Theorizing teacher identity: self-narratives and finding place in an audit society

Abstract

Noting the need for richer theories of identity and identity formation in education, the author describes aspects of D. P. McAdams’ psychosocial constructivist framework enriched by select concepts drawn from Life Course research for conceptualizing and analyzing identity development within audit-driven societies and educational systems. Drawing on the language and concepts of the framework, the author illustrates some of its interpretative power by conducting a ‘close reading’, a method drawn from literary theory, of portions of a head teacher’s published self-narrative.

Keywords:

• teacher identity
• teaching self
• psychosocial constructivism
• narrative
• narrative inquiry
• self-formation
• Life Course research
• self-determination theory