How school Memories Inform Possible Selves of an English Pre-Service Teacher

Abstract

Employing narrative prompting and interviewing, this qualitative study asked an English pre-service teacher to recall his memories of secondary schools and consider the significance of those memories. The participant recounted various memories related to the characteristics and behavior of his secondary school teachers, which fell into three main categories: “why did they ignore me”, “then they saw me” and “finally, he came and save me”. These memories revealed the barriers and supports the interviewee encountered in different educational environments, which greatly influenced the formation of his desired and feared possible selves. Moreover, the pre-service teacher recognized a conflict between the possible selves and teaching practices, and attempted to negotiate the past memories with future career, which was referred to as “no more acting against my beliefs”. The implications of pre-service teacher’s school memories and possible selves were discussed in the context of teacher development program.