‘A validation of my pedagogy’: how subject discipline practice supports early career teachers’ identities and perceptions of retention

ABSTRACT

For secondary school teachers, developing a teacher identity is complicated by spoken or implied expectations of the need to be an expert in the skills and knowledge of one’s subject discipline. Since 2009, the Teacher as Practitioner study (N = 764) has explored the effect of continued subject discipline practice on teachers’ identity and retention using a longitudinal mixed-method design. Within the population are 305 responses from initial teacher education graduates classified as early career teachers, those within their first five years of teaching. This sub-sample was used to explore relationships between discipline practice, identity and perceptions of retention in the profession. Analysis of quantitative data showed time spent engaged in practice had a greater effect on expectations of retention and identity than simply aspiring to maintain a discipline practice, while qualitative analysis showed maintaining a practice in a supportive community was also highly valued.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher-practitioner
• identity
• teacher retention
• teacher practice

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Melbourne Educational Research Institute Seed Funding (The University of Melbourne).

Notes on contributors

Julia E. Morris

Julia E. Morris is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Education, Edith Cowan University. Her research focuses on the development of quality teachers, including the role of teachers (at all stages of their career) and learning environments in supporting students’ engagement in learning. She joined the Teacher as Practitioner (TAP) project in 2016 to explore how discipline-based engagement impacts teacher identity and retention.

Wesley Imms

Wesley Imms is an Associate Professor in spatial pedagogies, Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Australia. He has published widely and conducted extensive research into a variety of issues that impact teaching excellence. His work in the Teacher as Practitioner (TAP) project since its inception in 2009 has focused on better understanding the impact of teachers’ own discipline-based activity on the quality of their classroom teaching.