The Role of Collegiality in the Process of Teacher Development

Abstract

The paper deals with the phenomenon of collegiality in the relationships between future teachers and their educators and its role in the processes of constructing professional identity. Using the method of discursive psychology, this paper investigates the perceptions of 22 students of Faculty of Education, University of Hradec Králové in the Czech Republic who, along with the standard model of teaching practice, also underwent a year-long model of practice aimed at intensive support of their professional learning. The utterances of the prospective teachers confirm that the new experiences in relationships with educators gave rise to constructions of professional learning and self that are clearly preferred by prospective teachers over existing ones and used to construct teacher identity. The prospective teachers strived for an image of themselves as constantly developing, respected and supported actors in their own professional development. Drawing on these new discursive resources, they also successfully confronted the ever-present deficit constructions of the teacher that do not provide them with enough space to negotiate their professional identity.