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The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of Early Career Casual Teachers (ECCTs) and how their professional identities are negotiated and constructed in multiple communities of practice. Early career teachers are increasingly beginning their teaching careers in casual employment (Bita, 2015; Bryan, 2015; K. Jenkins, 2013) and despite the increasing number of ECCTs, there is limited research regarding their experiences. The fragmented nature of casual teaching may also constrain negotiation and construction of a professional identity (Pietsch & Williamson, 2007). This qualitative study was longitudinal in design and used a case study method. Participants were early career teachers who had been employed as day-to-day casual teachers, commonly referred to as “relief teachers” in Australia. There were two phases of the research conducted over an eighteen-month period. The first exploratory phase consisted of focus group discussions with ECCTs, and the second phase followed the journeys of six early career casual teachers gathering data through interviews and reflective tasks. Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice framework was adapted and used to investigate ECCTs’ experiences and professional identity negotiation and construction. Relationships and engagement were found to be critical in the complex negotiation and construction of professional identity. Access to both school and professional communities was a major challenge reported by ECCTs. For some, prior engagement with a school community provided brokerage into the school community, and for others sustained engagement with a school community provided access to formal professional communities. In addition, developing strong relationships with students, colleagues and parents assisted ECCTs to develop deep connections with a school community and contributed to a sense of belonging. Professional identity was constructed through integration of personal and professional identity and was negotiated thr

Discrimination against LGBT[1] individuals remains widespread across Australia. Since schools continue to promote regimes of heterosexuality and cis-normativity, teachers have a crucial role in creating contexts in which LGBT young people feel accepted and safe. Drawing on North’s (2006) work on social justice and Connell’s (2012) discussion of curricular justice, this article explores opportunities and constraints experienced by a group of English secondary teachers attempting to practise in socially just ways. Results indicate that through the English curriculum, it is possible for teachers to find moments to achieve social justice for LGBT individuals. [1] In reference to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the acronym LGBT is used in this manuscript. Whilst we appreciate that different terms such as LGBTQI may be used for people who may not self-identify as heterosexual and/or cisgendered, in this article we limit the terminology to LGBT given that teacher participants spoke only about this group of students.

The aim of this research was to explore the experiences of Early Career Casual Teachers (ECCTs) and how their professional identities are negotiated and constructed in multiple communities of practice. Early career teachers are increasingly beginning their teaching careers in casual employment (Bita, 2015; Bryan, 2015; K. Jenkins, 2013) and despite the increasing number of ECCTs, there is limited research regarding their experiences. The fragmented nature of casual teaching may also constrain negotiation and construction of a professional identity (Pietsch & Williamson, 2007). This qualitative study was longitudinal in design and used a case study method. Participants were early career teachers who had been employed as day-to-day casual teachers, commonly referred to as “relief teachers” in Australia. There were two phases of the research conducted over an eighteen-month period. The first exploratory phase consisted of focus group discussions with ECCTs, and the second phase followed the journeys of six early career casual teachers gathering data through interviews and reflective tasks. Wenger’s (1998) communities of practice framework was adapted and used to investigate ECCTs’ experiences and professional identity negotiation and construction. Relationships and engagement were found to be critical in the complex negotiation and construction of professional identity. Access to both school and professional communities was a major challenge reported by ECCTs. For some, prior engagement with a school community provided brokerage into the school community, and for others sustained engagement with a school community provided access to formal professional communities. In addition, developing strong relationships with students, colleagues and parents assisted ECCTs to develop deep connections with a school community and contributed to a sense of belonging. Professional identity was constructed through integration of personal and professional identity and was negotiated thr

Discrimination against LGBT[1] individuals remains widespread across Australia. Since schools continue to promote regimes of heterosexuality and cis-normativity, teachers have a crucial role in creating contexts in which LGBT young people feel accepted and safe. Drawing on North’s (2006) work on social justice and Connell’s (2012) discussion of curricular justice, this article explores opportunities and constraints experienced by a group of English secondary teachers attempting to practise in socially just ways. Results indicate that through the English curriculum, it is possible for teachers to find moments to achieve social justice for LGBT individuals. [1] In reference to lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, the acronym LGBT is used in this manuscript. Whilst we appreciate that different terms such as LGBTQI may be used for people who may not self-identify as heterosexual and/or cisgendered, in this article we limit the terminology to LGBT given that teacher participants spoke only about this group of students.

This research investigates the role of critical reflection in helping pre-service teachers understand and respond to classroom incidents encountered during their final professional experience before becoming fully qualified teachers. Participants in the research were pre-service teachers whose teaching degree had a strong focus on the role of critical reflection in teaching. The research focused on the extent to which participants consciously engaged in critical reflection to inform their practice, especially in relation to their responses to classroom incidents, their capacity to question their prior assumptions about teaching in light of their experiences, and their exercise of judgement in the classroom. This research is particularly relevant given the increasingly challenging nature of teachers’ work. Drawing on narrative approaches to research, a small group of nine pre-service teachers in their final teaching practice participated in one-on-one, open-ended interviews and focus group interviews that concentrated on their experiences, their responses to classroom incidents and their changing assumptions about teaching. In order to understand the different dimensions of participants’ reflections in terms of the relationships between their beliefs, cognitions, feelings and behaviours, responses were analysed using the approach developed by Furr and Carroll (2003). Analysis provided an insight into how pre-service teachers engage in the daily realities of their professional lives and deal with the different challenges of teaching. Further analysis of their experiences of classroom incidents provided understanding of how the pre-service teachers’ ways of thinking and their feelings about their experiences affected their classroom practices. The findings of this study suggest that critical reflective practice has an important role to play in teacher education in order to help pre-service teachers deal with the unexpected challenges and realities of the classroom.

This research investigates the role of critical reflection in helping pre-service teachers understand and respond to classroom incidents encountered during their final professional experience before becoming fully qualified teachers. Participants in the research were pre-service teachers whose teaching degree had a strong focus on the role of critical reflection in teaching. The research focused on the extent to which participants consciously engaged in critical reflection to inform their practice, especially in relation to their responses to classroom incidents, their capacity to question their prior assumptions about teaching in light of their experiences, and their exercise of judgement in the classroom. This research is particularly relevant given the increasingly challenging nature of teachers’ work. Drawing on narrative approaches to research, a small group of nine pre-service teachers in their final teaching practice participated in one-on-one, open-ended interviews and focus group interviews that concentrated on their experiences, their responses to classroom incidents and their changing assumptions about teaching. In order to understand the different dimensions of participants’ reflections in terms of the relationships between their beliefs, cognitions, feelings and behaviours, responses were analysed using the approach developed by Furr and Carroll (2003). Analysis provided an insight into how pre-service teachers engage in the daily realities of their professional lives and deal with the different challenges of teaching. Further analysis of their experiences of classroom incidents provided understanding of how the pre-service teachers’ ways of thinking and their feelings about their experiences affected their classroom practices. The findings of this study suggest that critical reflective practice has an important role to play in teacher education in order to help pre-service teachers deal with the unexpected challenges and realities of the classroom.

This research investigates how beginning teachers (re)construct their teacher identities in the first year of teaching. The emphasis is on the various ways in which beginning teachers negotiate their new school contexts, with their norms and discursive practices, and the complex interplay between the contradictory discourses, beliefs and values arising from their own past experiences of schooling. Central to the thesis is the argument that, by illuminating the personal struggles of beginning teachers as they engage in the cultural negotiation of their teacher identities, we can be better placed to develop strategies to help teachers negotiate their first year of teaching. Drawing on the tradition of critical ethnography, five beginning teachers in Western Australia were interviewed longitudinally over the first year of their teaching to gain a better understanding of their experience and the discursive practices that influenced the (re)construction of their teacher identities. This research shows, through narrative storytelling, the way teacher identity is shaped by a range of contextual, relational and autobiographical influences. The research revealed that teacher identity (re)construction is a complex and contested process highly dependent on the contextual and relational dimensions of the first year of teaching. The research also revealed that beginning teachers actively negotiate norms and practices associated with classroom interactions with students in the school context. Thus, beginning teachers continually (re)construct their identities in relation to school context as well as to professional and student expectations. Further, past informative experiences of schooling play a significant role in influencing teacher identity (re)construction. The beginning teachers in this study re-framed their past experiences of being students in their current roles as teachers. There is a transaction between past and present experiences as beginning teachers work out the b

This research investigates how beginning teachers (re)construct their teacher identities in the first year of teaching. The emphasis is on the various ways in which beginning teachers negotiate their new school contexts, with their norms and discursive practices, and the complex interplay between the contradictory discourses, beliefs and values arising from their own past experiences of schooling. Central to the thesis is the argument that, by illuminating the personal struggles of beginning teachers as they engage in the cultural negotiation of their teacher identities, we can be better placed to develop strategies to help teachers negotiate their first year of teaching. Drawing on the tradition of critical ethnography, five beginning teachers in Western Australia were interviewed longitudinally over the first year of their teaching to gain a better understanding of their experience and the discursive practices that influenced the (re)construction of their teacher identities. This research shows, through narrative storytelling, the way teacher identity is shaped by a range of contextual, relational and autobiographical influences. The research revealed that teacher identity (re)construction is a complex and contested process highly dependent on the contextual and relational dimensions of the first year of teaching. The research also revealed that beginning teachers actively negotiate norms and practices associated with classroom interactions with students in the school context. Thus, beginning teachers continually (re)construct their identities in relation to school context as well as to professional and student expectations. Further, past informative experiences of schooling play a significant role in influencing teacher identity (re)construction. The beginning teachers in this study re-framed their past experiences of being students in their current roles as teachers. There is a transaction between past and present experiences as beginning teachers work out the b

Equestrian pursuits now largely focus on competitive riding, with the focus of most riders’ being, on competing at some level. As a result teaching riding has changed from an instructional approach to a coaching model, with the associated language and paradigms being adopted. This study was undertaken to understand how these changes are being implemented by equestrian teachers working within six syllabi (the two used in England and Australia for formal accreditation and the four alternative syllabi that were used by my participants to supplement their formal qualifications). Qualitative methodology was used and data gathered through observations of a single, or multiple lessons, and the recording of an open-ended interview with each participant (based around six key questions). Forty-one participants, all involved in coaching equestrianism in England and Western Australia, were involved. The focus of participants’ teaching practice was three disciplines: dressage, show jumping and horse trials (eventing). Participants held the first, second and third levels of mainstream accreditation to teach equestrianism and some were elite riders who coached. It was found that some participants also followed an alternative teaching practice to augment the mainstream accreditations and therefore, these syllabi also became part of the study. Research began by considering the theories that underpinned the six syllabi and consideration of the historical perspective of equestrianism to reveal that changes are taking place in the accreditation of teaching riding, with teachers adopting a coaching style. Further, participants developed personal curricula based upon their own riding skills and on replication of how they were taught. While the data indicated that it was widely believed that a good rider does not necessarily make a good teacher the accreditation bodies, who create the syllabi, assume that to be the case and offer teachers little support or information on teaching and lear

Equestrian pursuits now largely focus on competitive riding, with the focus of most riders’ being, on competing at some level. As a result teaching riding has changed from an instructional approach to a coaching model, with the associated language and paradigms being adopted. This study was undertaken to understand how these changes are being implemented by equestrian teachers working within six syllabi (the two used in England and Australia for formal accreditation and the four alternative syllabi that were used by my participants to supplement their formal qualifications). Qualitative methodology was used and data gathered through observations of a single, or multiple lessons, and the recording of an open-ended interview with each participant (based around six key questions). Forty-one participants, all involved in coaching equestrianism in England and Western Australia, were involved. The focus of participants’ teaching practice was three disciplines: dressage, show jumping and horse trials (eventing). Participants held the first, second and third levels of mainstream accreditation to teach equestrianism and some were elite riders who coached. It was found that some participants also followed an alternative teaching practice to augment the mainstream accreditations and therefore, these syllabi also became part of the study. Research began by considering the theories that underpinned the six syllabi and consideration of the historical perspective of equestrianism to reveal that changes are taking place in the accreditation of teaching riding, with teachers adopting a coaching style. Further, participants developed personal curricula based upon their own riding skills and on replication of how they were taught. While the data indicated that it was widely believed that a good rider does not necessarily make a good teacher the accreditation bodies, who create the syllabi, assume that to be the case and offer teachers little support or information on teaching and lear

Over the past four decades in Australia, many politicians, policy-makers, experts and social commentators have sought to increase the organisational autonomy of public schools and their principals. This trend of shifting the locus of educational decision-making and management away from bureaucratic centres to individual schools and parents continues, with the Western Australian state government recently introducing the Independent Public Schools policy. This policy devolves an increased range of organisational and curriculum responsibilities from the state education bureaucracy to selected public schools. This thesis examines what appears to be the enduring trend towards school autonomy and self-management. The perspective of this thesis is informed by the theoretical, analytical and historical insights of Foucauldian studies of government, or governmentality. Foucault’s studies have increasingly influenced sociological and historical studies in education. His notions of power and discipline have been elaborated and applied in the study of the micro power relations of schooling. Unfortunately, while the study of schooling as a technology for disciplining the individual’s mind and body has received most attention, Foucault’s studies in government have been less widely understood, elaborated and used. This thesis explores Foucault’s genealogy of the formation of the modern liberal state (and governmentality) and the rich and subtle insights it provides into the complex relationship between the state, politics, society and the government of education. I explore Foucauldian studies in government with the aim of teasing out their implication for our understanding of the relationship between selfmanaging school reforms and the state, politics and government. In particular, I argue that the trend in public schools towards school autonomy and self-management cannot be adequately understood without understanding the inherent dilemma embedded within the discourses of politics

Over the past four decades in Australia, many politicians, policy-makers, experts and social commentators have sought to increase the organisational autonomy of public schools and their principals. This trend of shifting the locus of educational decision-making and management away from bureaucratic centres to individual schools and parents continues, with the Western Australian state government recently introducing the Independent Public Schools policy. This policy devolves an increased range of organisational and curriculum responsibilities from the state education bureaucracy to selected public schools. This thesis examines what appears to be the enduring trend towards school autonomy and self-management. The perspective of this thesis is informed by the theoretical, analytical and historical insights of Foucauldian studies of government, or governmentality. Foucault’s studies have increasingly influenced sociological and historical studies in education. His notions of power and discipline have been elaborated and applied in the study of the micro power relations of schooling. Unfortunately, while the study of schooling as a technology for disciplining the individual’s mind and body has received most attention, Foucault’s studies in government have been less widely understood, elaborated and used. This thesis explores Foucault’s genealogy of the formation of the modern liberal state (and governmentality) and the rich and subtle insights it provides into the complex relationship between the state, politics, society and the government of education. I explore Foucauldian studies in government with the aim of teasing out their implication for our understanding of the relationship between selfmanaging school reforms and the state, politics and government. In particular, I argue that the trend in public schools towards school autonomy and self-management cannot be adequately understood without understanding the inherent dilemma embedded within the discourses of politics

A collaborative research project that explored the impact of professional, individual and relational conditions on the resilience of early career teachers revealed the importance of understanding how they engage in the formation of professional identities. Drawing on the traditions of narrative enquiry and critical ethnography, this article focuses on the story of Norah, one of sixty beginning teachers interviewed for this study, as she experienced becoming a teacher. Norah’s story provides an insight into how early career teachers engage in shaping a professional identity, and leads us to suggest that resilience may be enhanced when early career teachers engage consciously and in relationship with others in this process.

A collaborative research project that explored the impact of professional, individual and relational conditions on the resilience of early career teachers revealed the importance of understanding how they engage in the formation of professional identities. Drawing on the traditions of narrative enquiry and critical ethnography, this article focuses on the story of Norah, one of sixty beginning teachers interviewed for this study, as she experienced becoming a teacher. Norah’s story provides an insight into how early career teachers engage in shaping a professional identity, and leads us to suggest that resilience may be enhanced when early career teachers engage consciously and in relationship with others in this process.

The education of health professionals is based on a series of discourses of professionalism that privilege notions of control and choice (Riggs, 2004a; Titchen and Higgs, 2001). These discourses are expressed through both explicit and implicit curricula, which encourage the enactment of a particular construction of the 'self' of both health professionals and clients or patients. This thesis adopts a feminist poststructural analysis of relations of power to explore some of the effects of the enactment of these curricula, drawing on three case studies of education in rural health settings and interviews with 17 health workers. The results indicate that the enactment of these curricula seems to produce a particular sense of self for health workers – one that is bound up with notions of control and choice, and one that may require struggle on an inner level with the self-regulation and self-policing (O'Grady, 2005) required to fit this norm. The struggle for female health workers to link the abstract theorizing with the actualities of their lives (Williams, 2002) seems to produce a paradoxical type of relationship with themselves and their clients. On one hand there is a discourse of conformity, compliance and obedience, which suggests more of a slippage of self while at the same time the expert-novice relationship characterizing the health professionals‟ interaction with clients emphasizes autonomy, control and empowerment of self. Further, while health workers see themselves as having high levels of internal locus of control this is in direct contrast to the helplessness and powerlessness they experience at work, and revealed through the research. The curriculum reform taking place within all health professional education at the moment emphasizes evidence-based practice and scientific content, and thus reinforces the dominant norm of the neo-liberal individual capable of self-regulation and self-policing. This research suggests the limitations of this approach, given

There are serious concerns around the sustainability of teaching and teacher education given the attrition rate of early career teachers. In Western countries we know that between 25% and 40% of beginning teachers are likely to leave the teaching profession in the first 5 years (Ewing & Smith, 2003; DETE, 2005). Clearly, there is a need to better understand the experiences of early career teachers and to investigate, in new ways, how the problem of teacher attrition can be addressed. This paper is based on a collaborative qualitative research project between the University of South Australia, Murdoch University, Edith Cowan University and eight stakeholder organisations including employer groups and unions in South Australia and Western Australia. The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamic and complex interplay among individual, relational and contextual conditions that operate over time to promote early career teacher resilience. The methodology for the study was a critical enquiry drawing on the traditions of narrative enquiry and critical ethnography. In 2009, 59 beginning teachers from the two states were interviewed at the beginning and end of the year. Towards the end of the year interviews were also held with a member of the leadership team in their schools. Data were also collected from a series of Roundtables held in each of the two states and attended by representatives from stakeholder groups. NVivo8 was used to manage a thematic approach to data analysis. Preliminary analysis has identified five major themes or domains that support early career teacher resilience. The themes relate to (a) relationships, (b) school culture, (c) teacher identity, (d) teachers’ work, and (e) system policies and practices. In this paper, we present these themes as a framework that can be used to examine policies, practices and resources that promote early career teacher resilience

Recent paradigms of creative research within English speaking universities have not fully resolved the contradiction between the role of creative expression as the expression of the self, and institutional demands for such research to be able to contribute to the transfer of information within the social realm. This paper reports on the authorsř research into the applicability of reflexivity and narrative research methods to creative research. A model of Řsocial exchangeř based on Bourriard's idea of relational aesthetics and reinforced through discussion of Habermasř idea of the communicative act was used to develop a reflexive narrative approach in postgraduate research projects in a School of Communications and Arts at an Australian university. The value of this approach was then analysed for its potential to facilitate creative researchersř investigations into the inter-subjective circumstances of the creative act and connect their creative activity to the social realm

The education of health professionals is based on a series of discourses of professionalism that privilege notions of control and choice (Riggs, 2004a; Titchen and Higgs, 2001). These discourses are expressed through both explicit and implicit curricula, which encourage the enactment of a particular construction of the 'self' of both health professionals and clients or patients. This thesis adopts a feminist poststructural analysis of relations of power to explore some of the effects of the enactment of these curricula, drawing on three case studies of education in rural health settings and interviews with 17 health workers. The results indicate that the enactment of these curricula seems to produce a particular sense of self for health workers – one that is bound up with notions of control and choice, and one that may require struggle on an inner level with the self-regulation and self-policing (O'Grady, 2005) required to fit this norm. The struggle for female health workers to link the abstract theorizing with the actualities of their lives (Williams, 2002) seems to produce a paradoxical type of relationship with themselves and their clients. On one hand there is a discourse of conformity, compliance and obedience, which suggests more of a slippage of self while at the same time the expert-novice relationship characterizing the health professionals‟ interaction with clients emphasizes autonomy, control and empowerment of self. Further, while health workers see themselves as having high levels of internal locus of control this is in direct contrast to the helplessness and powerlessness they experience at work, and revealed through the research. The curriculum reform taking place within all health professional education at the moment emphasizes evidence-based practice and scientific content, and thus reinforces the dominant norm of the neo-liberal individual capable of self-regulation and self-policing. This research suggests the limitations of this approach, given

Higher education has undergone significant change as universities have sought to respond to government reforms in a period of globalisation. One major reform that globalisation has introduced is the reduction in state funding for higher education. Universities have turned to other resources to provide funding and one of these is the recruitment of international students. The focus of this thesis is on contrasting the internationalisation policies of two nations, Australia and the United States, by analysing published policies, statistics and carrying out interviews on two campuses. Two universities, one in Australia and the other in the United States, served as case studies to examine the strategies used to implement these policies. Approximately 100 participants were interviewed, including administrators and faculty members, international and domestic students. Each university featured internationalisation as a goal in its mission statement. By integrating intercultural and global dimensions into the teaching, research and service functions of a university, internationalisation encompasses a multitude of activities that provide an educational experience. While administrators generally stated that the implementation of strategic plans to achieve international goals had been successful, many faculty members, domestic and international students were of the view that international goals were yet to be realised. These contrasting discourses revealed that each university was falling short of achieving its internationalisation goals. Faculty members and domestic and international students expressed dissatisfaction about cultural insensitivity, lack of adequate services that offered housing and emotional/social support, and language barriers. At the same time, each university was achieving some of its internationalisation goals. In conclusion, strategies are suggested that might improve the implementation of internationalisation at both universities.

Higher education has undergone significant change as universities have sought to respond to government reforms in a period of globalisation. One major reform that globalisation has introduced is the reduction in state funding for higher education. Universities have turned to other resources to provide funding and one of these is the recruitment of international students. The focus of this thesis is on contrasting the internationalisation policies of two nations, Australia and the United States, by analysing published policies, statistics and carrying out interviews on two campuses. Two universities, one in Australia and the other in the United States, served as case studies to examine the strategies used to implement these policies. Approximately 100 participants were interviewed, including administrators and faculty members, international and domestic students. Each university featured internationalisation as a goal in its mission statement. By integrating intercultural and global dimensions into the teaching, research and service functions of a university, internationalisation encompasses a multitude of activities that provide an educational experience. While administrators generally stated that the implementation of strategic plans to achieve international goals had been successful, many faculty members, domestic and international students were of the view that international goals were yet to be realised. These contrasting discourses revealed that each university was falling short of achieving its internationalisation goals. Faculty members and domestic and international students expressed dissatisfaction about cultural insensitivity, lack of adequate services that offered housing and emotional/social support, and language barriers. At the same time, each university was achieving some of its internationalisation goals. In conclusion, strategies are suggested that might improve the implementation of internationalisation at both universities.

Historically, public ownership of telecommunications, railways, ports, and energy, amongst other infrastructure, has been important in New Zealand. In the electricity sector local authorities generated and supplied electricity from the early 1900s. Thus in a sense electricity generation was in the hands of community owned and operated trading enterprises. However, the reforms of the 1980s and 1990s brought significant restructuring of this infrastructure based on the market model of privatisation. Since 1992 energy companies have been required to operate as successful businesses despite being ultimately owned by community trusts which, in effect, hold the assets of the energy company in trust for the community. However, it is arguable as to whether this model actually pursues social and community objectives. Community ownership of wind turbines is common in some European countries, but there are currently no examples of this form of ownership in New Zealand. This thesis defines community ownership and by examining case studies in Scotland, Denmark and Australia, proposes a model of community ownership appropriate to wind turbine ownership in New Zealand. Specifically, this thesis seeks to identify community ownership models that are capable of promoting holistic environmental justice by reconciling social justice with ecological justice. A number of forms of community ownership are identified in the various case study countries and a comparative analysis is carried out of these exemplars. On the basis of these studies it is found to be possible for a form of community ownership of wind turbines to exist in New Zealand that incorporates both social justice and ecological justice principles as holistic environmental justice.

Amongst today’s increasingly diverse range of mature age students are those who enrol in the New Opportunities for Women programme at TAFE. This course is designed, principally, to increase the confidence of women who are contemplating returning to formal education or to re-enter the workforce. Women who enrol in NOW come from a variety of socio-economic and educational backgrounds. This research explores the factors in their learning lives that might motivate women to enrol in such a programme. The study is grounded in the experiences of a small group of women who had completed the NOW programme. The research focuses on the educational issues the women had faced both prior to enrolment and during the course itself. In particular, the research focus is on their parents’ expectations and teachers’ attitudes; their parents’ involvement in their education; the parenting style the women experienced; and being girls at school. Data was gathered by interview and participants’ reflections on their learning experiences helped to elucidate the learner ‘scripts’ the women had followed throughout their lives. The analysis of these reflections was informed by Baumrind’s (1967) theory of parenting styles– authoritative, authoritarian or permissive – and their association with academic success. While this analysis showed very diverse experiences and motivations, the findings concurred with the literature on parenting styles and academic achievement. However, this study also found that while these women had continued to follow the learner ‘scripts’ that had been assigned to them as children, the later intervention of authoritative teaching in a safe and sympathetic environment allowed them, as adults, to rewrite their scripts and achieve academic success. There are some common threads in the findings that have relevance for teachers who work with students from similar learning backgrounds, and generate some insights into the notion of parent-teacher partnership.

Many academics become teachers without the help of formal professional learning. This study explores how a small group of academics have done this. The research aims to uncover the informal, experiential means whereby participants have constructed the knowledge about teaching and learning that underpins their pedagogies. The research begins with the assumption that three key elements play a major role in supporting academics' informal learning about teaching. These are a person's previous experiences of learning, their experience of being part of a particular academic environment and their personal or 'private' theories about teaching and learning, which are experientially based. Life narratives were collected from a small group of university teachers who participated in qualitative interviews and provided written evidence of their experiences, practices and philosophies of teaching. The research uses an ethnographic, interpretive approach to collect and analyse data in which participants' voices are foregrounded. The researcher's life narratives also form part of the final thesis, demonstrating an 'engaged' approach to research and providing explicit evidence of the researcher's positioning in relation to the subject matter of the thesis. The research reveals the importance for participants of a 'teaching self' or consistent identity that develops in early life and continues through to the adult professional context. This identity forms a basis for participants' teaching practices. The challenges experienced by participants when institutional practices do not support or help maintain this identity are discussed, as are the processes whereby participants seek out like-minded colleagues with whom to engage in 'professional conversations' about teaching. The research reveals strong connections between participants' sense of 'self' and the principles underpinning their pedagogies, and the thesis concludes with some suggestions about how the concept of the 'teaching sel

Many academics become teachers without the help of formal professional learning. This study explores how a small group of academics have done this. The research aims to uncover the informal, experiential means whereby participants have constructed the knowledge about teaching and learning that underpins their pedagogies. The research begins with the assumption that three key elements play a major role in supporting academics' informal learning about teaching. These are a person's previous experiences of learning, their experience of being part of a particular academic environment and their personal or 'private' theories about teaching and learning, which are experientially based. Life narratives were collected from a small group of university teachers who participated in qualitative interviews and provided written evidence of their experiences, practices and philosophies of teaching. The research uses an ethnographic, interpretive approach to collect and analyse data in which participants' voices are foregrounded. The researcher's life narratives also form part of the final thesis, demonstrating an 'engaged' approach to research and providing explicit evidence of the researcher's positioning in relation to the subject matter of the thesis. The research reveals the importance for participants of a 'teaching self' or consistent identity that develops in early life and continues through to the adult professional context. This identity forms a basis for participants' teaching practices. The challenges experienced by participants when institutional practices do not support or help maintain this identity are discussed, as are the processes whereby participants seek out like-minded colleagues with whom to engage in 'professional conversations' about teaching. The research reveals strong connections between participants' sense of 'self' and the principles underpinning their pedagogies, and the thesis concludes with some suggestions about how the concept of the 'teaching sel

Johnson, B., Down, B., Le Cornu, R., Peters, J., Sullivan, A., Pearce, J., & Hunter, J. (2014). Early Career Teachers: Stories of Resilience. Singapore: Springer. Available here

Johnson B., Down B., Le Cornu R., Peters J., Sullivan A., Pearce J., Hunter J. (2014). Promoting early career teacher resilience: A framework for understanding and acting. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice. (pp. 530-546). Routledge. Available here

Johnson, B., Down, B., Le Cornu, R., Peters, J., Sullivan, A., Pearce, J., & Hunter, J. (2016). Promoting early career teacher resilience: A socio-cultural and critical guide to action. Abingdon, Oxfordshire, UK: Routlege.