Identity formation among novice academic teachers–a longitudinal study

Abstract

This study reports findings from an in-depth, longitudinal investigation of the formation of 13 novice tutors’ professional identities as academic teachers. The study spanned tutors’ first two years in-service, while they were also participating in a teacher development course. Discourse was analysed across 65 time-series coursework texts, completed as part of the tutors’ reflection on their teaching practice. The analysis captured the use of explicit identity positioning cues by tutors across the texts. Four discreet identity positions were catalogued: academic insider, class teacher, teaching course participant and young academic. The study illustrates how these tutors developed more complex identity narratives with enriched coherence over time as they reported negotiating challenges and dissonance between initial expectations and actual teaching experiences. This finding offers explanatory support for previous research regarding the value of longer term teacher development programmes and illuminates existing theoretical models with practitioner perspectives.