Advertisement

Cultural Studies of Science Education

, Volume 13, Issue 2, pp 525–537 | Cite as

“The fish becomes aware of the water in which it swims”: revealing the power of culture in shaping teaching identity

  • Yuli Rahmawati
  • Peter Charles Taylor
Original Paper
First Online:

Abstract

“The fish becomes aware of the water in which it swims” is a metaphor that represents Yuli’s revelatory journey about the hidden power of culture in her personal identity and professional teaching practice. While engaging in a critical auto/ethnographic inquiry into her lived experience as a science teacher in Indonesian and Australian schools, she came to understand the powerful role of culture in shaping her teaching identity. Yuli realised that she is a product of cultural hybridity resulting from interactions of very different cultures—Javanese, Bimanese, Indonesian and Australian. Traditionally, Javanese and Indonesian cultures do not permit direct criticism of others. This influenced strongly the way she had learned to interact with students and caused her to be very sensitive to others. During this inquiry she learned the value of engaging students in open discourse and overt caring, and came to realise that teachers bringing their own cultures to the classroom can be both a source of power and a problem. In this journey, Yuli came to understand the hegemonic power of culture in her teaching identity, and envisioned how to empower herself as a good teacher educator of pre-service science teachers.

Keywords

Teaching identity Cultural identity Religion Auto/ethnography Transformative research 

Abstrak

“Ketika ikan tidak menyadari air sebagai tempat ia berenang” adalah metafora yang mewakili peranan identitas budaya sebagai kekuatan yang tersembunyi dalam identitas personal dan professional saya sebagai seorang pendidik. Arts-based critical auto/ethnographic inquiry membantu saya dalam memahami pengalaman saya di sekolah-sekolah di Indonesia dan Australia. Saya menyadari kekuatan peranan budaya dalam identitas saya sebagai pendidik. Saya juga menyadari bahwa saya merupakan identitas hibrid dari berbagai budaya berbeda - Jawa, Bima, Indonesia dan Australia. Dalam sudut pandang tradisional Jawa dan Indonesia, saya tidak dapat mengkritik langsung orang lain. Hal ini sangat mempengaruhi cara saya berinteraksi dengan murid-murid dan menyebabkan saya menjadi sangat sensitif terhadap orang lain. Ketika berinteraksi dengan budaya Australia, saya belajar nilai dari siswa dalam hal keterbukaan. Saya juga menyadari bahwa guru memiliki budaya sendiri yang dapat menjadi potensi sumber kekuatan sekaligus sumber masalah. Saya semakin memahami kekuatan budaya dalam identitas saya sebagai seorang pendidik yang mendorong saya untuk menjadi pendidik calon guru sains yang baik.

Kata kunci

Identitas pendidik Identitas budaya Agama Auto/ etnografi Penelitian transformatif 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Ackermann, A. (2012). Cultural hybridity: Between metaphor and empiricism. In P. W. Stockhammer (Ed.), Conceptualizing cultural hybridization: A transdisciplinary approach (pp. 5–23). Berlin: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  2. Aydeniz, M., & Hodge, L. L. (2011). Identity: A complex structure for researching students’ academic behavior in science and mathematics. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 6, 509–523. doi: 10.1007/s11422-011-9331-9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Basseches, M. (2005). The development of dialectical thinking as an approach to integration. Integral Review, 1, 47–63.Google Scholar
  4. Bradshaw, J. (1998). The transformational journey in the construction of the researcher role. In L. Rowan & M. Brennan (Eds.), Cultural transformation: Essays in culture and change (pp. 43–56). Queensland: Central Queensland University Press.Google Scholar
  5. Brookfield, S. D. (2000). The concept of critically reflective practice. In A. L. Wilson & E. R. Hayes (Eds.), Handbook of adult and continuing education (pp. 33–49). San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. Springer.Google Scholar
  6. Clothier, I. M. (2005). Created identities: Hybrid cultures and the internet. Convergence, 11(4), 44–59. doi: 10.1177//1354856505061053.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Corbett, K. (2015). Gender, identity and culture in learning physics. Cultural Studies of Science Education. doi: 10.1007/s11422-015-9679-3.Google Scholar
  8. Council of Europe. (2016). Competences for democratic culture: Living together as equals in culturally diverse democratic societies. Strasbourg: Council of Europe Publishing.Google Scholar
  9. Davis, T. (2010). Third spaces or heterotopias? Recreating and negotiating migrant identity using online spaces. Sociology, 44(4), 661–667.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Erickson, E. (1986). Identity: Youth and crisis. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
  11. Eulie, J. (1987). Indonesian educators compare schools, education In US and Indonesia. NASSP Bulletin, 71, 90–98.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  12. Fitzpatrick, K. R. (2012). Cultural diversity and the formation of identity: Our role as music teachers. Music Educators Journal, 98, 53–59. doi: 10.1177/0027432112442903.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Guba, E. G., & Lincoln, Y. S. (1994). Competing paradigms in qualitative research. In N. K. Denzin & Y. S. Lincoln (Eds.), Handbook of qualitative research (pp. 105–117). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
  14. Hamman, D., Gosselin, K., Romano, J., & Bunuan, R. (2010). Using possible-selves theory to understand the identity development of new teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 1349–1361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Hoffman-Kipp, P. (2008). Actualizing democracy: The praxis of teacher identity construction. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(3), 151–164.Google Scholar
  16. Huang, Y.-S. (2015). Integrating reflexivity: Negotiating researcher identity through autoethnography. Educational Research for Social Change, 4(2), 89–103.Google Scholar
  17. Lui, K. (2013). Critical reflection as a framework for transfromative learning in teacher education. Educational Review, 67(2), 135–157. doi: 10.1080/00131911.2013.839546.Google Scholar
  18. Mahalingam, R., & Leu, J. (2005). Culture, essentialism, displacement and representations of gender. Theory and Psychology, 15(6), 841–862.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Noesjirwan, J., & Freestone, C. (1979). The culture game: A simulation of culture shock. Simulation Gaming, 10, 189–206. doi: 10.1177/104687817901000204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Olsen, B. (2008). Introducing teacher identity and this volume. Teacher Education Quarterly, 35(3), 3–6.Google Scholar
  21. Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher’s life. San Fransisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
  22. Rahmawati, Y. (2013). Revealing and reconceptualising teaching identity through the landscapes of culture, religion, transformative learning, and sustainability education: A transformation journey of a science educator. Doctoral thesis, Curtin University, Australia.Google Scholar
  23. Rahmawati, Y., & Taylor, P. C. (2015). Moments of critical realisation and appreciation: A transformative chemistry teacher reflects. Reflective Practice: International and Multidisciplinary Perspectives, 16(1), 31–42. doi: 10.1080/14623943.2014.944142.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Rahmawati, Y., Koul, R., & Fisher, D. (2015). Teacher–student dialogue: Transforming teacher interpersonal behaviour and pedagogical praxis through co-teaching and co-generative dialogue. Learning Environment Research: An International Journal, 18(2), 393–408. doi: 10.1007/s10984-015-9191-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  25. Rodgers, C. R., & Scott, K. H. (2008). The development of the personal self and professional identity in learning to teach. In M. Cochran-Smith, S. Feiman-Nemser, D. J. McIntyre, & K. E. Demers (Eds.), Handbook of research on teacher education: Enduring questions in changing contexts (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
  26. Sarsito, T. (2006). Javanese culture as the source of legitimacy for Soeharto’s government. Asia Europe Journal, 4, 447–461. doi: 10.1007/s10308-006-0078-y.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Shapiro, S. (2010). Revisiting the teachers’ lounge: Reflections on emotional experience and teacher identity. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26, 616–621. doi: 10.1016/j.tate.2009.09.009.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  28. Simone, D. (2008). The time of hybridity. Philosophy and Social Criticism, 34(6), 387–615.Google Scholar
  29. Strong, L. (2015). The intersection of identity, culture and science engagement. Cultural Studies of Science Education. doi: 10.1007/s11422-015-9680-x.Google Scholar
  30. Subandi, M. A. (2011). Family expressed emotion in a Javanese cultural context. Culture Medicine Psychiatry, 35, 331–346. doi: 10.1007/s11013-011-9220-4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  31. Sussman, N. M. (2000). The dynamic nature of cultural identity throughout cultural transitions: Why home is not so sweet. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 4(4), 355–373. doi: 10.1207/S15327957PSPR0404_5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Taylor, P. C., Taylor, E., & Luitel, B. C. (2012). Multi-paradigmatic transformative research as/for teacher education: An integral perspective. In B. J. Fraser, K. G. Tobin, & C. J. McRobbie (Eds.), Second international handbook of science education (pp. 373–387). Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  33. Taylor, P. C., Nhalevilo, E., & Rahmawati, Y. (2015). Transformative educational research: Meeting global challenges of the 21st Century. Newsletter of the East-Asian Association for Science Education, 8(4), 0032.Google Scholar
  34. Usborne, E., & Taylor, D. M. (2010). The role of cultural identity clarity for self-concept clarity, self-esteem, and subjective well-being. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 36(7), 883–897. doi: 10.1177/0146167210372215.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  35. Van Leeuwen, B. (2008). On the affective ambivalence of living with cultural diversity. Ethnicities, 8(2), 147–176. doi: 10.1177/1468796808088921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Williams, W. L. (1991). Javanese lives: Women and men in modern Indonesian society. New Jersey: Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
  37. Willison, J. W., & Taylor, P. C. (2006). Complementary epistemologies of science teaching: Towards an integral perspective. In P. J. Aubusson, A. G. Harrison, & S. M. Ritchie (Eds.), Analogy and metaphor in science education. Dordrecht: Springer.Google Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 1.Department of Chemistry EducationUniversitas Negeri JakartaJakartaIndonesia
  2. 2.School of EducationMurdoch UniversityMurdochAustralia

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options