Abstract:

The focus of this paper is the development of students’ identities as teachers before and during a 4 year Bachelor of Education degree course. In the past 20 years, research on professional identity has become more common (Swennen, Jones & Volman, 2010) as it is increasingly believed to determine how teachers teach, how they develop as professionals and how they respond to educational change (Nias, 1989). However despite the increasing professionalisation of the Early Years workforce, research in this sector is still limited. Initially using a community of practice lens (Lave & Wenger, 1991; Wenger, 1998) it considers how the students’ emerging professional identities may be shaped through their engagement in campus-based experiences and placements in a range of settings. It draws upon an exploratory study in which students were asked to pictorially represent how they had seen themselves as teachers at the start of the course, their key experiences during the course and how they wanted others to see them as professionals in two years time. This was followed up by obtaining written reflections on the role of Early Years educational theory in their development. Analysis of the data suggested that the campus-based elements, and in particular the exposure to the theoretical underpinnings of Early Years education, may have been less significant than was presumed by their tutors. Reasons for this are put forward and the paper argues the need for more support for students during their training in understanding and developing robust and coherent teacher identities.

References:
Lave, J. & Wenger, E. (1991) Situated Learning Cambridge: Cambridge University Press

Nias, J. (1989) 'Teaching and the self'. in Holly, M.L. and McLoughlin, C.S. (eds.) Perspective on Teacher Professional Development. London: Falmer Press.

Swennen, A., Jones, K. & Volman, M. (2010) 'Teacher educators: their identities, sub-identities and implications for professional development'. Professional Development in Education, 36 (1). pp 131 - 148.

Wenger, E. (1998) Communities of Practice: Learning, meaning and identity New York: Cambridge University Press.

Keywords:

Professional, identity, communities of practice, Early Years, teachers.