'Teachers Are Meant to be Orthodox': Narrative and Counter Narrative in the Discursive Construction of 'Identity' in Teaching
Source: International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, Volume 22, Issue 4 July 2009, pages 469 - 483.
Narratives are important to us because they tell about our past lives and enable us to make sense of the present. We attempt to create coherence and give meaning to our lives by learning to read time backwards.
This article examines a counter narrative of entry into the teaching profession. It shows how the construction of one teacher's identity is presented as a biographical narrative that he assumes to be at odds with an 'orthodox' narrative of becoming a teacher.
The article offers an interpretation of the personal narrative, told as counter to an assumed 'orthodox' story of entry into teaching. It also examines the relationship between the personal narrative and the contested site of the master narrative and its counter as the point at which the individual both positions themselves and is positioned within the discourse of teaching.