Identity matters? ‘Working class’ student teachers in Ireland, the desire to be a relatable and inclusive teacher, and sharing the classed self

ABSTRACT

This paper is about social class and initial teacher education, specifically the perspectives and experiences of those from lower socio-economic groups in an initial teacher education programme in Ireland. It draws on a qualitative study employing in-depth semi-structured interviews with 21 ‘working class’ student teachers, exploring their backgrounds and educational experiences, motivations to become a teacher, and experiences in initial teacher education. A key finding concerns participants’ highly classed desired future teaching identity: they expressed a strong desire to be a relatable and inclusive teacher, which they conceptualised as being approachable, caring and supportive of all pupils. To varying degrees, they felt that becoming this type of teacher could be achieved in part through ‘sharing the (classed) self’ with their pupils. Building on research about diversifying the teaching population internationally, and critical arguments for and against ‘ethnic matching’ approaches, the findings are examined from the perspective of ‘class matching’ as well as teacher self-disclosure with respect to social class.

KEYWORDS:

• Social class
• initial teacher education
• inclusive teaching
• teacher self-disclosure

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 While the student teacher participants in this study would be categorised as working class, terms such as ‘working class’ and ‘middle class’ are often contested in Ireland, and linked to the country’s post-colonial status (Breen and Whelan 1996). Hence, inverted commas are used with the term ‘working class’ in the title and in relevant places in the paper, particularly when referring to the participants, as this was not a term the participants used, and we are not using this term uncritically. We also use the term ‘lower socio-economic groups’ to refer to students from what would be regarded as working class backgrounds, in the more objective sense as the several lower socio-economic groups identified in the Irish census. Our participants would be categorised as coming from one of these lower socio-economic groups in terms of family income and had to meet relevant criteria in this regard to enter their undergraduate programme via an Access programme or the Higher Education Access Route (HEAR).

2 The Professional Master of Education is a two-year postgraduate initial teacher education programme in Ireland.

3 Minority ethnic groups, including the Traveller community, are very significantly under-represented in teacher education programmes in Ireland (cf. Keane and Heinz 2016).

4 A DEIS (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools) categorisation indicates that the school has designated disadvantaged status due to the socio-demographic composition of its student population, and is eligible for specific extra supports, including funding.

5 Non-verbal ‘closeness’ behaviours – gesturing, smiling, speaking with vocal variation.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Ireland’s Higher Education Authority (Ireland ) under PATH1 (Programme for Access to Higher Education, Strand 1: Equity of Access to Initial Teacher Education).

Notes on contributors

Elaine Keane

Elaine Keane is Senior Lecturer (Sociology of Education) and Director of Doctoral Studies in the School of Education at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She is Co-Principal Investigator (with Dr. Manuela Heinz) of the Diversity in Initial Teacher Education (DITE) and the Access to Post-primary Teaching (APT) research projects. Elaine’s research and publications focus on widening participation in higher education, diversity in teaching, and constructivist grounded theory.

Manuela Heinz

Manuela Heinz is a Lecturer and Director of the Professional Master of Education (PME) in the School of Education at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She is Co-Principal Investigator (with Dr. Elaine Keane) of the Diversity in Initial Teacher Education (DITE) and the Access to Post-primary Teaching (APT) research projects. Manuela’s research focuses on teacher professional development and on diversity in the teaching profession.

Andrea Lynch

Andrea Lynch is a Lecturer in Lifelong Learning at Marino Institute of Education in Dublin. She previously was Post-doctoral Researcher in the Access to Post-Primary Teaching (APT) Project in the School of Education at the National University of Ireland, Galway where she also lectured on initial teacher education programmes. Her research interests include diversity in initial teacher education, social disadvantage in second level and higher education, and gender in the context of students with special educational needs.