how those students go about their learning, how they interact with the intellectual and social context, and how they apply new concepts, skills and dispositions. We have demonstrated the value of such phenomenographic analysis of course experiences, and the capacities of emerging technologies to support it, elsewhere (Leonard & Roberts, 2014, 2015 and contend that, if well designed, approaches such as those developed in that research can be scaled to institutional quality processes.…”

Managing performance evaluation uncertainties in schools: When teachers become struggling performers

“…Beauchamp and Thomas, 2009). As suggested above we direct our attention to one part of this literature, namely the one focusing on how teacher identities are shaped by their broader social and political settings (see Leonard and Roberts, 2014). In particular, we concentrate on the idea that an increased reliance on performative technologies in schools tends to produce a particular form of teacher identity; the performer (cf.…”

“…For this reason, the question of how and why performing teachers construct their identity remains an open question that should be answered empirically, and not just assumed based on the supposed qualities of the performing teachers or the performative technologies (cf. Leonard and Roberts, 2014). The paper now turns to this empirical task.…”