Developing Subjective Identities Through Collective Participation

This chapter explores the mutually constitutive relationship of the individual and the social context. In the analysis of our empirical data on teacher students we shall ask how individual students were able to exercise their personal agency in the two learning communities within a university context, and the context of authentic working life. We shall look more closely at the kinds of continuities and transitions that can be identified in a subject’s personal goals, and how these relate to their learning and developing a professional identity. Based on a critical review of the conceptions of identity and teacher identity, the chapter addresses the critical characteristics of professional subjectivity and the emotional nature of teacher’s work. Continuities and transitions in teacher student identity construction are described using three particular cases to exemplify the mutually constitutive role of the community and the individual subjects. Our cases demonstrate that in order to negotiate and redefine one’s personal and professional identity in the learning community, there have to be mutually constitutive spaces for learning in terms of developing professional subjectivity. In such spaces, the learner’s personal goals, plans and intentional projects come together in a favourable environment, one which offers resources for realising them.