How we see ourselves: beginning-teacher identity formation

Successful professional identity development is important for those entering the teaching profession. Therefore, understanding how beginning-teacher identity develops is important for those delivering initial teacher education (ITE). ITE is a contested area between politicians and educators regarding what constitutes ‘quality’ teaching, what ITE should comprise of as evidenced by the multiple school-based pathways into teacher-education funded by a government that is sceptical of the role of universities in beginning-teacher preparation. The importance of beginning-teachers’ successful professional identity formation should not get lost in the on-going debates about funding and standards.

This thesis reports on an empirical investigation into beginning-teachers’ identity formation based on a corpus of teaching practice reflective journals (125,071 words) representing a total of 450 practicum teaching hours from 15 final-year BA Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) students and focus group interview data from 24 trainee teachers at the end of their ITE year in various age and subject specialisms. Corpus Linguistics tools were used to identify common language patterns, the findings from this initial analysis informed the design of interview prompts for focus group interviews with the ITE students.

Contrary to the published literature on beginning teachers’ practicum reflection, which indicates trainee-teachers focus predominantly on self in post-lesson reflection, the analysis of the practicum journals showed that the trainee-teachers were much more focused on evaluating the effectiveness of the pedagogic materials and their students’ learning needs than on their own feelings. The beginning-teachers were strongly motivated by what Markus and Nurius have referred to as their ‘Ideal’ and ‘Ought-to’ selves as much of the commentary relating to self concerned the setting of short- and medium-term teaching goals. However, for the ITE students, pressure from their placement school often distorted their reflections on their ‘Ought-to’ selves. The thesis proposes beginning-teachers position themselves at three predictable standpoints at the periphery of their Community of Practice and transition through three potentially distinct identities: a Nascent Teacher Identity; a Trainee-Teacher Identity; and a Newly Qualified Teacher (NQT) Identity.

Their successful transformation to NQT status identity and their self-professed commitment to a career in teaching is dependent on their emotional needs being met in what Hargreaves describes as a ‘good enough holding environment’ These identity-creation trajectories are fairly consistent and predictable, with enabling and frustrating factors easily identifiable. This information is of use to ITE providers, practicum hosting schools, school-based mentors and practicum class supervising co-teachers.