“Regardless, my students and I pressed on”: How Early-Career Teachers Develop Activist Identities

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper, coauthored by a graduate student, a professor of education, and four early-career teachers, extends recent scholarly efforts to understand how teachers develop activist identities and how teacher education might support this development. Four researcher-participants, practicing teachers, composed narratives that trace their journeys as secondary students through their undergraduate and graduate coursework and, finally, into the early years of their teaching careers, with specific attention to how they came to identify as educational activists. Drawing on practice theories of identities, we collaboratively analyzed these narratives, considering the intertwined internal processes, interpersonal dynamics, and contextual dimensions that shape early-career teachers’ understandings of themselves as activists and approaches to educational activism. We conclude with implications for educator preparation programs, highlighting the importance of supporting individual reflection, providing sustained opportunities to develop critical consciousness through supportive relationships, and explicitly teaching aspiring and current teachers to seek out and create contexts that will allow them to engage effectively in educational activism.