Professional Life History Research Articles

Models of Science Teacher Identity: The Multiple Representations of Pre-Service Elementary Science Educators

ABSTRACT Experiences in pre-service teacher education can have a lasting effect within the professional life histories of classroom teachers. Investigating the ways in which pre-service elementary teachers (PSETs) represent themselves as science teachers before, during, and after methods course experiences can inform best practices of elementary science teacher pre-service and inservice development as well as further highlight the concerns and objectives of PSETs. Therefore, as a pre-service science teacher educator, I seek to understand the ways in which PSETs represent themselves as future science teachers and the experiences within the methods courses that influence those representations. This study relies on quantitative pre- and post-survey data and qualitative course artifact data completed as part of regular undergraduate course assignments. PSETs representations of self within this study tend to shift from a traditional approach to science teaching toward constructivist, student-centered pedagogical practices and show reduced anxiety toward teaching science and increased science teaching self-efficacy.

Long‐term language use by US‐based study‐abroad alumni: Activity types and program effects

AbstractThis article presents selected results from a large‐scale, mixed‐methods, federally funded investigation of US‐based language study‐abroad alumni of all ages, which included a nationwide survey (N = 4,899) followed by professional life history interviews with 54 participants. Here, we focus on three questions heretofore unaddressed: (a) How do these alumni continue to use their additional languages? (b) How is long‐term language use associated with various study‐abroad program features? and (c) How is the role of program features reflected in life history narratives? We found that 79% of participants use their languages in at least one of the activities listed on the survey, though this use is generally confined to informal, interactive tasks. Our examination of program features using multiple regression revealed that while all features were statistically significant predictors for long‐term language use, those involving engagement with local communities (e.g., close personal relationships) showed more relative importance. Contextualized with a sample of our qualitative data, findings from this study offer a macrolevel confirmation that local engagement during study abroad retains its significance for language use over the long term and provide implications for designing study‐abroad programs that involve language learning.

Creating an Oral History Archive of Government Work: The Women in Public Service in Pakistan Project

ABSTRACT The Women in Public Service in Pakistan (WPSP) oral history project records the professional life histories of women employed in public sector institutions. Our aim in this article is twofold. First, we discuss the nature of public sector employment (sarkari nokri) and review the data and literature on women’s participation in public sector work in Pakistan. These sources reveal that the trajectory of women’s employment in the public sector has been shaped by “gender mainstreaming,” which, in turn, is driven by global treaties and goals. Then, after describing the project design, we explore our narrators’ assertions of status, ability, and achievements as they navigate patriarchy. We argue that women public sector employees have collectively forged a social identity and modified the terms of patriarchy as it applies to them. This article presents women’s public sector employment as a coherent subject of study across a range of sectors of work from education to the civil service. This article also demonstrates that oral history methods enable a substantial intervention in the study of government employment in Pakistan. As such, this rich archive of women’s experiences serves public, scholarly, and institutional interests; is comparable to oral history projects on government in other parts of the world; and intervenes in ongoing debates about digital oral history. At the same time, the WPSP oral history project is unique in its use of an oral history method to study government employment in Pakistan. Our methods, approaches, and conclusions are instructive both for scholars of near-contemporary history in Pakistan and for oral historians seeking to establish their own projects on women in public life.

Os ciclos de engajamento no trabalho de servidores públicos federais

Abstract Civil servants have different levels of work engagement throughout their working lives. These variations are the work engagement cycles, which occur based on available resources and work environment demands. This study describes the work engagement cycles of federal civil servants based on their professional life histories, highlighting the demands and resources of the work environment in their professional trajectory. Using the job demands-resources (JD-R) model and the cognitive maps methodology, it was possible to identify a positive cycle of work engagement, a reinforcing cycle (related to opportunities and appreciation), and two disequilibrium cycles, one related to dysfunctional productivity and the other to administrative discontinuity. The analysis of the engagement cycles allowed the identification of work environment resources that interfere in the engagement of public servants in different ways. Finally, the concept of “coping cycle” was used as a subsidy of policies for disengaged servants.

Women’s participation in the Central Superior Services of Pakistan 1973–2020

ABSTRACT Decentralization and efforts for inclusivity in Pakistan’s public sector from 1973 led to the recruitment and advancement of women as officers of the newly constituted Central Superior Services (CSS) of the federal government of Pakistan. Quotas for women made government more diverse and representative, and educational and length of service benchmarks for recruitment and promotion made advancement more attainable and transparent. The increasing participation of these new officers of state, outlined in this paper, can be seen as an outcome of the 1973 public sector reforms, but government policy alone is not sufficient to account for women’s entry into public life and policy making where they had been excluded from it over the previous century of the development of the bureaucracy. This paper presents professional life history narratives of 23 women officers of the CSS recorded in an oral history project in Lahore and describes the women who participated in this state project of decentralization and gender inclusivity and their motivations, complementing an historiography of administrative reform. I argue for attention to the role of families and academic institutions in enabling women in finding pathways into the CSS and advancing and succeeding in their roles, mediating between the state and Pakistani society.

Professional subjectivities in ELT & the dichotomy inclusion-exclusion

AbstractMost Education systems propose policies in pro of the benefit of society. However, successful application of these is unknown in consequence considering teachers voices is needed to understand the situations in the classroom. This study analyzes some English language teachers’ stories that served the purpose to construct themselves as professionals of language education facing the dichotomy of inclusion and exclusion placed by the mandates of the Colombian education system. The theme of Language Teacher Subjectivities, in this article, is conceptualized and discussed as the alternative’s teachers have within their reach to use their own theories regarding language teaching and learning. Reflecting retrospectively and prospectively on meaningful school experiences related to the language teaching activity to tackle the dichotomy, the research question that guided this study was: What do language teachers’ narratives portray about their professional subjectivities in relation to inclusion? From a narrative perspective, narrative interviews and a professional life history timeline was analyzed using short story analysis focusing on when, when and who as meaningful in the data and finding that the participants comply with the multidimensional view of the subject. The narratives depicted that the corporal dimension, social-affective dimension, cognitive dimension, and ethic-moral dimension are part of the teachers’ professional subjectivities in the frame of Colombian inclusion policy.

Narrative practices in developing professional identities: Issues of objectivity and agency

This article presents an analytical model of binary dimensions of narrative practice perceived as two continua between the oppositions of subjectivity/objectivity and structure/agency. Such narrative practice is considered as a site for professional ‘identification’ and self-knowing. The analytical model provided a framework that was applied to a series of professional life history narrative events and follow-up discussions conducted with six early career teacher educators working across two contrasting sites for teacher education. The findings evidence participants’ reflections within the narrative events that relate to the descriptors of each quadrant in this model and show that it has utility in describing and understanding the process of identification that takes place within narrative practice.

A Framework for the Development of Schoolyard Pedagogy

Science education theory and reform call on elementary educators to provide authentic science learning experiences in a constructivist learning environment. The natural surroundings of the schoolyard offer an often undeveloped and/or undiscovered pedagogical tool that can help teachers meet these reform-based goals in science teaching. There is little research investigating the pedagogical development of teachers who use the schoolyard to teach. Understanding the framework of development of schoolyard pedagogy can help pre- and in-service teacher educators prepare effective elementary science teachers to take advantage of the teaching opportunities in the schoolyard. This manuscript constructs a framework of development of schoolyard pedagogy as described in the themes of experience across the professional life histories of elementary teachers who frequently use the schoolyard to teach. This framework can inform both pre- and in-service teacher educators who aim to support the development of a pedagogy that goes beyond the four walls of a classroom.

Academic Women: Lived Experiences in Contexts of Inequality

[full article in English]
 This article builds on the results of a research project into the professional experience of seven academic women in universities and research centers in Catalonia, Spain. The aim of the Project was to explore the personal and professional experience of three generations of women in the process constituting their identity as university teachers, researchers and managers. The writing of their professional life histories has enabled us to investigate how they, as women, have become the types of higher education teachers, researchers and managers that they were becoming, and we wished to delve into the relationship between their personal experiences and the development of their professional careers. In this process, we have revealed the strategies of adaptation, resistance and creation developed by women, the forms of symbolic violence that they experience and the changes through which their careers have passed within the context of an institution that is still continuously revealed by different studies to be deeply discriminating and unequal for women.

Identification – a process of self-knowing realised within narrative practices for teacher educators during times of transition

Identity transformation from teacher to teacher educator is problematic as an ‘expert become novice’. The need for professional development for neophyte teacher educators is accepted. The focus of such professional learning has been on the development of an academic identity and engaging in research; the transition in identity is assumed to follow. This study used an adapted form of Professional Life History which is shown to support their ‘identification’ with the new role. Analysis showed a process of identification within the context of the focused story-telling. The study demonstrates that specific narrative practices can be utilised to support neophyte teacher educators in developing their personal and professional identity as a teacher educator.

Using a narrative approach to illuminate teacher professional learning in an era of accountability

Despite the centrality of teacher professional learning in efforts to raise student attainment, little is known about how learning is experienced by individual teachers. This paper uses narrative approaches to explore the professional life history of a mathematics teacher who began teaching in England in the late 1990s. The significance of context is revealed, the inspection regime emerging as a powerful force, shaping professional identity and restricting opportunities for collaboration. Such professional life narratives are a rich resource for biographical work, offering a means to better understand the broader socio-political processes affecting teachers’ lives, a crucial step in increasing autonomy.

Teaching in the Field: What Teacher Professional Life Histories Tell About How They Learn to Teach in the Outdoor Learning Environment

This research investigates the professional life histories of upper elementary science teachers who were identified as effective both within the classroom and in the outdoor learning environment (OLE). The narratives of five teachers, collected through semistructured and open-ended interviews, provided the data for the study. Professional life histories were constructed for each teacher participant and an analysis of the teacher narratives identified the themes of teacher development across the voices of the participants. Narrative reasoning was used to unify those themes into a hypothetical professional life history as reported in this manuscript. Implications of this research can be realized for stakeholders in the preparation of pre-service teachers as well as the development of in-service teachers. Future research regarding the early induction years of new teachers, impacts of inclusion of the OLE in pre-service teacher instruction, and teacher experiences regarding professional development relating to efforts to include the OLE in formal education should be investigated.

Storytelling, organizations, and the coherent self: The chronotope of childhood in professional life histories

Professional life histories and organizational stories rarely follow the model of beginnings, middles, and ends. Most interviews end up being subjected to what Boje (2008. Storytelling organizations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage) refers to as the spiral of story disorder. However, some storytelling strategies are often used by interviewees to produce a coherent projection of the self and convey a unified professional ethos. This is the role the time and space of childhood – the childhood chronotope – plays in professional life histories. Childhood is often used by storytellers to bring coherence to their organizational stories – and this is no truer than in the context of interviews. Based on interviews from museum directors, this article illustrates how the childhood chronotope might be a meaningful notion for narrative analysis in organizational studies: childhood is mobilized and reinvested by the individual's self-construction in order to produce a sense of coherence and control over his or her organizational experience and professional self.

Stance, positioning, and alignment in narratives of professional experience

AbstractThis article examines narratives of professional experience in a corpus of forty interviews in which English to Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teachers reflect on their professional life histories as well as their current teaching. The notion of “stance” emerged as a major theme: the teachers positioned themselves in relation to the policy environment, to learners, teaching and learning, and their sense of control in their working lives. Narrative was an important discursive resource for doing so and a range of narrative types (personal, generic/iterative, hypothetical, exemplum, and ‘negated’) are identified, each demonstrating performance features. Using Dubois's (2007) definition of stance, I examine the dynamic relationship between stance taking and discursive positioning, discussing the role of performance in these processes. Shifts into performance are shown to depend on participant roles and alignments in the interviews rather than on particular narrative types. Thus, the data contradicts some of Wolfson's (1976) observations on narratives in the research interview. The analysis contributes to our understanding of the research interview as a dynamically co-constructed speech genre rather than as a neutral locus for gathering data. (Professional narrative, performance, stance, alignment, positioning)

Learning from other teachers: Gender influences

This paper draws on data from a longitudinal research proJect, under taken with newly qualified teachers of physical education (PE), to consider ways in which experienced teachers influence the professional development of their less experienced colleagues. It examines claims that the subJect has been `masculinized' and considers the outcomes of such a process on the development of its teachers. The research explored the experiences of teachers during their induction year, using questionnaires,'professional life histories' and semi-structured inter views as the main data collection methods in a process that spanned five years. The actions of the new teachers suppor t claims that PE has developed in `explicitly gendered ways'. They looked to experienced teachers to develop their professional practice and specifically adopted the approaches of male teachers. Explanations for such actions include the perceived success of behaviour management strategies, the allocation of management roles within the subJect, the need to survive and the notion that girls are a'problem' in PE.

Collaborative learning in physical education teachers' early-career professional development

Background/context: professional development is an important element of professional practice and teachers are expected to engage in activities that not only improve practice but also have a positive impact on pupil learning. Physical educators worldwide have acknowledged the need to improve the continuing education of teachers and have called upon policy-makers to promote urgent action. However, the opportunities to improve professional practice go beyond policy and while many physical education teachers only recognise professional development offered through structured courses, there is a growing recognition that collaborative learning is an effective form of professional development. It is possible to identify common features within the literature through which to explore collaborative learning experiences: they relate to participants' relationships, commitment to learning, culture and reflective practice. Focus of study: to consider collaborative learning in the professional development of early-career physical education teachers. Participants and setting: four cohorts of newly qualified teachers of physical education undertaking induction in secondary schools in England. Research design: the research was undertaken in three stages, each of which drew on data from the previous stage to explore and develop emerging theories. A grounded theory approach, which evolved as an interplay of induction and deduction, was used throughout the process, to explore aspects of induction as experienced by newly qualified teachers. Data collection: data collection combined quantitative and qualitative methods and was undertaken in three stages. In Stage 1, questionnaires were administered to three successive cohorts of newly qualified physical education teachers and ‘professional life histories’ constructed for each participant. Stage 2 adopted case-study methodology using semi-structured interviews and ‘professional life histories’ as the main methods of data collection to explore their professional development throughout the induction year. Stage 3 was undertaken in the teachers' second year of teaching and a card check system was used to confirm or reject researcher interpretation of their experiences, with discussion about four issues selected by the teachers. Analysis: in Stage 1, information was imported into Excel tables, which allowed comparison of data through a range of determinants (e.g. issues relating to specific cohorts, gender, age, prior experience). This method of comparative analysis generated emerging themes, which were examined in subsequent phases. In Stages 2 and 3 a qualitative data analysis package was used to code data, identify themes and develop theory. Findings: the notion that physical education provides the setting for influential professional development for its teachers was a strong theme emerging from the data. The key components of the resulting theory were ‘working together’, ‘teacher influences’, ‘developmental groups’ and ‘community acceptance’. However, analysing the data against the four common criteria for collaborative learning identified in literature, it is argued that collaborative learning was not necessarily the outcome experienced by the new teachers. Conclusions: collaborative learning is an important element of professional development but, if early career teachers are to benefit from such opportunities, changes to induction practice need to be made. These relate particularly to the culture in which learning takes place to ensure that professional dialogue is possible. All development opportunities should be considered as opportunities for collaborative learning and the contribution of all members of the department to the process of collaborative learning should be valued.

The Long Twentieth Century in American Sociology: A Semiautobiographical Survey

In this essay, I draw on a professional life history to suggest how sociological knowledge is generated by encounters with changing research opportunities, here called targets of opportunity. In my case, a study of rural communities led to unanticipated conclusions concerning buffering mechanisms that protected authorities by absorbing dissatisfactions and rebellions. Wartime research in a military setting identified sources of group solidarity and effective performance under stress. Major societal changes in racial/ethnic relations provided opportunities to develop new concepts and empirical findings. Synoptic studies of post–World War II American society led to extensive research on values and institutions. These macrosociological analyses of ethnicity and social systems, in turn, led me to a new sociology of war and interstate relations. I also offer here some critical reflections on recurrent issues and chronic controversies in American sociology. Final sections of the review deal with the continuing search for conceptual clarity and cumulative knowledge. I note the obstacles of disciplinary fragmentation, but my closing judgment is that sociology now has the base of substantial scientific knowledge and methodological expertise necessary for investigating crucial twenty-first century problems.

On Becoming a Community Psychologist

Recounts the author's professional life history in the context of his personal life story. Reflects on the ways in which history and autobiography combine to create life pathways that are experienced as individually chosen, yet historically determined. Recounts the author's family life, neighborhood experiences, early education in the Philadelphia public schools, and the impact of post-World War II government programs including the GI Bill and the establishment of United States Public Health Service fellowships. Considers the influence of African American writers and the civil rights movement, as well as women returning to school, the culture of medical schools and the influence of mentors in the formation of a professional identity. Recounts the discovery of the community mental health movement and the search for a social justice agenda that led to Community Psychology. Ultimately, the author views himself as an “insider/outsider,” whose personal and professional identity crosses traditional boundaries and welcomes paradoxical, narrative and qualitative approaches to research and practice.

Initial Motivations of Serving Teachers of Secondary Mathematics

This study examines the justifications given by serving teachers of secondary mathematics for their decisions to become teachers. Forty-five teachers, from two regions of England, were interviewed about their professional life histories with one element of the semi-structured schedule including an invitation to colleagues to discuss their motives or justifications for becoming teachers. The analysis revealed five categories of response: people became teachers as a consequence of their experiences of mathematics as learners, a desire to work with people, a sense of inevitability, a serendipitous life-event or a desire or need to change career. These categories are discussed in relation to current thinking on teachers' professional motivation and accord with the generality of available research that relatively few people became teachers for either altruistic or extrinsic reasons, with most citing reasons intrinsic to either mathematics itself or teaching as a profession. Significantly, a substantial number of the justifications offered fell outside the accepted tripartite framework. Some implications for teacher recruitment are considered.

From Research to Global Reality: The Micronutrient Story

The professional life history of E. V. McCollum exemplifies how sound nutrition-related laboratory research was translated into practical realities that influenced individual and national nutrition-related decisions. Public health and educational programs emerging in the first third of this century improved health and nutritional well-being in the United States. Characteristics that surrounded pioneering efforts early in the century are similar to those that have reinvigorated global micronutrient concerns in the last third of the century. Sound community-oriented scientific research revealed the true consequences of iodine, vitamin A and iron micronutrient malnutrition. Repositioning the image of these three micronutrients from that of a clinical problem affecting relatively few to one with consequences for individual, national and global development affecting many more, and disseminating these facts through high-level political forums incited attention, commitment and actions. As in the early days of McCollum and his contemporaries, current nutrition scientists played a significant role, interacting with politically oriented counterparts, in taking micronutrient research to reality for improving health and quality of life globally. Lessons learned from the process, both past and present, should guide future nutrition-oriented endeavours in moving research to reality for betterment of global community health.