Understanding the tension of beginning teachers' professional lives: Stories of action within theories of context

The present study employs the life history method, which is a collaborative venture between the researchers and four Informants, to tell the stories of the beginning teachers' role management action within theories of context. Informed by literature on teacher professionalization and professional socialization, we found that two first year teachers were caught In a tension of external performance-oriented appraisal and internal appraisal of self-worth. Another two beginners in their second year of teaching faced a tension of defining their professional self-identity when they were obliged to work against the grain in terms of making their pedagogical decisions. These beginners employed role management strategies ranging from situational adjustment to strategic redefinition to cope with the tension. The strategies were found to have different Impact on the their development as a teaching professional. When these role management strategies were analysed in the beginners' biographical, the schools' structural and the wider socio-historical contexts, we have better understanding of the conditions which contribute to the beginning teachers' employment of role management strategies that are conducive to desirable professional development.