Teaching in a post-pandemic world: narrative accounts of newly qualified teachers in Scotland, Hong Kong and England

The proposed round table will open a discussion on some of the challenges that student teachers have faced at the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic and their understanding of professionalism in this context. The discussion is based on the preliminary data analysis for a research paper on the impact of Covid-19 on student teachers.

The project uses a narrative enquiry methodology (Clandinin 2006) to examine the lived experience of transitioning student teachers during Covid-19 in three settings: England, Scotland and Hong Kong and in particular, the impact on their sense of professional identity. The data collection is structured in two phases: two students from each setting have provided a narrative reflection of their experiences at the end of their teacher education programmes. They will return to their initial reflections in October 2020, to evaluate and further reflect on their professional identities once they are established in practice as newly qualified teachers.

The discussants will reflect on the implications of the collected narratives for the future of teacher identity and professionalism in a post-pandemic world recognising the complexity of teaching, the need for self-regulation within the profession and the recognition of the civic status of the profession in its broadest sense (Sachs, 2016). In particular, the theme of teacher professionalism will be discussed from the perspective of the increased visibility and accountability of the teaching profession and what this might mean for the role of schooling and education more broadly in civil societies (Biesta, 2015).