Survival and Worldliness: A Study of Trainee Teacher Identity on the PGCE Route

The aim of the paper is to present the initial findings of a doctoral research project on trainee teachers following a PGCE route into teaching. It explores trainee teacher identity, how it develops and how they believe their chosen ITE route impacts upon their identity. The paper concludes with a look at implications for teacher education.
It would appear that, in an age of highly politicised teacher education, we are in danger of losing sight of the individual at the centre of ITE process, the trainee.

Although identity is acknowledged to be an essential requisite of an Initial Teacher Training (ITT) programme, (Clarke, 2009; Dall’Alba, 2009) it is not always clear the ways in which it has been embedded by teacher educators (Beauchamp and Thomas, 2009), especially at a time when ITE works with trainees to meet government priorities in both higher education and in school, and when schools are busy with improvement plans, assessment without levels and league tables.
Clarke (2009) stresses identity education as less of a metaphysical debate and more as an essential feature of teacher education. However, despite his claim relating to the explosion in teacher identity research this discourse appears rarely within universities or in school-centred teacher education. The actual debate as to who you are and who you may become in your teacher education programme seems to remain largely ignored or unnoticed. Within these programmes identity education may help make sense of the multi-layered lives of teachers and help pre-service teachers understand how to cope with difficult situations. In turn, it is hoped, this may boost resilience, aid retention and reduce the attrition rate of NQTs as they enter (and leave) the profession.

This presentation will detail the preliminary findings from the project and detail the methodology used. Working within an interpretivist paradigm and explored through narrative inquiry, the project seeks to incorporate life histories and stimulated recall interviews to tell the story of the trainees.

It follows an Arendtian framework to explore the six stages of the Human Condition that can be applied to the development of trainee teacher identity, and it is hoped that there may be some signposting about the ways in which teacher education can take positive steps forward.