You better watch out, short stories of competition, surveillance, and compliance in the construction of vocational education English language teachers’ professional identities in China

This article reports the results of a qualitative study whose purpose was to explore the teacher identity construction experiences of one group of vocational education English language teachers in China. The study uses narrative methods of inquiry to examine how English language teachers construct their professional identities within a performative institutional environment. Results reveal that three themes–competition, surveillance, and compliance–exemplify the struggles and tensions the participants face in negotiating their language teacher identities as they seek to be recognised as legitimate and capable members of their vocational education community. Implications for vocational education stakeholders wishing to support the wellbeing of language teachers as they construct and reconstruct their teacher identities in China are considered. Suggestions for future research are also discussed. Copyright © 2023 Association for Research in Post-Compulsory Education.