Women teachers in Hong Kong: stories of changing gendered identities

In a time of mass schooling in most parts of the world, the discourse of the “woman primary teacher” is often the subject of discourse. Yet most stories of these women teachers emerge from other (Western) contexts, with little known about how changing education processes affect the gendered identities of women in other cultural settings. This paper explores how women teachers negotiate their gendered identities in Hong Kong, where modernization has already mingled with the indigenous Chinese culture. It provides the stories of four Chinese women teachers as they engage in ongoing construction and negotiations of gendered identities over their life histories in Hong Kong. All are ethnically Chinese, of different ages and at different stages of their personal and professional lives, and all have grown up in Hong Kong. A framework of post-colonial concepts of hybridity and border crossing helps to suggest how identity resources develop in relation to a range of contemporary practices which are experienced as both pressures and opportunities. These Chinese women teachers' identities are seen to be complex, fluid and multi-faceted, continually under construction in their daily lives, with changes experienced in both work and family settings.     

Effects in post-conflict West Africa of teacher training for refugee women

This article draws data from an innovative research project tracing former refugee teachers who received teacher training from the International Rescue Committee (IRC) over a 17-year-long education programme in refugee camps in Guinea (1991–2008). The research traced repatriated refugee teachers who had returned to their homes in Sierra Leone and Liberia in an effort to determine the effects of the training they received – particularly whether they were still working as teachers in their post-repatriation lives, or whether they had made use of their training in other ways. Although the research in question focused on all of the former IRC teachers who the research team could trace, the present paper is about the female teachers and their specific situations. Focusing on the women's responses yields the gender-specific conclusions about structural barriers to institutional and societal changes in conflict and post-conflict settings.     

从教师教育专业化看教师教育学院院长素质

教师职业具有专业化的一切特征,教师专业化呼唤教师教育专业化.教师专业化已经成为一种强劲的思潮,极大地推动了许多发达国家教师教育新理念和新制度的建立.国际教师教育专业化潮流在催生我国教师教育学院的同时,也迫使其依据教师教育专业化要求实施改革与转型.在教师教育改革方面,担任主要角色的教师教育学院院长已经面临来自内外部的压力,为了应对这些变化,院长必须在教师教育的规划、实施和教育服务方面承担起主要的领导责任,以迎接教师教育专业化的挑战.     

Gender and emotions in relationships: a group of teachers recalling their own teachers

This narrative inquiry analyses the memories of a group of female teachers telling about their own teachers. We ask how gender and emotions are intertwined to teacher–student relationships. Gender was present in the stories where the teachers described being a schoolgirl in relationship with a teacher and told about their teachers as women and men. The collective process of recalling evoked the emotions experienced as students, but these emotions were also interpreted in the present context. When recalling, the teachers were reconstructing the past in the light of the present and the future. The article highlights the significance for teachers reflecting on their own educational histories.     

Profile and status of untrained teachers: experiences in basic schools in rural Ghana

Untrained teachers are deployed in basic schools in many developing countries as a measure to address enrolment escalation; minimising the financial burden on the government, much of whose education budget is already a recurrent cost. However, there has been little research into untrained teachers. Employing a mixed-methods approach, this article suggests that in Ghana untrained teachers – who form the majority at basic (primary and junior secondary) school level, especially in rural areas – are themselves heterogeneous, with differing qualifications and affiliations. Moreover, they appear to be unrecognised and unvalued by the authorities. On the other hand, trained head teachers in particular tend to experience powerlessness in the management of their untrained staff. This article therefore examines the complex environment in which teachers work and the important role of the authorities in influencing their working conditions.     

Australian school practices and the education experiences of students with a refugee background: a review of the literature

Schools have the potential for significant impact on the lives of Australian students with a refugee background. Many of these young people speak at least one language other than English, have previous histories of interrupted schooling or have experienced trauma during times of displacement and forced migration. Combined with the further challenges of settling within an unfamiliar cultural frame, these students experience a range of circumstances which are not present for many of their Australian-born peers. Australian students with a refugee background have diverse skill and abilities, with many showing independence and resilience. Opportunities for academic learning and development of social capital within the school context can be enhanced with relevant pedagogy and policy which draws upon and highlights the positive individual qualities that these students exhibit. Australian school practices are shaped by both state and federal education policies, which are interpreted and applied by individual schools within their own frameworks. This review considers recent literature on the experiences of Australian students with a refugee background as they participate in schooling, with a focus on the ways in which schools provide either opportunities or barriers to engagement.     

Mature student teachers in initial teacher education in Greece: personal and academic identities

This qualitative study examined mature student teachers in initial teacher preparation for primary schools in Greece. More specifically it sought to identify the profile of mature student teachers, their intentions to become primary school teachers, their academic needs, concerns and expectations as well as their coping strategies across private and public spheres in university departments preparing primary school teachers. Adapting an ethnographic research approach and a case study design, 15 mature student teachers were followed throughout the final year of their studies, investigating patterns of personal and academic identities developed in order to become primary school teachers. Mature student teachers consist of a limited number in the total higher education student population. However their skills and experiences can be regarded as significant in course completion and contributing to a high standard of education in both the university and primary schools.     

Challenging moments of novice teachers: survival strategies developed through experiences

The main objective of this qualitative research study is to demonstrate Norwegian and Turkish novice teachers’ reflections on bumpy moments and which strategies they use to cope with the challenges they have faced in practice. The participants of the present study are novice teachers (n = 17) with a maximum of five years’ teaching experience. The logbook and interview were the main data collection tools used to reflect novice teachers’ challenging moments. The data were recorded and transcribed separately in the two countries, and then the categories across the data were identified and the codes compared. The results mainly indicate that the novice teachers in both contexts are learning from their bumpy moments and using their problem-solving skills, based on either their repertoire gained during school practicum or their own strategies developed over time to find solutions to their challenging experiences.     

Challenging experiences faced by beginning casual teachers: here one day and gone the next!

The Educational Alumni Support Project (EdASP) indicated that there is an urgent need for the teaching profession to support casual beginning teachers (CBTs). The EdASP that was carried out at the University of New England provided online support for primary and secondary beginning teachers, yet the majority of postings were submitted by CBTs. In general, these casual teachers experienced feelings of alienation, culture shock, a lack of school and systemic support, and are often not considered part of the school community by staff or students. The analysis of postings by CBTs provides further insight into the difficulties they face, as well as reveals or reinforces strategies that could effectively facilitate their teaching. Many of these findings are not new, yet the call to aid casuals continues to be overlooked. This need for support is both professional and pragmatic. Ethically, education – a nurturing profession – should support its novices. In addition, the transition period from pre‐service to professional teacher has significant implications for teacher educators plus the potential retention of teachers.     

Issues in the education of TESOL teachers by distance education

Language teacher education by distance (LTED) has become a widespread and important practice in the preservice and in‐service education of teachers, and in language education internationally. The advent of the Internet has combined with developments in other information communication technologies, the globalisation of English, and the marketisation of education to afford a rapid increase in the number of TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages) teacher education programs, and greater variety in the ways in which teaching and learning is mediated in these programs. This article reports on an international survey of TESOL teacher education providers, and considers the status of language teaching qualifications earned by distance, changes in the institutional roles of language teacher educators, and the current state of research into LTED.     

Exploring a new inclusive model in Finnish early childhood special education: a 3-year follow up study

From 1996 to 1999, an inclusive early special educational model was studied in 13 ordinary kindergartens in Finland. The kindergartens received an additional staff member (a special teacher) to handle special educational issues. The work of these special teachers and the views of the staff were studied. The special teachers' duties consisted of six main tasks, the most often mentioned being general and special educational work and consultation with adults. The staff were generally satisfied with the new system. They received assistance and learnt new ways of working. However, the special teacher did not have enough time to meet all the needs that existed in kindergartens. This experimental model is now a permanent system.     

Professional standards,teacher identities and an ethics of singularity

This paper offers a critical analysis of the education policy move towards teacher professional standards. Drawing on Lacan’s three registers of the psyche (real, imaginary and symbolic), the paper argues that moves towards codification (and domestication) of teachers’ work and identities in standardized (and sanitized) forms, such as the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership professional standards recently adopted in Australia, can be read as a colonization of the Real and the imaginary by (a rather static, mortified form of) the symbolic. The paper argues that in response to such normalizing moves, we need to consider how we might conceptualize the reanimation of what it means to teach and be a teacher, something we attempt in terms of enabling each of the psyche’s registers to inter-animate each other, as a means of engendering teacher identities characterized by criticality, creativity and passion – that is, by an ethics of singularity rather than by standardization.     

Experienced teachers dealing with issues in education: a career perspective

This article reports on a qualitative study on the issues experienced teachers may encounter in everyday teaching practice. Some issues may possibly originate at the beginning of a career and continue to be a struggle during their career. Data were collected among 20 mid- and late career teachers from eight secondary schools. The results showed that at the current moment in their career, respondents of this study particularly recognised three issues: teacher–parent interaction, teaching versus other tasks and private life versus work. Teachers seldom talk about their issues, but more often than not they try to find a solution themselves or put up with the situation.     

Perception of teacher education and professional identity among novice teachers

This study examines student teachers’ perceptions of teacher education and its contribution to their professional life, when they become novice teachers during their internship period. The sample comprised 97 student teachers in their fourth year of studies for a BEd degree. Data were collected through questionnaires which included both a structured and an open‐ended part, with regard to five aspects of the teaching profession and teacher education: motivation for teaching, conceptions of teaching–learning, roles of teachers, components of teacher education, and agents of training. Prominent among the findings regarding the motivational aspects of teaching, is a perception of the profession as granting intrinsic rewards. Teaching is perceived as according self‐realisation, providing a sense of purpose and mission, and enabling lifelong development. The component perceived as most important to the teacher’s role is delivering universal values. Findings regarding perception of learning–teaching processes reveal a preference for a constructivist approach.     

From troops to teachers: changing careers and narrative identities

Troops to Teachers (TtT) is a UK governmental scheme introduced in 2013 to facilitate ex-military service personnel to re-train as teachers. This narrative study explores the accounts of a sample of new TtT trainees at the onset of their training and considers their motivations for career changing, potential transferable attributes and skills, aspirational teacher identities and anticipated challenges. Emerging from these rich narratives is a strong, shared commitment to the trainees’ chosen new career. Self-discipline is identified as a professional quality to take into teaching from military service, whilst maintaining discipline in the classroom is more commonly regarded as an area of concern and challenge, rather than as a transferable skill set, challenging core governmental expectations of the Troops to Teachers initiative. However, the importance of and a desire and commitment to continue to ‘serve’, is widely held, reflecting a particular narrative refraction of the TtT trainees. This provides potential for further, perhaps longitudinal study, as the troops become teachers. The study affirms the potential for further investment in a wider recruitment strategy for career-change teachers more generally, as providing an experienced and motivated professional workforce for schools.

Abbreviation DfE: Department for Education; MoD: Ministry of Defence; TtT: UK Troops to Teachers; TTT: USA Troops To Teachers     

Troubling reflexivity: the identity flows of teachers becoming mothers

This paper explores the transition to first‐time motherhood as experienced by a small sub‐sample of women engaged in the professional care of young children. In the context of a wider study of motherhood in the UK, their experience of combining work with new motherhood was distinctive. Women who professionally care for young children present a counter‐narrative to the view that teaching and motherhood can be blended. Negotiating the boundaries between work and motherhood produced a troubling reflexivity in which difficult feelings emerged and collided. Working in urban education involves emotionally intense forms of attachment that are disrupted by pregnancy. Becoming a mother prompts a renegotiation of professional and personal boundaries, leading women to pursue mothering as a separate enterprise, marked by individual solutions to care and career. Separating themselves from their working environment, women simultaneously isolate themselves from their middle‐class counterparts who pay for childcare and return to work.     

The workplace experiences of beginning teachers in three countries: a message for initial teacher education from the field

Previous research indicates that beginning teachers are not fully prepared for what awaits them in the workforce. This study highlights the value of partnerships among higher education providers, schools and employers and links the experiences of beginning teachers to initial teacher education (ITE). Real-life experiences from the field provide information regarding beginning teachers’ complex teaching positions that is beneficial to prospective teachers and teacher educators. This transnational qualitative study, completed in Norway, South Africa and Australia, adopted a Vygotskian social constructivist theoretical stance. Gadamer’s hermeneutic philosophy was applied to offer an in-depth understanding of the effects of classroom experiences on beginning teachers’ professional identities and feelings of ‘belonging’ and ‘at homeness’ in their positions. The results of this study highlight the school leaders’ perceptions of how well graduate teachers are prepared to meet the demands of the workforce. The study concludes by demonstrating the value of linking beginning teachers’ experiences to interventions and the development of ITE programmes. This study’s evidence-based findings support its recommendations for policy-makers and its reflections on the link between ITE and employment.     

Place-based education and pre-service teachers: a case study from India

Case studies of successful place-based education that involve international partnerships are rare. This article reports on an inclusive educational collaboration between pre-service teachers at an Australian university and primary and secondary school-aged children in a slum area of Delhi, India. Encouraged to undertake teaching that affirmed and extended the children's existing linguistic and cultural knowledge, the six teacher candidates collaboratively planned and implemented exemplary programmes geared to the children's interests and needs. This highly inclusive teaching and learning took various forms: a photographic project in the community, the collection of family portraits and stories, a dance and drama performance, and rich conversations on topics ranging from popular culture to politics. Using data drawn from observations of teaching, teacher candidate interviews and written reflections, and artefacts of student learning, this article analyses the processes and outcomes of this highly successful teaching. Essential to the success of this initiative was focused preparation that stressed cross-cultural awareness and sensitivity, a rejection of deficit notions about children and families living in slums, knowledge of Indian socio-political complexities, and a commitment to the building of equitable and ethical relationships with the Indian children and NGO staff. It is anticipated that this analysis will inform further attempts at place-based collaboration in the service of quality education.     

National and European identities: notions of reconcilability and inclusiveness in a case study of German trainee teachers

The link between formal education and national identities is widely acknowledged. Empirical research on national and supranational identities of teachers, however, is still relatively rare. Whilst a number of studies consider the special population of teachers, these contributions do not consistently focus on national and supranational identities. Based on a case study of 72 trainee teachers from Baden‐Württemberg (Germany), the present paper looks at the reconcilability of national and European identities and explores notions of the European Union in terms of cultural and geographical inclusiveness. Findings on the case study level are considered in their own right, but also compared to findings on the regional, national and European level, using relevant Eurobarometer survey data. The article shows that high levels of attachment to nation and high levels of attachment to Europe do not have to be mutually exclusive. It also demonstrates that, for most trainee teachers, the European Union constitutes a culturally and geographically inclusive institution that is supposed to stand for cultural diversity, peace, freedom and respect of human rights. Through comparisons that go beyond the case study level, the paper recognises the importance of regional and national contexts. Nonetheless, it argues that some of its findings are likely to be relevant for studies of national and European identities across different European societies.