Violence and Subjectivity in Teacher Education

Abstract

Caught between the demands of the normative (what they believe they ought to be and value) and normalisation (what professional others tell them that they should be and value), teacher candidates often experience themselves as belated even though they are newcomers to the profession—simultaneously heirs to a history and new to it. In this paper we illustrate and explore the tensions that result between ‘new’ and ‘old’ in teacher education. Drawing on Lyotard's concept of the différend, we examine the narratives of a practicum triad—one student teacher and his two mentors—as they each attempt to make sense of their irreconcilable differences. We conclude by discussing how the profession might fulfill its obligation to judge the adequacy of new teachers while remaining hospitable to the difference they introduce.

Acknowledgment

This work was made possible by a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

Notes

1. Phelan, A., Barlow, C., Myrick, F., Rogers, G., & Sawa, R. (2001). Discourses of conflict: A multidisciplinary study of professional education (education, medicine, nursing and social work). The research, based largely on interview and focus group data, suggests that professionals in training often experience a violence that domesticates and maintains the notion of a universal professional subject.