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http://hdl.handle.net/1956/2532
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| Tittel: | Narrative construction of teacher identity |
| Forfattere: | Søreide, Gunn Elisabeth |
| Dato: | 14-Aug-2007 |
| Forlag: | The University of Bergen |
| Sammendrag: | There has been an overemphasis within narrative approaches to teacher identity to use
autobiographical material and personal accounts from teachers or teacher students as material
sources for analysis. Very few studies draw on alternative empirical sources as a point of
departure to investigate the narrative construction of teacher identity. This thesis therefore
investigates how teacher identity is narratively constructed by three significant actors within
the Norwegian elementary school system. In addition to a) transcribed texts from interviews
with female elementary school teachers the project draws on texts from two other sources: b)
public school policy documents and c) written material from the Union of Education Norway.
These three actors are perceived as three different, but equal sources of material that are
explored in three separate studies that constitute the core of this thesis.
Public narratives about teachers are the unit of analysis in this thesis. The material is
analysed within a theoretical and methodological framework inspired by a combination of
poststructuralist, discursive and narrative approaches to identity and research. This framework
has generated five analytical concepts that are divided in two main categories. The first
category is called “narrative resources” and refers to the ‘what’ of identity construction, in my
case, subject positions and constructions of identities. The second category is called “narrative
editing” and refers to the different ways storytellers draw on and combine the narrative
resources, or the ‘how’ of identity construction. This thesis focuses on three such editing
techniques, namely; positioning, narrative plots and counter narratives.
The identity construction of “The teacher as pupil centred, caring and including” is
identified as especially paramount in all the three studies. Consequently discussions centre on
how this teacher identity has gained such a prominent position. These findings are firstly
interpreted as an indication that the three sources of material are inscribed in and informed by
the same powerful Scandinavian educational discourse on individualisation. Secondly the
thesis claim that this identity constructions also might gain prominence because it represent
what is perceived as a necessary adjustment or alternative to certain teacher identities,
educational values and conceptions of learning and childhood. Finally the thesis show how
this teacher identity is constituted in a web of multidimensional dichotomies, and how it is the
sum of these that contribute to the constitution, fixation and dominance of the teacher as
pupil-centred, inclusive and caring in the public narratives.
The project illuminates how analysis of narratives and statements can give insight in to
some of the forces that move within educational discourses. The three studies underscore how complex and multifaceted the narrative construction of teacher identity can be and
consequently provide an understanding of elementary school teachers that goes beyond the
most obvious cultural stereotypes. The thesis shows that to get a conception of why teachers
are positioned within certain identities, it is vital to understand how they come to be
positioned in such a way. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1956/2532 |
| ISBN: | 978-82-308-0409-4 (print version) |
| Vises i samlingene: | Department of Education and Health Promotion
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