Hitching one's wagon to a star : narrative inquiry into the first five years of teaching in Iceland

• Main Author: Lilja María Jónsdóttir 1950-
• Other Authors: Háskóli Íslands
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 2012
• Subjects: Doktorsritgerðir; Grunnskólakennarar; Kennarastarf; Reynslusögur; Leiðsögn; Starfsþróun; Skólaganga; Eigindlegar rannsóknir; Elementary school teachers; Teaching; In-service training; Qualitative research; Iceland
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1946/13947

The purpose of this longitudinal research was to explore the meaning beginning teachers make of their experiences in the first five years of teaching in Iceland. The aim was to create knowledge that would bring to light their learning and development; what hinders and what supports them. Another aim was to examine what kind of support novice teachers need during the early years of teaching. The methodological background of this qualitative study was both phenomenology and postmodern theory, and the central analytical perspective was the philosophy of narrative inquiry, which shaped the research methodology and the methods used. This research draws heavily on Connelly and Clandinin's ideas, terms and definitions on narrative inquiry, especially the term 'personal practical knowledge'. This thesis delineates the stories of three participants. Each was met with once before they started teaching and two times during the first year of teaching, then after their second and third year of teaching, and the final meeting took place at the end of their fifth year of teaching. The findings from this research confirm, and substantiate, a strong link between the participants' experiences from their homes and upbringing as well as their 14 years of compulsory and high school schooling, both positive and negative, to their ideas of what constitutes a good teacher, and therefore what kind of teachers they initially wanted to become. It is suggested that the development of their personal practical knowledge of teaching and learning was formed during their childhood and teenage years at home and in school. This was where their knowledge of schooling originated from, and this was the knowledge they brought with them to their teacher education program and formed their personal beliefs and visions of teaching and learning. The results considerably add to the current understanding of the term personal practical knowledge as well as bestowing it with greater depth and extension. The findings moreover bring to light that during their ...