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Bleasdale, Catharine
(2024).
Abstract
The presentation focuses on a model designed in response to the findings of a study undertaken as part of a PhD, and which may be useful as a supporting mechanism for professional conversations between student teachers and their mentors or tutors.
Using the Community of Practice (Lave & Wenger, 1991) as the theoretical model, the study explored the development of Professional Teacher Identity (Wenger, 1998, Suarez & McGrath, 2022) during Initial Teacher Education. Narrative inquiry was used to obtain personal reflections of experiences from eight student teachers as they came to the end of a variety of pathways to Qualified Teacher Status. The purposive sample consisted of
mature and younger student teachers following an undergraduate, post-graduate or employment-based route to teaching.
The study focused on two research questions, namely:
• How do student teachers perceive their Professional Teacher Identity development during their initial teacher education?
• In what ways does engagement with the Community of Practice of teachers during their initial teacher education affect student teachers’ Professional Teacher Identity development?
The use of narrative inquiry provided the opportunity to show the very personal, individualised nature of Professional Teacher Identity development, with vignettes to capture the richness of each journey and to make visible the process of analysis. The thesis as a whole contributes to the field of teacher professional learning generally, and specifically to the area of Professional Teacher Identity development, by drawing attention to individuals’ pivot points that identify the relative influence of self and others. The data indicates that although there is movement between a student teacher’s need to maintain their own identity and their desire to fit into the Community of Practice (Beijaard et al, 2004), they each possess a personal tipping point where they feel comfortable. The study offers a diagrammatic representation of an individual’s pivot that may scaffold the reflections of student teachers, their mentors and tutors to support effective Professional Teacher Identity development during ITE. The study is of interest to providers of Initial Teacher Education generally; the change agenda for the sector in Wales (Furlong, 2015) is the context of the study, but the outcomes will resonate internationally for those involved in ITE provision.
Plain Language Summary
Consideration of the use of a pivot model to scaffold professional conversations between student teachers and their mentors or tutors during their initial teacher education to support individuals' professional teacher identity.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
