Abstract
This paper reports findings from a study of support provided by non-school-based mentors of secondary science teachers in England. It focuses on the identity development of beginning teachers of physics, some of the recipients of the mentoring. Drawing on the analysis of interview and case study data, and utilising third space theory, the authors show how external mentors (experienced, subject specialist teachers who were not based in the same schools as the teachers they were supporting) facilitated opportunities for mentees to negotiate and shape their professional identities, and made valuable contributions to three distinct and important aspects of beginning teachers’ identity development. The paper argues that non-judgemental support from external mentors enhances beginner teachers’ professional learning and identity development through the creation of a discursive ‘third’ space in which mentees are able to openly discuss professional learning and development needs, discuss alternatives to performative norms and take risks in classrooms. Opportunities for beginner teachers to engage in such activities are often restricted in and by the current climate of schooling and teacher education within England.
Highlights
This paper is based upon an analysis and theorisation of a subset of data generated for an original study of external mentor support for teachers in England (Hobson et al 2012)
35 we draw attention to three important features of identity development that the beginning teachers in this study sought to negotiate, each of which posed challenges to them, challenges which they were helped to overcome with the support of their external mentor
The findings reported in this paper support those of some previous studies’, which have found that teacher identity is multifaceted, and that identity formation is influenced by a number of sociopolitical considerations including power relationships
Summary
This paper is based upon an analysis and theorisation of a subset of data generated for an original study of external mentor support for teachers in England (Hobson et al 2012). We use the term ‘external mentor’ to refer to an experienced teacher who has the same subject specialism but is not employed in the same school as the teacher they are supporting. The data analysed relate to mentoring support on two programmes. A pilot programme of regional mentoring for participants undertaking the Physics Enhancement Programme, a subject knowledge enhancement (SKE) programme for non-specialist beginning teachers of secondary physics (Shepherd 2008). The work of ‘Teaching and Learning Coaches’ associated with the Stimulating Physics Network, a support programme for (pupils and) teachers of physics in schools with a low take up of A-level Physics and/or a lack of
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