A sociocultural analysis of the development of pre-service and beginning teachers? pedagogical identities as users of technology

Abstract

This paper reports on a study that investigated the pedagogical practices and beliefs of pre-service and beginning teachers in integrating technology into the teaching of secondary school mathematics. A case study documents how one teacher’s modes of working with technology changed over time and across different school contexts, and identifies relationships between a range of personal and contextual factors that influenced the development of his identity as a teacher. This analysis views teachers’ learning as increasing participation in sociocultural practices, and uses Valsiner’s concepts of the Zone of Proximal Development, Zone of Free Movement, and Zone of Promoted Action to offer a dynamic way of theorising teacher learning as identity formation.