Female teacher identity and educational reform: perspectives from India

ABSTRACT This article explores the ways in which female teachers negotiate their developing teacher identities and educational reform. It provides interesting data from the case of India that reflects female teacher identity and agency in the context of educational reform. Few studies specifically reference gendered responses to education reform; fewer still focus on how female teachers respond and act upon these reforms. It is argued that educational reform efforts in India should take into account female teachers’ lives and development. This small qualitative study explores through semi-structured interviews the emerging identities of eight female teachers who work in five different higher secondary schools in Chennai, Tamil Nadu. Their responses were analysed using the voice-centred relational approach. The findings point to the importance of understanding the different ways female teachers negotiate their developing teacher identities in response to the changing structural and cultural contexts in which they find themselves.