Teachers telling tales: the narrative mediation of professional identity

Abstract

This paper draws on the biographical narratives of two mathematics teachers who describe themselves as ‘traditional’ and ‘connectionist’ teachers respectively. Holland et al.'s amalgam of Bourdieu, Vygotsky and Bakhtin, including ‘figured worlds’, ‘positionality’, ‘self-authoring’, and ‘world-making’ is used to examine these narratives. Differences between the two narratives include (i) their histories of compliant or oppositional identities as learners, and subsequently as teachers; (ii) their different experiences of ‘understanding’ and ‘tricks’, and (iii) their different use of figures as role models or anti-heroes in their self-authoring as teachers. It is argued that these narratives might ‘make worlds’ and provide future teachers in turn with figures for their own professional identity work.

Keywords:

• professional identity
• narrative
• Holland
• Figured Worlds
• Bakhtin
• Bourdieu
• Vygotsky
• connectionism

Acknowledgements

As author of this paper I wish to recognise the contribution made by the wider Manchester ESRC TLRP5 team's involvement in collection of data and discussions involving analyses and interpretations of the results. I would also like to acknowledge the support of the ESRC TLRP award RES-139-25-0241.

Notes

1. A college for students predominantly aged 16–19 that bridges compulsory schooling to Higher Education. Sixth Form Colleges mainly offer academic courses leading to A-levels whereas Further Education Colleges offer these courses alongside those leading to both vocational and pre-vocational qualifications.

2. In England at Advanced Level, in addition to taking the qualification in mathematics, it is possible to take an additional qualification in Further Mathematics at either AS Level (the first year of study towards A-level) or at full A-level.

3. PGCE: Post-Graduate Certificate in Education is the usual one-year route for graduates into teaching in England.

4. Renowned manager of soccer club Manchester United.

5. The Educational and Social Economic Research Council (ESRC) is the UK's social research council that funds academic research in the social sciences, including Education. The ESRC, using university sponsorship, fund the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP) to conduct educational research in teaching and learning for over ten years in multiple phases, including one on Widening Participation in Higher Education in 2005–08. See www.tlrp.org