Split personality/unified identity : being a teacher-researcher

Abstract

Ever since I became a full-time teacher of English, I have always entered the classroom with two personalities operating concomitantly. As a teacher, my duties were driven by a passion for the subject and by a commitment to young people’s engagement with language. At the same time, since I was a part-time graduate student while teaching—first reading for a Master of Education degree and then a doctorate—my professional context and the teaching and learning that took place in it became part of my academic inquiry. Both my MEd and PhD theses focused on my school as a case study and, despite the fact that these research projects were close to my concerns as a practitioner, they were not strictly speaking teacher research. Both projects entailed adopting a somewhat external perspective in order to explore my colleagues’ professional beliefs and practices. Teacher research, meanwhile, is defined as research ‘conducted in teachers’ own professional context and with the purpose of enhancing their understanding of some aspect of their work’ (Borg 2013: 8). None the less, my graduate studies equipped me with knowledge and skills that I could exploit in order to carry out teacher research, which I conducted in parallel to that required for completion of my theses. For example, my understanding of the research process and possible methodologies was honed thanks to my studies. My story as a teacher is not separate from the research I have conducted and written about over the years. My professional identity is multifaceted and both teaching and research are intrinsic components of it.