Abstract
The use of Classical Greek myth as a narrative and metaphorical tool can contribute to the construction of a professional teaching identity. Adopting a biographical narrative approach, the present study sought to assess this contribution in a group of teacher and researcher trainees undertaking a postgraduate university course. The construction of personal narratives used for collective interpretation by the participants that generated them was analysed and interpreted in relation to the development of teacher professionalism. Our findings show the effective activation of metacognitive processes in order to rethink teacher professionalism from a narrative point of view. Using the structure and content of Classical myths as a scaffold, participants established valuable reflections on crucial aspects of teaching, identifying personal achievements and conquests as well as fears and insecurities. The structures latent in myth provided an effective framework with which to project and identify at least three hermeneutical themes—symbolism, function and structure—that form constituent elements of professional identity and are not only intertwined but are also constituted within a community of practice. Thus, Greek myths continue to offer an interesting cognitive and emotional scaffold that contributes to teacher professionalism, facilitating the formulation of a reflective, collaborative and personal meaning of identity which brings together personal teaching experiences and knowledge and is necessarily shared with the surrounding community of practice.
Highlights
The wealth of Classical Greek mythology remains essential cultural heritage in the 21st century
As Bauman (2013) has observed, we live in a world saturated with volatile, immediate and erratic information; the reinterpretation of Classical myths being conducted in the field of mythological research, which has generated exhaustive and interesting arguments for some time is especially relevant in today’s world
With respect to the myths selected by participants, an initial examination of their accounts indicated that Pygmalion, Sisyphus and Procrustes were the most frequently referenced myths, whereas that of Scylla and Charybdis appeared less frequently, albeit intensely, judging by the emotional quality of the accounts
Summary
The wealth of Classical Greek mythology remains essential cultural heritage in the 21st century. Both Heidegger (2006) and Gadamer (1997) have reaffirmed the continuing value and credibility of myth. In a similar vein, Nussbaum (2010; 2015) has proposed that higher education should help students develop an awareness of the importance of literature in its multiple facets in order to contribute, through this narrative art, to cultivating our humanity. Our capacity to develop opinions, sensitivity, emotions, sentiments and thought would be severely hindered if we were deprived of stories and the possibility of employing our imagination when telling and listening to narratives. The recovery of values, ideas and reflections by a diversity of disciplines and mythographers (Eliade, 2000; García, 2013, 2014; Graves, 1985; Greenblatt, 2011; Kierkegaard, 2007a, 2007b; Lévi-Strauss, 2002, 2003, 2006; Ricoeur, 2013) reflects the rich potential that can be extracted from this Classical culture that endures, battered, in contemporary culture (Carretero, 2006)
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