The construct of teacher identity is  a dynamic and volatile phenomenon massively influenced by teachers’ harmony or disharmony with the macro structural underpinnings, ideologis and policies. congruence with the policies dictated by the higher echolons of power at the organizations can lead to formation and reforamtion of identities , acadamic elitism, advantages and ‘’ developments’’

Agreed and interesting area for research. This I assume is the critical reflection discussed in literature. On the other hand, Zizek's self is also used to de construct the self. What remains to be see is the negotiation between the selves; probably at the sociopsycho level which are seldom discussed. I find that literature seldom discusses subtle stuffs like, trepidation, doubts, e.g.  students begin their English classes with a prayer in Arabic, what goes on their minds? Or teach students in 'lecture style'. 

I hope this be helpfull for your research

The development of a sense of professional identity of pre-service teachers should begin in the university classroom. There’s no doubt that teacher candidates come into teacher preparation with their own teaching metaphors and teaching schemata, that is, already made ideas of the type of teachers that they are and the images they have of their future classrooms. The extent to which beginning teachers form their professional identity depends on how much they explore their teaching metaphors and teaching schemata. This exploration can take the form of what is known as reflexive subjectivity. Reflexive subjectivity describes people’s actions based on their own personal opinions and feelings about a particular situation. In other words, it is the self-conscious alignment of personal goals to a perception of others.  In teacher preparation terms and in this particular context, reflexive subjectivity simply means the teacher candidate will self-consciously adjust his/her actions in accordance with the perceptions of him/herself mirrored in a ‘hero’ teacher’s role. Some of the most significant inroads into understanding how humans make meaning through their interactions and situations can be located in the works of George Herbert Mead (1863-1931). In his penetrating analysis of social action, Mead presents a picture of how the self emerges in a social world, by describing the interdependence between the mind and the environment. Mead’s interpretation of social action as a formative agent in its own right is that at the symbolic level interaction, participants form their actions by taking account of the actions of the others. This formulation seriously invokes the idea that people behave according to responses they receive from others. Blumer (1969) has explained the notion of identity formation through the concept of symbolic interactionism. According to Blumer, the key element of symbolic interactionism is that human action—that is the self, individual and collective action, interaction, and identity formation are mediated and defined in terms of a social association. In this respect, Blumer contends that people negotiate the meanings of their social world through interacting with others. For Blumer, given that humans are social beings and only become social through contact with others, becoming social is dependent upon the ability to act towards others mindfully. So, taking Blumer’s concept of symbolic interactionism into a teacher preparation context, we can safely say that first, a teacher candidate’s attitude and teaching activity are predicated on the meanings that they extract from their childhood and schooling experiences. Secondly, that teacher candidates derive meaning of teaching from the social interactions that they have had with schools and teachers.  Thirdly, that teacher candidates modify their meanings of teaching through processes of interpretation that they acquire by dealing with their interactions with teachers and schools (and university classes). The above attributes in question are crucial in understanding the core processes of teacher socialization and development. They provide insights into uncovering and understanding the meanings central to beginning teachers as they deal with ever changing situations. Putting these ideas into a university teacher preparation classroom context, I make sure that at an early stage of the lessons that I have with teacher candidates, I give them an assignment to write an education-related history in which they discusses their childhood aspirations and dreams; their best and worst experiences in schooling; as well as their best and worst teachers and should state the particular experiences that influenced their decision to become teachers. That is just the beginning of the reflexive subjectivity of the teacher candidate.

Thank you Mr Agbo. I am going to try to explore reflexive subjectivity activity in my class. I was just wondering if Mead and Blumers' concepts of symbolic interactionism could be applied to understand how student teachers are influenced by sociopolitics of the school and ministry of education policies. 

Kaarthlyalny, you’re very right about how the politics of education may stifle teacher development. Research indicates that teachers that mindlessly follow ministry and school board policies are usually not effective teachers. A BBC news article, “What Makes a Good Teacher" states clearly that effective teachers are those that practice what is known as “creative subversion”, that is, effective teachers are those who do not slavishly follow policies but creatively adjust them to meet the needs of their students. Similarly, in his book, “I Won’t Learn From You”: And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment, Herbert Kohl speaks of “creative maladjustment” as “subversion of the system that most good teachers do” (p. 128) and goes on to define creative maladjustment as “examining the nature of the life you are expected to lead as a teacher and sorting out what is sensible and beneficial to your students from procedures meant simply to keep things under control” (p. 131). It is part of the concept of reflexive subjectivity for teacher candidates to reflect on what makes sense and what doesn’t in dealing with one’s students and adjusting accordingly to meet their needs. In that case, my students explore issues as how to deal with the politics of education. It is true that creative subversion and/or creative maladjustment can land beginning teachers in trouble, but there are ways to get around it, which is the subject of another discussion. For convenience, I provide the link to the BBC article below and a full reference to Herbert Kohl’s book.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7209096.stm

Kohl, Herbert (1994). “I Won’t Learn From You”: And Other Thoughts on Creative Maladjustment. New York: The New Press.

Hi Kaarthlyalny,

This has always been a contested issue in pre-service education - what is the best balance between university learning and school based learning - and then how it contributes to developing an identity as a teacher. I have pasted below the reference details for an article that uses activity theory to explore the notion of the prac experience as an exercise in boundary crossing. I hope that it is useful for you. Regards, Kevin. 

Max, C. (2010). Learning-for-teaching across educational boundaries: An activity-theoretical analysis of collaborative internship projects in initial teacher education. In V. Ellis, A. Edwards, & P. Smagorinsky (Eds.), Cultural-Historical Perspectives on Teacher Education and Development. Hoboken: Routledge.

Thanks a lot Mr Agbo and Mr Larkin. The sources you sent are very useful indeed.I think activity theory makes sense as it would be possible to observe acts as compared to Zizek's self.

Another thing that I observed is that the student teachers also have problems "shifting" between academic and school texts: at the point of entry into tertiary education, they struggled from school texts to academic research texts; then at the point of entry into practicum, vice versa; and then  back again to university context. In one case the student teacher I observed gave out class activities to students but the notes looked so much like lecture notes. Som it seems that that there is a lot of "shifting to and fro" rather than transitioning that takes in the contest site. In ESL context, the challenges are more pronounced as English is L2, and some students are learners themselves.

Good Answer Kevin Larkin