Developing professional learner identities: a critical piece in the classroom readiness puzzle

Developing professional learner identities: a critical piece in the classroom readiness puzzle

The transition across boundaries from initial teacher education to professional practice has been well documented as complex. Despite this challenge, novice teachers are responsible for providing quality teaching and learning experiences immediately upon entering into professional practice. In response, policy discussion around the “classroom readiness” of graduate teachers has become prominent. The 2014 Teacher Education Ministerial Advisory Group’s (TEMAG) federally-commissioned report includes recommendations intended to strengthen evidence of “classroom readiness” against the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers. In the chapter, I discuss the importance of reconceptualising “classroom readiness” to incorporate professional learner identity as necessary for preparedness to meet the demands of teaching. Sixteen first-year teachers working in independent schools across Queensland in 2016 participated in semi-structured interviews. These interviews sought to identify how first-year teachers responded to experiences, perceived to be unsuccessful, in ways that constructed professional learner identities. Framed within attribution theory, collaborative reflective practices that empowered first-year teachers to identify shared causality were found to be most productive for developing professional learner identity. Drawing upon key elements of Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), findings also provided insight into the influence of the university context, as an activity system, on the attributional thinking of the first-year teacher, with solitary reflection and attributions of self-responsibility perceived to be a norm of practice impacting the enactment of positive professional learner identities in the first-year of teaching.

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