Becoming, being, belonging: teachers’ experiences of identity transitions during Master’s level research

Drawing on conceptualisations of transformational professional learning as including activist (Sachs, 2016) and transformative (Mockler, 2022) dimensions of professionalism, this seminar will report on a doctoral study of teachers’ lived experiences of engaging in critical intellectual and research work through part-time MA Education. These experiences were systematically mapped and interrogated over 24 months, from the beginning of their dissertation project to 12+ months following completion of their MA. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews and video diaries, culminating in the construction of first-person narratives. Using Ricœur’s (1980) hypothesis of narrative and temporality, a ‘grasping together’ of significant episodes across these teachers’ narratives unlocked an understanding of their shared journeys as ‘becoming’, ‘being’ and ‘belonging’ as a teacher and a researcher. Subsequent analysis exposes how their engagement in Master’s level research proved a site for potential transformational professional learning, a contrast to descriptions of ‘usual’ professional development activity characterised by one teacher as ‘doing not thinking’.