"At Least I'm the Type of Teacher I Want to Be": Second-Career English Language Teachers' Identity Formation in Hong Kong Secondary Schools

Autor/inn/en	Trent, John; Gao, Xuesong
Titel	"At Least I'm the Type of Teacher I Want to Be": Second-Career English Language Teachers' Identity Formation in Hong Kong Secondary Schools
Quelle	In: Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 37 (2009) 3, S.253-270 (18 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1359-866X
Schlagwörter	Teacher Shortage; Foreign Countries; Teacher Recruitment; English (Second Language); Language Teachers; Career Change; Interviews; Faculty Development; Teaching Skills; Experience; Collegiality; Identification (Psychology); Participation; Secondary School Teachers; Graduate Study; Alternative Teacher Certification; Hong Kong + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Lehrermangel; Ausland; Lehrerrekrutierung; English as second language; English; Second Language; Englisch als Zweitsprache; Language teacher; Sprachunterricht; Career changes; Berufswechsel; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik; Lehrbefähigung; Lehrkompetenz; Unterrichtsbefähigung; Erfahrung; Kollegialität; Teilnahme; Aufbaustudium; Graduiertenstudium; Hauptstudium; Hongkong
Abstract	A teacher shortage in Hong Kong in core subjects, such as English, has led to interest in the recruitment and retention of second-career teachers. Drawing upon Wenger's (1998) theory of identity formation and using data from interviews with eight second-career English language teachers in Hong Kong, this paper explores how second-career teachers may be better supported in their professional development. The study found that second-career teachers' skills and experiences were not valued within their schools and that this was reflected in a rigid division the participants drew between the institutionally endorsed identity positions made available to them and the type of teachers they wanted to be. In response to this antagonism, second-career teachers used their position of non-participation to establish identity territories that connected aspects of their first-career identities, such as engineers and managers, to their emerging teacher identities. It is suggested that non-participation, a potentially negative experience in Wenger's (1998) framework, was deployed by this group of teachers to create the space they needed to enact their own preferred teacher identities. Implications for attracting and retaining second-career teachers are discussed. (Contains 1 table.) (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10