Abstract/Summary

This thesis explores the relationship between teachers’ professional identity (PI) and professional learning (PL). It is an interpretivist case study of an independent, selective, girls’, fee-paying, independent school in the south of England. It involved seven members of teaching staff and employed three research instruments: the completion of metaphors, semi-structured interviews and document analysis. Its particular identification of the relationship between PI and PL in an independent school is brought into sharp focus as this relationship in such a context is one which has hitherto received little direct study. Moreover, this relationship is one of critical importance owing to how inseparable teachers’ identities and learning are from issues of power and control. In short, in the current educational landscape the question of how far teachers are able to control their PIs and PL, and the relationship therein, is one which holds great relevance. Moreover, exploring this relationship provides an insight into what it means to be a teaching professional in an independent school in the 21st century. The study finds that teachers’ PIs in this independent school are shaped by aims and intentions, actions and qualities, conditions and emotions and thus offers new insights to the field. In addition, the study finds that teachers’ PL in this school is regarded by the study’s participants as a responsibility and priority, involves development and reflection so as to maintain skills and understanding, and is a key component of being a professional. Most importantly, this study finds that the vision for PL in this school matters most. Once again, these nuances are original contributions. In terms of the relationship between PI and PL, the study offers further new understanding as it finds that there are three ways with which to understand such a relationship in this independent school: that it may be determined by what most influences and informs one’s practice: who teachers are, their purpose, or their means of working.