Teacher Subjectivity and Identity

La investigación tiene como objetivo establecer los Principios Generadores de la Identidad Docente; el soporte teórico incluye el interaccionismo simbólico, teoría de las representaciones sociales, teoría de la acción, identidad y formación docente. Se utilizaron dos vías de acceso al mundo empírico: (a) análisis de documentos oficiales relacionados con la docencia; y (b) entrevistas en profundidad a 6 docentes estudiantes del programa de formación de la UPEL – IMPM Núcleo Académico Táchira (Venezuela). Como resultado se obtuvo que el proceso de construcción de la identidad es multirreferencial, en el cual intervienen tres principios generadores: Otros; Relaciones y Formación. Los tres interactúan de forma conjunta y generan una identidad docente que es una representación que se fundamenta en las cualidades autoatribuidas y tiene dos referentes esenciales: la actividad de la enseñanza y la relación personal con los estudiantes. La investigación justifica la necesidad de que en los programas de formación permanente se analice la biografía escolar de los participantes, se potencien los espacios de interacción y se construya la imagen del otro desde la alteridad.

The aim of this study is to investigate teachers’ perceptions of their practice of values education, and to explore their degree of professionalism in this matter. Qualitative interviews with 13 teachers have been conducted and analysed by a comparative analysis. According to their view, values education is (a) most often reactive and unplanned, (b) embedded in everyday school life with a focus on students’ everyday behaviour in school, and (c) partly or mostly unconsciously performed. Furthermore, professional knowledge appears to be missing in the domain of values education among these teachers.

With the social turn in applied linguistics, research on identity, investment, and agency has been recognized as contributing vital insights to second language acquisition (SLA) (Block, 2007). This line of research views the L2 user as a social agent shaping and being shaped by the sociocultural structure, rather than a deficient language learner striving to emulate the native speaker in a social vacuum. This chapter offers theoretical underpinnings of the key constructs informed by this line of research along with a summary of current research in this area (e.g.,). As appraisal of the current status, a disconnect between research in identity in SLA and L2 pragmatics is pointed out. It is argued that L2 pragmatics research can be inspired by poststructuralist critical theory of power, while identity research in SLA can also be enriched by incorporating an empirically-informed pragmatics lens. Suggestions for future research and pedagogical implications are also offered. (199 words) Selected References

The paper studies attitudes of teachers of English as a foreign language (EFL) towards inclusion of children with special educational needs (SEN) in Serbian mainstream schools. The participants were 96 primary teachers of English with diverse experience in teaching inclusive EFL classes. The results showed that most of the respondents (N=84. i.e. 87.5%) had negative attitudes towards inclusion, due to both the lack of competences and to the absence of adequate conditions for effective inclusive practice: only 29.16% of the respondents claimed they had been specially trained to teach SEN children; 69.79% reported the availability of SEN teams in school, but most of them claimed that the teams met irregularly; only 27.08% (N=26) reported having a classroom assistant in school; most of the respondents (N=89, i.e. 92.7%) expressed their concerns related to a number of challenges they faced in daily work. Considering the fact that teachers are the key to supporting the process of inclusi...

This (re)search explored how particular teachers (ex)perienced (in)forming their identities through their subjective (inter)pretations of pedagogic relationships as they (en)countered students, (dis)cursive technologies, and digital technologies. It focused on how certain teachers (ex)perienced and understood who the self is that lives and teaches. Secondly, it explored how those teachers used their (ex)periences and (inter)preted them to (in)form their réflexive pedagogic actions and speech. The (re)search involved (inter)views with 6 Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) teachers, who were still teaching or had recently retired from Alberta, Canada schools. These participants, as co-researchers, offered a range of backgrounds, including gender, (ex)perience, and grade levels and disciplines taught.
I used hermeneutic phenomenology to (inter)view each participant as the participants retrospectively and (re)flectively shared their lived-(ex)periences and how they each continuously became/were becoming a particular teacher. This (re)search shifted participants’ lived-(ex)periences, the underlying phenomena that structure those lived-(ex)periences, and their essential meanings from implicit and non-thematic events in the teachers’ daily lives, and made them explicit and thematic.
Through critical self-(re)flection and hermeneutic phenomenological analysis, the research attempted to better understand what was unique to each teacher’s identity and what might be understood as universal to their identity-forming. How teachers (ex)perienced and (en)countered others, (dis)cursive technology, and digital technologies as they (in)formed who they were, was both a unique and subjective journey that each teacher undertook. It also was one that involved an objective world, with other people and objects, and explored how each teacher understood their particular world.

In recent attempts to address the notion of teacher identity, scholars have stressed how identity is dynamically evolving, intrinsically related to others, and consists of multiple identities. Though these postmodern characterizations represent radically new perceptions of identity, they are not extensively discussed in relation to previous assumptions on singularity or sameness of teacher identity. The emerging theory of dialogical self in psychology offers a more elaborate approach to teacher identity, conceived of as both unitary and multiple, both continuous and discontinuous, and both individual and social. Based on this approach, teacher identity is re-defined and implications for research are identified.

Las personas desarrollan procesos de identiicación conforme los diversos roles que ejercen en su vida, cada uno puede tener una imagen de sí en cuanto miembro de una familia, creyente, fanático de un equipo deportivo. También se produce identiicación en función de la actividad laboral que se desarrolla. Este texto trata de presentar cuestiones básicas en relación con la identidad que construyen las personas en cuanto a su condición de docentes.

The aim of the current study was to examine Swedish and Turkish teachers’ perspectives on values education. Qualitative interviews with 52 teachers were conducted and analyzed. Values education was mostly about compliance with societal values and norms. The learning goals or values in values education were mainly on how to treat others and on self-responsibility. Teachers did not take a critical approach. A main method of values education reported by the teachers was to be a good role model in everyday interactions with students. Values education was largely described as an everyday practice embedded in the stream of social interactions. Furthermore, an everyday language was used when the teachers described values and values education. There was a lack of professional knowledge in this domain.

En esta comunicación exploramos cómo se constituye la identidad profesional de Juan Carlos, un docente-enfermero novel de una universidad pública del sur de México. A través de algunos relatos de su historia de vida se muestran los principales procesos de identificación profesional como docente-enfermero durante sus primeros cinco años de labor.

El dispositivo de formación de docentes en ejercicio “VERSE” se apoya en la reflexión sobre la acción y el análisis de las prácticas a través de la visualización  en  video  del  propio desempeño  en  el  aula.  Fue  diseñado  como parte de un proyecto de investigación perteneciente al CONICET que estudia los procesos de transformación en docentes en ejercicio. Objetivo: Este trabajo toma como estudio de caso a una de las docentes que participóen el dispositivo, con el fin de mostrar las dificultades que entraña la transformación subjetiva al interior de una institución educativa de Nivel Inicial. Metodología: Se transcribieron en detalle 6 entrevistas en profundidad y 11 encuentros grupales que conformaron el  dispositivo  de  formación  y  se  analizaron  cualitativamente  empleando  el Método Comparativo Constante. Se crearon categorías que se agruparon en tres dimensiones  de  análisis:  la  dimensión  de  las  representaciones,  la  de  los procesos  (inter  e intra  subjetivos)  y  la  de  los  rasgos  de  estilo  docente.    Resultados: Las  categorías  hicieron  posible  identificar  las  dificultades  que  la docente enfrenta en el proceso de transformación que atraviesa, siendo la más notoria la contradicción entre su identidad profesional, ligada a las expectativas que  percibe  por  parte  de  la  institución  en  relación  al  rol  y  que  ella  misma  ha internalizado, y su disgusto en relación a la imagen de sí que el dispositivo ha puesto  a  su  disposición  y  que  promueven el  deseo  de cambiar.Discusión: Se discuten los resultados a la luz de teorías provenientes de la sociología y de la psicología psicoanalítica. Se concluye con reflexiones acerca de la importancia de  incorporar  a  la  intervención  en  los  dispositivos  de  formación,  herramientas que  permitan  abordar  los  aspectos  emocionales  que  se  suscitan,  así  como  la necesidad del trabajo sistemático sobre la dimensión institucional.  Palabras  clave:formación  docente  permanente, transformación  subjetiva, instituciones educativas, identidad professional.RESUMOIntrodução:  O  dispositivo  de  formação  de  professores  em  serviço  "VERSE" baseia-se  na  reflexão  sobre  a  acção  e  análise  das  práticas  através  da
15StudiesinMultidisciplinaryReview,Curitiba,v.3,n.2,p.14-34,apr./jun.,2022visualização em vídeo do próprio desempenho na sala de aula. Foi concebido como parte deum projecto de investigação CONICET que estuda os processos de  transformação  dos  professores  em  exercício.  Objectivo:  Este  documento toma como estudo de caso um dos professores que participaram no dispositivo, a fim de mostrar as dificuldades envolvidas na transformação subjectiva dentro de  uma  instituição  de  educação  infantil.  Metodologia:  6  entrevistas  em profundidade e 11 reuniões de grupo que constituíram o programa de formação foram  transcritas  em  pormenor  e  analisadas  qualitativamente  utilizando  o Método  Comparativo  Constante.  As  categorias  foram  criadas  e  agrupadas  em três  dimensões  de  análise:  a  dimensão  das  representações,  a  dimensão  dos processos (inter e intra-subjectivos) e a dimensão dos traços do estilo de ensino.    Resultados: As categorias permitiram identificar as dificuldades que o professor enfrenta  no  processo  de  transformação  que  está  a  atravessar,  sendo  a  mais notória a contradição entre a sua identidade profissional, ligada às expectativas que percebe da instituição em relação ao papel e que ela própria interiorizou, e o  seu  descontentamento  em  relação  à  auto-imagem  que  o  sistema  lhe  pôs  à disposição e que promove o desejo de mudança.Discussão: Os resultados são discutidos à luz das teorias da sociologia e da psicologia psicanalítica. Conclui com reflexões sobre a importância de incorporar na intervenção em dispositivos de  formação,  ferramentas  para  abordar  os  aspectos  emocionais  que  surgem, bem  como  a  necessidade  de  um  trabalho  sistemático  sobre  a  dimensão institucional.  Palavras-chave:formação    de    professores    em    serviço,    transformação subjectiva, instituições de ensino, identidade profissional

[This is an edited and improved version of "You Are Not Your Brain: Against 'Teaching to the Brain'" previously published in *Review of Higher Education and Self-Learning* 5(15), Summer 2012.]

Since educators are always looking for ways to improve their practice, and since empirical science is now accepted in our worldview as the final arbiter of truth, it is no surprise they have been lured toward cognitive neuroscience in hopes that discovering how the brain learns will provide a nutshell explanation for student learning in general. I argue that identifying the person with the brain is scientism (not science), that the brain is not the person, and that it is the person who learns. In fact the brain only responds to the learning of embodied experience within the extra-neural network of intersubjective communications. Learning is a dynamic, cultural activity, not a neural program. Brain-based learning is unnecessary for educators and may be dangerous in that a culturally narrow ontology is taken for granted, thus restricting our creativity and imagination, and narrowing the human community.

In a time, when the number of schools teachers is burgeoning in India, and so is that of the agencies out there to train/educate the teachers, it is but necesarry to ask a few difficult questions. This article examines the issue with refernce to a case study of an organization called TeacherSITY, and formulates the problems thereof.

In a workshop of school teachers, I asked, "What is the most important thing in school education?"

The answers captured innocence as well as ignorance- some said students, some said transaction of knowledge, some other named curriculum, and still others pinpointed the power relations.

“Correct, all answers are correct; but what if I say that first and foremost is school teachers’ education!”

All the participant teachers almost nodded in unanimity and perhaps in agreement. And this is the punch-line here: we take-for-granted the issues pertaining to teachers’ education (notoriously called training program/ professional development program and god knows how many technical terms for the same). The blanket lack of critical awareness on this issue has caused us too much of damage to be recounted. It seems that everything is fine as far as teachers’ education is concerned. With state machinery handing over the responsibilities of educating teachers (alas! The term is training) to the private player in a neo-liberal India, the imminent danger is becoming graver. Corporate companies are bidding for the educational projects, related to educating teachers, as if teachers were the most passive things on this earth. And what happens at the instances of such biddings?

The author interviews British Japan-based photographic artist and teacher of English Gary McLeod regarding his visual research and interview project of around 100 non-Japanese English teachers in Japan, entitled Privilege. The resulting photographs and interview excerpts from Privilege were exhibited at galleries in Osaka and Tokyo in August and September 2009; the photographs and interview transcripts will be stored in perpetuity at the British Museum of Natural History. After discussing the innovative subject gathering methods, inspiration, and photographic techniques used by Gary in the course of the project, the interview looks at the meaning of collecting visual data, especially in our "time-poor culture." The article also looks at the meanings of the term, "privilege," and how the subjects of Gary's photographic research articulated the "privilege" of their positionalities as English teachers in Japan. Finally, the article speculates on the significance the embodied humanization of non-Japanese English teachers through Privilege might have for the profession of English teaching, and for future teachers coming to Japan.

© 2020 Gary Ying Loong LitWhile the successes and achievements of Singapore and its education system have been widely acknowledged and recognized in the world, predominantly via the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS; TIMSS & PIRLS International Study Centre, n.d.) and the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development [OECD], n.d.), the daily struggles and sacrifices of its teachers do not feature prominently in the accounts. As a former teacher and retired teacher–educator, I have undertaken a deeply meaningful autoethnographic study, drawing on my experiences of interactions and conversations with colleagues who are either retired or serving teachers. My experiences reveal circumstances lived by what I believe to be a silent majority of teachers whose daily toils and identities have been sacrificed on the altar of nation-building and economic development in Singapore over more than 50 years. In recalling the ups and downs of lives spent in teaching through the decades since Singapore’s independence, my study is thus a reflection of the wider social and national trends occurring in the nation that remains in the grasp of rapid economic and national development (Marechal, 2000; Reed-Danahay, 1997; Schwandt, 2007). In my study, I explored the various discursive practices adopted by the Singapore government to subjectivize its teachers to produce what Foucault (1979) called “docile bodies” (p. 136) to serve its social, economic, and political objectives. I aim to open up more spaces and create new perspectives from which to look at the education system and schools in Singapore, with a view to interrogating the often rigid, and sometimes restrictive, regime operating in Singapore schools. To this end, the Foucauldian analytical approach is most suitable for explicating these issues, enabling deeper insight into the power relations operating in Singapore in general and the schools in particular. It also helps comprehension of the reasons behind the evolution of the policies that have led to the system of schools in Singapore today. In particular, it illuminates the ways power is exercised to support the culture of performativity in Singapore schools. To complement my Foucauldian analysis, I adopted Ball’s (2003) conceptual framework to explicate and examine the various policies and practices expressed through the culture of performativity in Singapore schools

In this paper, I will use personal narrative to explore how a teacher identity can be reformed through an awakening to doubt and hope. I will interpret the personal narrative using Ciuffetelli Parker’s (2014) 3R framework. This analysis reveals how my professional identity has shifted due shifts in my life as a student, a parent, husband and teacher. The overall analysis will be grounded in Parker Palmer’s (1998) theory of identity as integration and Paulo Freire’s (1970 )discussion on critical pedagogy, praxis and conscientization. I will end with a new model by which others can interpret and apply their own awakened moments, leading to recommendations for professional development strategy and further testing of the model.

Un/becoming an elementary science teacher is a dynamic phenomenon, yet the process is often intentionally limited to several taken-for-granted assumptions in research on science teacher induction. Inherent to research on beginning science teacher induction is also the construction of certain truths beginning science teachers, science teacher educators, and researchers think, feel, and live. This study complicates prevailing truths shaping notions of beginner, novice, induction, and traditions of inquiry as an ethicopolitical commitment to those implicated. In doing so, this study illuminates more expansive ways science teacher educators and those studying induction might study and understand the experiences of beginning science teachers from both humanist and post-humanist ontological paradigms. To provide an intimate, in-depth, and multidimensional analysis of elementary science teacher induction experiences, feminist post-structural theory was employed throughout the study. This perspective further informed the post-foundational ethnographic practices shaping the structure of the study as an always-already emergent process. Taking form as a (post)ethnographic inquiry, the study specifically examined the induction experiences of two beginning elementary science teachers alongside three ontological dichotomies in research shaping science teacher induction: (a) the beginning science teacher subject; (b) the concept of induction; and (c) the mode of inquiry. Employing both conventional humanist qualitative methods and post-qualitative inquiry, this study reveals the multifaceted ways in which beginning elementary science teacher subjectivity, research assumptions, and definitions framing the very notion of elementary science teacher induction intra-act. Offering a series of provocations as lines of flight, researchers of science teacher induction and science teacher educators might begin to re-conceptualize ways beginning science teachers un/become known and get re/produced.

The question raised here is about the extent that liberal individualism and the consumerist ethos is the result of technology and to what extent is it the cultural norm of modernity. There has been a polarization in the way technology is understood. Predominantly it is assumed to be neutral but it can also be argued that technology exacerbates the understanding of people as ‘rational individual utility maximisers.’ C.A. Bowers argues that computer technology amplifies the conduit model of learning. The machine stores information and the student learns how to retrieve it and this constitutes neutral and objective research. Bowers advocates critical enquiry and an awareness of the socio-cultural factors that contribute to the generation of knowledge and community. The physiological parameters of machines are neither neutral nor strictly political. Technology shifts the constraints of phenomenological experience and encourages new and arguably impoverished ways of experiencing the world. However, by insisting on a critical dimension to understanding technology we could be able to transform education from its emphasis on vocationalism and governmentality to a more creative, equitable, and ecological set of factors.

What does it add to practice for the teacher to identify him/herself as a researcher? What can it add to their effectiveness, even their sense of teacher identity? This presentation discusses the context in which a group of teachers were positioned as researchers of their own and others' practice - teachers who were regarded by their peers as highly successful at engaging students from low SES backgrounds. This positioning of the teacher as researcher is discussed here from the points of view of an academic researcher and a teacher researcher on this project.

This is a study of the curriculum identity of Icelandic craft teachers. The study is based on life history interviews with 42 teachers born between 1913 and 1960. The interviews traced a life long relationship with the subject they chose to teach. Particular attention was paid to ...