Social class (in)visibility and the professional experiences of middle-class novice teachers

Abstract

This article focuses upon the classed and early professional experiences of middle-class novice teachers in England experiencing and contemplating working in schools serving socio-economically disadvantaged communities. Through an examination of the visibility and invisibility of social class in education set within an increasingly unequal and changed social landscape, the article reports upon research which seeks to better understand the class identities of these teachers. Evidence is presented of the key, yet complex, role that social class occupies within the working lives of new teachers and reveals the different ways in which teachers respond to the classed dimensions of their early professional experiences. It is concluded that the fundamentally important role that social class plays in terms of shaping early professional experiences in teaching suggests the need not only for a commensurately enhanced focus as part of early professional development, but also for attention that is sensitively attuned to the class identities of teachers.

Keywords:

• class identity
• social class
• middle class
• socio-economic disadvantage
• novice teachers

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank our fellow researchers Andy Ash, Sofia Diamantopoulou and Carlo Raffo, and all of the novice teachers and teacher educators and trainers who participated in and supported the research reported upon in this article.