Overarching professional identity themes in student teacher workplace learning

Figures & data

Table 1. General characteristics of the participants.

Institute	Discipline	Alias	Gender	Age	Years of study
1	Pedagogy	Suzan	Female	23	3 Ð 4
		Stephanie	Female	21	3 Ð 4
2	Hospitality	Mike	Male	23	1 Ð 2
		Silvia	Female	22	1 Ð 2
3	Social skills	Mohamed	Male	21	1 Ð 2/3^a
		George	Male	23	2/3^a Ð 4
4	English	Sarah	Female	28	3 Ð 4
	Geography	Mary	Female	21	3 Ð 4
5	Economy	Irene	Female	23	2 Ð 3
	Welfare and health care	Kathy	Female	21	2 Ð 3

^a These student teachers combined the second and third year of their 4-year programme.

Table 2. Questions to be answered about the reported learning experience.

Beginning	What happened? Can you describe the workplace situation? Where were you? (e.g. in the classroom, in a meeting) What were you doing? (e.g. teaching, talking with your mentor) Were there others involved in the situation? If so, who? (e.g. students, colleagues)
Middle	What contributed to the learning experience? (e.g. student behaviour, mentor feedback, requirements from the teacher education institute)
End	What did you learn? How important was this learning experience for you?

Figure 1. An example of a storyline ‘Building professional self-image.’ This storyline shows how the professional self-image of a student teacher changes during the research period: from quite positive at the beginning of this period to quite negative around the 18th month. From that moment, the student teacher’s professional self-image rapidly becomes more positive.

Table 3. Dominant themes in the workplace learning processes of the student teachers.

Professional identity (George)

George had trouble with his students’ behaviour: they were restless, and didn’t listen. He struggled with how he could make contact with them, without losing his personal and professional self-image (quiet and orderly).

Creating a positive learning climate (Sarah)

Sarah felt much sympathy for younger vocational students; she completely focused on creating a positive learning climate for them.

Student-centred teaching (Kathy)

Kathy wanted to make personal contact with her students, and was interested therefore in student-centred teaching, such as interactive education, and motivating students.

Learning to think as a teacher (Mike)

Mike had trouble switching between his experience as a professional cook and supervising students in the kitchen. His expectations of students were much too high; he wanted to learn to think as a teacher.

Pedagogical knowledge and skills (Suzan)

Suzan focused on developing pedagogical knowledge and skills, such as instructional strategies and evaluating lessons. She aimed to use these for motivating and activating students.

Developing self-confidence (Stephanie)

Stephanie felt uncertain both as a teacher and as a person: she was afraid asking stupid questions, she was always nervous as she prepared her lessons, etc. She focused on developing self-confidence.

Developing and conducting workshops (Mohamed)

Mohamed focused completely on developing and conducting workshops that positively affect learning and motivation of students.

Professional identity (Irene)

Irene had strong beliefs about teaching students. She searched for ways to implement her own ideas, but was constantly confronted with the reality of the practice school, for example the education policy of the school and organisational constraints.

Professional identity (Mary)

Mary looked for a personal interpretation of the teaching profession (e.g. she wanted to experiment with student-centred teaching), but repeatedly clashed with the requirements of her mentors (e.g. they forced her to focus on transmitting knowledge to students).

Learning from practical experiences (Sylvia)

Sylvia had little to no interest in theory; she saw herself as a doer and only wanted to practise the profession to gain experience as a teacher.

Table

Phases Foci		Examples
1	Reading digital log and interviews	From: ‘Notes story Mohamed’
1a	Making notes on story elements such as characters, events, experiences, themes and tensions, and determining the end of the story (outcome of the learning process).	Students prefer active learning (experience); students are unmotivated because of too much tasks (tension); Mohamed became aware of the importance of adjusting his lessons to the level and needs of the students (outcome)
1b	Summarising textual data from log and interviews in fragments that represent the story elements (see 1a). All fragments were illustrated with representative quotes.	Last week, Mohamed has experimented with active learning strategies such as speed dating. Students liked it very much. ‘That’s very important. It’s my job to motivate students.’
2	Developing story and plot
2a	Determining the central theme based on notes from phase 1.	Developing and conducting workshops that positively affect learning and student motivation
2b	Determining the sequence of events and experiences the student teacher has learnt from based on the storyline and time markers in log and interviews.	Workshop: boring theme that doesn’t fit with the students’ internship (first); workshop: students are positive about active learning strategies (second); Mohamed’s self-confidence grows (third).
2c	Describing the emergence of learning experiences in fragments based on phase 1 and 2b, and the narrative framework of Clandinin and Connelly (2000). All fragments were illustrated with representative quotes.	Mohamed wants to adjust his lessons to the level of the students, but he also likes to set high standards for students. ÔI like high standards for myself; I don’t like superficiality.’ Students need to be challenged. He notes that estimating the level of students is difficult.
2d	Determining (possible) connections between the fragments described in phase 2c which contributed to the development of the story.	His first workshop on City Council elections was not a success. ‘Students were bored.’ They didn’t like the subject; it didn’t fit to their internship. Last week, he conducted a workshop on ‘Drink & drugs.’ Students had to prepare a presentation for their fellow students. They liked the performance task and the subject fits to their internship. 'I have learnt to motivate my students.'
3	Structuring the story
3a	Beginning. Describing of the central theme of the story.	Mohamed struggles with how to motivate students in the classroom.
3b	Middle. Describing the development of the story (the student teacher’ learning process; Clandinin & Murphy, 2009) based on phase 2b, 2c and 2d. In view of the reliability of the analysis, we constantly checked the raw data. All fragments were illustrated with representative quotes.	See the examples described in phase 2.
3c	End. Describing the end of the story (outcome of the learning process).	Mohamed became aware of the importance of adjusting his lessons to the level and needs of the students

Clandinin, D. J., & Connelly, F. M. (2000). Narrative inquiry: Experience and story in qualitative research. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

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Clandinin, D. J., & Murphy, M. S. (2009). Relational ontological commitments in narrative research. Educational Researcher, 38(3), 598–602.

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