Class Consciousness, Power, Identity, and the Motivation to Teach

Abstract

This article reports on a small-scale research project that explored the classconsciousness and working-class identities of a small group of student teachers in a university in south-east England. It describes and uses classic Marxist perspectives and sociological theory as an analytical framework to interpret the views of eight student teachers who provide their perspectives in a series of in-depth interviews. It is argued that these student teachers' identities and class experiences have sculpted their motivations to become teachers and that the form of class-consciousness that they exhibit ultimately acts to mould attitudes and perspectives that suit the objectives of twenty-first-century primary education in a capitalist society. Power relations are played out through the struggle between the potential social power that working-class-conscious teachers possess and the forms of professional labour power that are fostered through initial teacher education courses and the habitus from which these students emerge.

The life–course formation of teachers’ profession. How emotions affect VET teachers’ social identity.

“…More recent approaches examine how teachers' professional identity is influenced by beliefs prior to the occupational entry. Biographical experiences and personality characteristics are seen as factors influencing the passage from being a student to being a teacher (Lambirth, 2010). It is not a deterministic transition due to its naturalistic and unconscious character.…”