good

1. A permeating theme
Teacher identity
and inclusion

2. Identity narratives for inclusion
‘If it hadn’t been for Ms H, I would never have got my English GCSE. She saw my
potential and that’s what I want to do for the children I teach.’
‘Making a difference to the children I teach: It’s in my DNA.’
‘Cut off my arm and you will see ‘inclusion’ written through me, like a stick of rock!’
What is your identity narrative?

3. A paper to prompt your thinking
• What thought has stayed with you after reading or listening to this paper?
• What element relates to your own schooling, or early practice?
• Is there an aspect that you will immediately include in your thinking or practice?
The rest of the slides will support you to review some salient points relating to
teacher identity and inclusion.
The teacher I think I am affects the teacher I can be. I am a teacher of everyone.

4. Identity narratives for inclusion
I remember our Y9
residential. I nearly
broke my wrist
abseiling!
I used to love
cutting and
gluing pictures
into my topic
book.
My best teacher
used to make us
laugh all the
time.
My friend and I made
an amazing portrait of
Henry VIII – it was so
detailed and stayed on
the corridor wall for
years.

5. How might those memories be rephrased so that they better inform the
teacher this person wants to be – their teacher identity?

6. An apprenticeship of observation:
What do you recall from your school experiences that has shaped your
view on what an effective teacher should be?
As a pre-
schooler
As a primary
pupil
As a
secondary
pupil
At XI form
Volunteering
or working in
school
As a parent
From a
different
perspective
The teachers I observed impact on the teacher I think I can be.

7. How is a teacher identity formed?
• Teacher identity is a complex coming together of beliefs,
experience and knowledge.
• It is influenced by purpose and goals and guided by how a
person perceives and defines themselves.
• Our emotional responses to all these factors play a key
factor in forming our role identity. Our teacher identity.

8. Ontological and epistemological
beliefs of an inclusive teacher
identity
How our belief and knowledge systems
impact on the teacher we are and the
teacher we believe we can be.

9. Ontological and epistemological beliefs
The beliefs and knowledge that you hold that make you believe you should
be a teacher of all children. This might include:
• A worldview, or philosophy that you hold, e.g. I am a humanitarian; I believe no
one should be limited by a disability.
• Knowledge that you hold as true in relation to the role of teaching, e.g. books
that you have read, sources that you can quote that support your belief
• The emotions that you have that are tied to this knowledge and belief, e.g. I
know the damage that can be caused by past trauma for a child and it makes
me determined to be the sort of teacher who will always support children
affected in this way.

10. Ontological and epistemological beliefs
It is important to recognise the assumptions that you can make as a
result of your beliefs and values and how this can bias the thoughts
and actions you make.
For example;
• Who do you believe is responsible for a child’s behaviour in school: the child; the
parent/carer, the lsa, the teacher?
• What is your response to a family who have multiple children with complex needs:
sympathetic, unknowing, judgemental, driven to give over and above?
• When should a child’s needs be met within special education?
• When should a child be able to access expensive independent special education?
Can you articulate your emotional responses to your own answers?

11. What has influenced your belief system in relation to inclusion?
Influence Examples
Legislation
• All children have the right to an education (UNCRC: Article 28 and 29)
• Principles of the Code of Practice (2015)
Personal narrative • Experience of overcoming adversity or disability
Institutions and professional organisations
• Chartered college of teachers
• NASBTT and UCET
• Teaching unions
Professional expertise
• Nasen (National Association of Special Educational Needs)
• Whole School SEND
• University and college training
• School placement
Social media • Edutwitter – who are your key influencers?
Other

12. General Comment 1 (2001) from the Committee on the Rights of the Child elaborates on Articles
28 and 29. It states:
• Education must be child-centred and empowering. This applies to the curriculum as well as the
educational processes, the pedagogical methods and the environment where education takes
place.
• Education must be provided in a way that respects the inherent dignity of the child and enables
the child to express his or her views in accordance with article 12 (1) and to participate in
school life.
• Education must respect the strict limits on discipline reflected in article 28 and promote non-
violence in school.
• Education must include not only literacy and numeracy but also life skills such as the ability to
make well-balanced decisions; to resolve conflicts in a non-violent manner; and to develop a
healthy lifestyle, good social relationships and responsibility, critical thinking, creative talents,
and other abilities which give children the tools needed to pursue their options in life.
How might these statements impact on the teacher you want to be?
Committee on the Rights of the Child
www.unicef.org.uk/rights-respecting-schools/the-right-to-education/

13. Purpose and goals for the inclusive teacher

14. Purpose and goals
Your purpose and goals are included in your role identity.
• Your purpose may be defined as ensuring all children make good progress, but it may include goals that
relate to equality and equity, e.g. I will address gender inequalities in my classroom through positive role
models within the curriculum and a ‘can do’ approach for all.
• More concrete goals, objectives, and aims within your role can be specific to an inclusive teacher identity,
e.g. regularly reflecting on individual plans to ensure needs are addressed within planning and task design
in ways that are appropriate for all.
• A recognition of the emotions aligned to these purpose and goals, e.g. anxiety about the progress being
made by a particular group of children; excitement in the achievement of some goals more than others –
knowing what floats your boat!
• ‘I am ambitious for all children to make progress in my class’ is an identity narrative that comes from
purpose and goals.
Can you reflect on the targets and objectives within your ITT profile
to ensure they support the development of your inclusive teacher identity?

15. Self perceptions and definitions that make an inclusive teacher

16. Self perceptions and definitions
• Self-perceptions and self-definitions relate to how you feel you are suited to the role
of teaching. Your personality, your characteristics and attributes, and how you feel
they are relevant to your teacher self, influence your teacher identity.
• For example, people who feel they are in control of themselves (good self
regulation) are able to cope when unexpected or unpleasant things happen, as they
have a higher propensity to believe in a positive outcome, so less reason to fear a
negative outcome, which can cause indecision and add to stress - I am a teacher
who copes with everything that comes my way.
• The emotions which you attach to these self-perceptions and self-definitions are
also an important factor, e.g. feeling necessary or valued by others; feeling angry
about unfair disadvantage

17. Self perceptions and definitions
• Your views, values and interests and how you feel about your role as a teacher in relation to the
role. For example, do you know what lens you employ when you filter news items about
teachers or teaching?
• The behaviours you associate with the role and the range of behaviours you understand to be
acceptable to carry out that role successfully, e.g. keeping a calm voice and softened body
language in response to heightened behaviours of others; maintaining good professional
relationships; being honest
• Being aware of the impact when your behaviour doesn’t match your self perceptions and how to
mediate that, or keep your response proportionate and positive.
• Garner and Kaplan (2019) note that self perceptions and self definitions ‘exclude those actions
that the [teacher] perceives as inappropriate, ineffective, or impossible for them to perform in the
role,’ making it unlikely that you would have an identity narrative of ‘I am a teacher who likes to
keep in touch with the world outside my classroom’ if this included catching up on personal
social media whilst performing a teacher role in the classroom.

18. How do your self perceptions and self
definitions influence the teacher you are,
or the teacher you want to be?
List the attributes that you feel make you suitable for the role of teaching?
N.B. Be kind to yourself – this is not a slide for self deprecation!

19. Operational definition within case Possible inclusive teacher role examples
Self-perceptions
Statements about the self, including
personal characteristics, attributes,
preferences, attitudes, or emotions related
to the self, and how these relate to a role
I am thinking all the time and don’t always find it easy
to concentrate for long periods, so I get it when
children lose focus.
Ontological and
epistemological beliefs
Statements about the nature of the world
and the knowledge that the teacher holds to
be true, including the nature of the domain
in which the teacher practices, and beliefs
about the certainty, complexity, and source
of knowledge and learning
I learnt early on that if I didn’t make a difference for the
children in my class then no one else is going to. My
neighbour’s child got kicked out of school at 8 years
old and things went from bad to worse for them all.
It’s so hard!
Purpose and goals
Statements about the individual’s purpose
and goals for teaching
I want to be the sort of teacher who is firm but fair and
who can make children smile when they are learning.
Perceived action
possibilities
Statements about possibilities for activities
related to the role, such as classroom
practice, and the likelihood of, and
contextual facilitators and inhibitors of, such
actions
I want to have a classroom where making mistakes is
an agreed and acceptable part of learning. I want
children to know that if they can’t work out how to put
something right, I will teach them a range of strategies
to use. We will try not to repeat the same mistakes –
but sometimes it happens!
Adapted from Garner and Kaplan (2019, p21) Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI) codebook

20. How can the relationship with your
mentor support your developing teacher
identity?
There is a strong argument for a ‘pedagogy of becoming’, which enables the mentor
and trainee to work together, drawing on the new teacher’s views of education and
the foundation of the relationship as ‘meaning-making and professional learning’
(Velikova, 2019, p 15, cited in Ivanova, 2020, p 37) .
How would you like to include discussions of your teacher identity in your regular
meetings with your mentor?

21. Critical questions
 What have I brought to my teacher identity from my past
that misinforms my ability to be a teacher of all children?
 What habits have I formed from a public view of teachers
that I need to change?
 Do I see disruptive behaviour, or do I see a problem
communicated that I need to help solve?

22. Links to Handbook
Section 1: Understanding your role
• Your role as the teacher
• Wider professional responsibilities
• The language we use with colleagues
Section 2: Knowledge of the learner
• How we learn
• Working with families
Section 3: Planning inclusive lessons
• Quality inclusive pedagogy
Section 4: Creating an inclusive
environment
• The language learners use
Section 7: Teacher wellbeing
• How can effective relationships
support your wellbeing?
• How can your environment support
you?

23. Signposting
Garner, J and Kaplan, A (2019) A complex dynamic systems perspective on teacher learning and
identity formation: an instrumental case Teachers and Teaching, 25:1, pp 7-33 London: Routledge.
Available at www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13540602.2018.1533811 (accessed 26 February
2021)
Greer, J (2020) Chapter 3, People Like Me, in Workload; Taking Ownership of Your Teaching, St
Albans: Critical Publishing
Pantić, N and Florian, L (2015) Developing teachers as agents of inclusion and social justice. In
Education Inquiry, 6:3 27311. Abingdon: Routledge
www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.3402/edui.v6.27311 (open access) accessed 16.02.21
Detailed references are to be found in the accompanying paper