Abstract
This qualitative study investigates the processes by which science and math teachers in high-need, urban schools develop a sense of professional identity, agency, and group membership in the context of instructional reform. Focusing on the experiences of two teachers, the paper explores both obstacles and affordances that teachers encounter when attempting to alter their instruction as part of school-wide initiatives to increase use of inquiry and cooperative learning. Findings included the potential for self-talk to contribute to an internal solidarity that can foster the maintenance of positive teacher identities in spite of challenges that emerge when implementing new lessons. However, teacher self-talk was partly shaped by the schools’ procedures related to reform implementation. The results suggest that school approaches that promote teacher autonomy accompanied by support may help to center self-talk on motivational planning, which can increase confidence, sense of belonging, and reform-minded identities. In contrast, scripted and regimented approaches to reform may detach teachers from their sense of agency in the classroom, contributing to self-blame and disidentification with the instructional practices. Overall, the results of this study support the ways in which self-talk can be a mediating factor between structure, agency, and identity for early career teachers developing their practices, enabling them to make sense of their conditions and construct possibilities for action within them.
Resumen
Este estudio cualitativo investiga los procesos por los que los maestros de ciencias y matemáticas en colegios secundarios desarrollan un sentido de identidad profesional, agencia y pertenencia de grupo en el contexto de la reforma educativa. Centrándose en las experiencias de dos maestros, el documento explora los obstáculos y las posibilidades que estos encuentran al intentar cambiar su forma de enseñar siguiendo una iniciativa para la escuela para fomentar la investigación y el aprendizaje cooperativo. También explora el papel de la conversación interna (o diálogo interno) en la mediación entre la estructura y la agencia. Margaret Archer (2003) describe que los actores ejercitan la agencia a través de la conversación interna cuando los participantes establecen un diálogo interno en el que evalúan el impacto de las estructuras y consideran los posibles resultados de sus acciones. Al analizar la reflexividad, describe que la mediación depende de “los agentes que ejercen sus poderes personales para formular proyectos y para monitorear tanto a sí mismos como a la sociedad en la búsqueda de sus diseños” (p. 298). Archer describe diferentes tipos de conversaciones internas, y distingue entre aquellas que pueden conducir a la acción, tal y como la planificación y el ensayo, y aquellas que conducen a que las personas no sean capaz de tomar decisiones, por ejemplo reflexionar, y en las que la conversación es circular y centrada en eventos negativos. Collins (2004) también enfatiza la importancia de la conversación interna para la agencia, argumentando que el diálogo interno puede conducir al autoentrenamiento, la energía emocional, la solidaridad interna, la confianza y el compromiso renovado con un curso de acción determinado.
Los resultados de este estudio indican que las fallas en el aula cuando se implementan reformas educativas pueden minar la confianza de los maestros y los alumnos e impactar las percepciones de los maestros sobre sí mismos. Los resultados también destacan el potencial del diálogo interno para contribuir a una solidaridad interna que puede ayudar a mantener identidades profesionales a pesar de los retos que surgen cuando se enseñan nuevas lecciones. Sin embargo, el diálogo interno de estos maestros fue en parte moldeado por los procedimientos derivados de la aplicación de la reforma. Por ejemplo, para uno de los maestros, el enfoque de la escuela para la reforma permitió a los docentes acceder a materiales, libros e ideas de supervisores y colegas, usar estos recursos de manera creativa y aprovechar sus experiencias en el aula y su experiencia profesional para planificar cambios. El diálogo interno de este maestro estaba orientado principalmente a la acción, y en su mayoría se centró en ensayar lo que quería decir a los estudiantes en un patrón rítmico, como “pero realmente, esto es más fácil”. Su discurso pareció generar suficiente solidaridad interna para permitirle persistir en las dificultades con los nuevos enfoques adoptados por la escuela. Sin embargo, a la otra maestra en este estudio se le dio un currículum prescriptivo. En lugar de tener espacio para maniobrar y autoevaluarse, experimentó críticas de los supervisores que visitaban su salón de clase para verificar un listado. Su diálogo interno a veces estaba orientado a la acción, pero en otros momentos variaba entre la frustración por el plan de estudios, la decepción de los estudiantes con ella y su propia decepción en sí misma. No tenía tanto acceso al apoyo ni libertad de hacer cambios en el aula que pudiera permitir una conversación autónoma que produjera solidaridad al implementar enfoques de aprendizaje cooperativo, y no desarrolló una identidad de mentalidad reformista.
Los resultados sugieren que los enfoques escolares que promueven la autonomía de los maestros al mismo tiempo que los apoyan pueden ayudar a centrar el diálogo interno en la planificación motivacional, lo que puede aumentar la confianza, el sentido de pertenencia y las identidades reformistas. En contraste, perspectivas de reforma prescriptivas reglamentadas pueden alejar a los maestros de su sentido de agencia en el aula, contribuyendo a la autoculpa y la desidentificación con las prácticas de instrucción. En general, este estudio muestra que la conversación interna puede ser un factor de mediación entre la estructura, la agencia y la identidad en el caso de maestros en sus primeros años de carrera todavía desarrollando sus prácticas educativas al permitirles dar sentido a sus condiciones y construir posibilidades de acción dentro de ellos.
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Acknowledgements
The research in this manuscript is supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. #1439417. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. The author gratefully acknowledges the teachers for sharing their experiences, Dr. Sandra Fillebrown for her advice, support, and work on the project, and Allyson Coughlin, Caley Gallagher, Krystina Cole, Amy Perfetti, and Neve Merino for their assistance.
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Olitsky, S. Identity, agency, and the internal conversations of science and math teachers implementing instructional reforms in high-need urban schools. Cult Stud of Sci Educ 16, 19–45 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09965-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09965-4