'At least I'm the type of teacher I want to be': Second-career English language teachers' identity formation in Hong Kong secondary schools

'At least I'm the type of teacher I want to be': Second-career English language teachers' identity formation in Hong Kong secondary schools

• Trent, John Hong Kong Institute of Education
• Gao, Xuesong Hong Kong Institute of Education

Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 37(3), 253-270, 2009

Routledge

2009

• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MC Teachers' Certification, Employment & Salary
• M Teachers & Education for Teachers
  • MF Characteristics & Conditions of Educational Workers

Hong Kong Career Change English Teachers Professional Development Secondary School Teachers Teacher Attitudes Teacher Identity

• Hong Kong

• 1997.7 onwards

• Secondary Education

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 theory of identity formation and using data from interviews with eight second-career English language teachers in Hong Kong, this article 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 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.
[Copyright of Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13598660903052449]

• English

Journal Articles

• 1359866X

• 10.1080/13598660903052449

https://bibliography.lib.eduhk.hk/bibs/ac466bef

2010-11-28