Understanding Teacher Identity as an International Teacher: An Autoethnographic Approach to (Developing) Reflective Practice

2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 33-49
Author(s):  
Julia Sahling ◽  
Roussel De Carvalho
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
International Schools ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Institutional Pressures ◽  
International Teachers ◽  
Teaching Abroad ◽  
Professional Experiences ◽  
Teachers Experiences

The teaching profession in England and Wales has been experiencing a steady decline in its workforce, with a significant number of teachers making the decision to move abroad and teach in international schools. Teachers cite working conditions, institutional pressures and pay and conditions at home as reasons to seek employment elsewhere. Meanwhile, exploring teachers’ experiences of teaching abroad is a relatively new area of research. The growth of international schools from 1964, when there were only around 50 such schools, to 2017, with over 8,000 international schools and some 420,000 teachers, indicates a need to understand teachers’ personal and professional experiences as they navigate these different contexts. This research presents a small case study of how autoethnography can be used as a methodological tool to support international teachers in revealing changes in their teacher identity, as well as promoting the development of their sense of self-efficacy within different sociocultural school contexts. Through Julia Sahling’s autoethnographic study, this paper explores how teachers may be able to actively engage in critical reflective practice in order better to understand these dynamic transitions, as well as the implications of teaching in multiple international contexts.

Teacher Identity, Growth Mindset, and Agency

2022 ◽  
pp. 119-135
Author(s):  
Diane LaFrance ◽  
Lori Rakes
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Education ◽  
Preservice Teachers ◽  
Teacher Retention ◽  
Classroom Management ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Growth Mindset ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Education Programs

This chapter discusses the problem of teacher retention as it relates to handling the unexpected, whether it be meeting the needs of all learners, classroom management, or any other problem teachers may encounter. The authors propose that teacher education programs can support the growth of preservice teachers by helping them to develop teacher identity early in their learning through experiences and autonomy. In addition, preservice teachers should develop a growth mindset to promote agency when encountering learning obstacles and to engage in reflective practice. By identifying as teachers, allowing themselves to grow, and being proactive in searching for ways to improve their practice, preservice teachers can better prepare themselves for the reality of teaching and, hopefully, remain in the teaching profession.

scholarly journals International Education Teachers’ Experiences as an Educational Precariat in China

2019 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 60-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Adam Poole
Keyword(s):  
Data Analysis ◽  
Narrative Inquiry ◽  
International Education ◽  
Lived Experience ◽  
Research Agenda ◽  
International Schools ◽  
Professional Identities ◽  
International Teachers ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Different Types

The purpose of this paper is to extend Bunnell’s (2016) thesis that international education teachers (IETs) are forming a ‘global educational precariat’. The paper draws upon interview data from a larger study of international teachers in two international schools in Shanghai, China. In order to substantiate and develop Bunnell’s thesis, narrative inquiry was employed as a guiding methodology, which ensured that data analysis remained rooted in the participants’ lived experience but also allowed for triangulation, thereby enhancing validity. Findings confirm Bunnell’s thesis by highlighting a lack of agency, financial insecurity, and the marginalisation of professional identities as common experiences of IET precarity. The findings also challenge the notion of a global educational precariat by arguing that it may be more appropriate to conceptualise IETs in terms of a localised educational precariat rather than a global class in and of itself. The paper ends by sketching a research agenda that would involve comparing teachers’ experiences in different types of international schools in China and other contexts.

Vulnerable practitioners: fictional narratives affecting masculine teacher identity

2014 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 228-242
Author(s):  
Ian Davis
Keyword(s):  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Sense Of Self ◽  
Male Teachers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Fictional Narratives ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Fictional Representations ◽  
Pre Service Teacher

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore how fictional narratives help us envision ways of constructing the identity as teaching professionals. Furthermore, how encounters with fictional narratives and the absorption of their structures and ideologies can dictate how the author perceive ourselves, and others. Design/methodology/approach – The pedagogy of teacher education relies heavily on narratised models of instruction such as Critical Reflective Practice (CRP). The purposefully traumatic aspects of CRP are designed to trouble the sense of self. I suggest here that this creates a period of subjective vulnerability in the pre-service teacher practitioner. Findings – This paper examines the response to traumatic learning events focusing on how literary tropes and their encompassing ideologies become a powerful yet regressive force in restabilising the professional identity and galvanising the personal subjectivity. Research limitations/implications – Data for this paper has been drawn from the Teaching Men research project that focused on a cohort of male teachers, from Australia and the UK working within TAFE/FE environments all of whom had recently become teachers. Originality/value – This paper addresses a parallel concern: at a point of subjective vulnerability, a term coined as part of this analysis, how do fictional representations of male teachers impact on the construction and practice of teachers in the development of their professional identities? And how can the author devise a structure with which to interpret such activity?

scholarly journals “I Do Belong Here”: Identity Perceptions of Postgraduate Music Education Majors

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 56-70
Author(s):  
Crystal Sieger
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Music Education ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teacher Educators ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Music Teacher ◽  
Music Teacher Identity ◽  
Group Interviews ◽  
Axial Coding ◽  
Music Education Majors

Students choosing to enter the music teaching profession after having already obtained undergraduate degrees in other music fields may experience unique forms of socialization and teacher identity development. Participants were four students enrolled in a 3-year master’s program with a music teacher licensure component. Through individual and focus group interviews, participants shared their perspectives on program experiences, course elements, and interactions with peers and professors as important influences on their developing music teacher identity. I examined the data for emerging patterns and applied open and axial coding to the most prominent responses, resulting in themes centered on participants’ socialization experiences, desire for independence, need for self-justification, and “outsider” status among peers. To combat lack of peer recognition or support, participants developed strong, collaborative relations with each other. Implications for music teacher educators are considered.

scholarly journals Digital Storytelling to Unlock Reflective Practice in the Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 14 (11) ◽  
pp. 52
Author(s):  
Yee Bee Choo ◽  
Tina Abdullah ◽  
Abdullah Mohd Nawi
Keyword(s):  
Learning Styles ◽  
Reflective Practice ◽  
Digital Storytelling ◽  
Teaching Practice ◽  
Teaching Method ◽  
Single Case ◽  
Video Recording ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Teaching Literature

It is a common practice that teachers tell stories in the classroom when teaching literature. They are enthusiastic in their teaching profession but students nowadays are diverse in their learning styles and they need different approaches to be taught. Therefore, this study advocates teachers to reflect on their teaching practice to use technology specifically digital storytelling as a teaching method in the classroom. The single case study involved a pre-service teacher who underwent a micro-teaching session in teaching literature. The instruments used were peer observation checklist, the artefacts of digital storytelling, video recording, and reflective journal. The findings indicated that the participant was able to be more aware of her strengths and weaknesses in the crafts of storytelling, personalise her own learning and improve her teaching practice. The implications are for the educators to encourage pre-service teachers to use digital storytelling in the classroom, provide coaching and support to improve their crafts of storytelling in the teaching of children’s literature as well as use digital storytelling as a tool for reflective practice in teacher education.

scholarly journals Prövad eller beprövad?

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Author(s):  
Pia Åman ◽  
Ylva Lindberg ◽  
Stephan Rapp
Keyword(s):  
Research Council ◽  
Teacher Practice ◽  
Educational Context ◽  
Group Discussions ◽  
Professional Experiences ◽  
Everyday Practices ◽  
Stimulated Recall ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Phenomenographic Method ◽  
Shed Light

The rationale for this study stems from the Swedish educational context, where teacher practice is subject to policies stating that education must be built on research foundation and proven experience. In a previous article (Åman & Kroksmark, 2018), we demonstrated that the research foundation is operating in concurrence of teachers’ practices and experiences. This study in turn aims to explore how teachers understand proven experience and practices of proving professional experiences. The data was collected in 2014 in the project Modellskolan [The Model School], financed by the Swedish Research Council, through a stimulated recall method. We filmed 14 interviews with teachers focusing on group discussions about teachers’ practical dilemmas. The interviews were analyzed with a phenomenographic method, and the result revealed five categories with which the teachers evaluated collegial and individual experiences. The categories were analysed through praxis theory and linked to the phenomenological concepts of time and space to elucidate how fluid situated and unspoken professional experiences become systematic, general and partly transferable through proving practices. The results shed light on how teachers’ experiences and everyday practices challenge and encourage revisions of the definitions of research foundation and proven experiencea in Swedish national policies.

scholarly journals Frontiers of cosmopolitanism: Educational enclaves and the extractive roots of international schools

2021 ◽  
pp. 0308275X2110596
Author(s):  
Matthieu Bolay ◽  
Jeanne Rey
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
International Schools ◽  
International School ◽  
Ethnographic Research ◽  
International Teachers ◽  
Spatial Practices ◽  
School Sector ◽  
Shed Light ◽  
Do So

This article situates international expatriate schools in their cultural and political economy by drawing attention to the tensions between a cosmopolitan educational ethos and processes of social, economic and legal enclavement. Based on extensive multi-sited ethnographic research in the international school sector, we show how cosmopolitan claims of openness mirror a relative closure and ‘offshore-like’ enclavement. To do so, we build upon the notions of modularity and extractivism, which we use as heuristics to analyse social and spatial practices of defining boundaries. Gazing beyond the main foundational myth of international schools, we first outline their concomitant extractive roots. Second, we shed light on the conditions of international teachers’ circulation worldwide. Third, we examine the territorial entanglements and disentanglements that characterise international schools. Finally, we investigate the tensions induced by a cosmopolitan educational ethos whose discourse of inclusion is inevitably paired with practices of exclusion.

The Contribution of Part-Time Work Experience to Pre-Service Teachers' Development of Graduate Employability

2019 ◽  
pp. 20-47
Author(s):  
Tran Le Huu Nghia ◽  
Phuong Hoang Yen ◽  
Tran Le Kim Huong
Keyword(s):  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Work Experience ◽  
English Language ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Graduate Employability ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Time Work ◽  
Part Time ◽  
Work Integrated Learning ◽  
Part Time Work

Work-integrated learning (WIL) has been found to be effective in developing graduate employability. Working part-time while undertaking undergraduate studies may produce similar effects; however, its contribution to the development of students' employability has not yet been examined adequately. Therefore, this chapter will report a study investigating 22 Vietnamese pre-service teachers' experiences of how working as teaching assistants in commercial English language centers has contributed to their employability. Content analysis of semi-structured interviews revealed that part-time work experience elevated the pre-service teachers' specialized knowledge and skills, equipped them with soft skills, expanded their social networks, enhanced their adaptability to different work cultures, and modified their teacher identity. The chapter calls for universities to award credits for part-time work experience as a type of WIL, develop a mechanism for integrating it into curricula, and help graduates evidence their work experience to their future employers.

Teacher Identity Development of Non-Education-Degree Individuals

2018 ◽  
pp. 287-312
Author(s):  
Tran Le Huu Nghia ◽  
Kien Trung Le
Keyword(s):  
Identity Development ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Teaching Profession ◽  
Teacher Education Programs ◽  
Professional Identities ◽  
Education Programs ◽  
Teacher Identities ◽  
Teaching Competence ◽  
Future Selves ◽  
Education Degree

This chapter reports on the analysis of the narratives of two non-education-degree teachers to highlight the process of their teacher identity development. The analysis showed that their teacher identities were initially developed during their childhood, but then overshadowed by aspirations to have other professional identities; therefore, they did not enroll in teacher education programs. Upon graduation, they entered the teaching profession either accidentally or deliberately. Their teacher identities were shaped via active participation in teaching and professional development activities, and their ability to negotiate between their teaching competence and the practice required in the school. After their teacher identities were established, often by receiving a teaching qualification, they continued to develop their teacher identities by imagining and negotiating their teaching practices with their future selves. Generally, their teacher identity development involved a complex interaction of personal and contextual factors as well as much effort and resilience.

scholarly journals Understanding the Professional Practice of Teachers of Chinese as an Additional Language through the Lens of Teacher Agency

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (18) ◽  
pp. 7493
Author(s):  
Min Bao ◽  
Wei Ren ◽  
Danping Wang
Keyword(s):  
Content Knowledge ◽  
Professional Practice ◽  
Teacher Identity ◽  
Language Teachers ◽  
Teacher Agency ◽  
Teaching Materials ◽  
Materials Development ◽  
Pedagogical Content ◽  
Teachers Experiences ◽  
Teachers Beliefs

Teacher agency plays a key role in sustaining the professional practice of language teachers, including teachers of Chinese as an additional language (CAL), to ensure sustainable multilingualism in universities. This paper reports on an exploratory study that examined five CAL teachers’ experiences of using teaching materials in a leading Belarussian university. Drawing on theorization about teacher agency, the analysis of the participants’ experiences helped to reveal the manifestations of teacher agency in their engagement with teaching materials in their teaching, which emerged from interactions between individual aspirations and contextual conditions. In particular, the findings highlight that three factors, namely teachers’ beliefs, teacher identity, and relationships within their community, play significant roles in mediating the participants’ exercise of agency in using teaching materials. The findings not only contribute to the conceptualization of teacher agency, but suggest that pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and materials development of CAL teachers should be emphasized in supporting effective teaching, so that they can achieve sustainable professional practice to ensure sustainable multilingualism in universities.

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