Teacher Subject Identity in Professional Practice: Teaching with a professional compass / Edition 1

by Clare Brooks

Overview

Teacher Subject Identity in Professional Practice focuses on a key, but neglected, element of a teacher’s identity: that of their subject expertise. Studies of teachers’ professional practice have shown the importance of a teacher’s identity and the extent to which it can affect their resilience, commitment and ultimately their effectiveness.

Drawing upon narrative research undertaken with a range of teachers over a period of 14 years, the book explores how subject expertise can play a significant role in teacher identity, acting as a professional compass guiding teachers at all levels of their professional practice. It reveals powerful individual stories of meaning-making which highlight the dynamic importance of teachers’ subject expertise

The book’s metaphor of a professional compass goes to the heart of teacher professionalism, and provides a valuable mechanism to enable teachers to respond to challenges they face in their daily practice. It enables teachers to consider the moral dimensions of their practice, and can constitute a significant component in professional formation and identity. Throughout the book the importance of subject expertise for teachers’ professional practice is explored at a range of scales: from the classroom to broad education policy, and at different stages of a teacher’s career which offers readers a deeper understanding of the importance of subject expertise for teachers.

Teacher Subject Identity in Professional Practice makes a significant contribution to an under-researched area. It identifies the role and significance of teachers’ subject expertise as a dimension of their teacher identity. The book is key reading for teacher educators, policy makers and researchers with an interest in teachers’ professional development and practice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138025912
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/12/2016
Series:	Foundations and Futures of Education
Pages:	164
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Clare Brooks is the Head of Curriculum, Pedagogy and Assessment and Senior Lecturer in Geography Education at UCL Institute of Education, UK.

Table of Contents

1 Being a teacher in this day and age 2 Current professional knowledge landscapes 3 Subject expertise and subject knowledge: the case of geography 4 Subject and phase Identity 5 Subject stories and teacher identity 6 Navigating and forming school cultures 7 Navigating classroom practice 8 Subject identity through a career 9 A professional compass