European Educational Research Journal Volume 8 Number 3 2009 www.wwwords.

eu/EERJ

Teachers as Professionals and Teachers Identity Construction as an Ecological Construct: an agenda for research and training drawing upon a biographical research process
AMLIA LOPES Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, University of Porto, Portugal

ABSTRACT The study of teacher identity developed greatly during the 1990s and, in a way, replaced other studies on teacher professionalism. Highlighting the interactions, emotions and cognitions in their everyday expression, these studies contributed to making visible the role of specific communities of professionals in valuing and improving professional action. However, after almost two decades, it became clear that the study of the construction of teacher identity could not be based solely on the description of the interactions, but in fact also required a macro-sociological analysis. Coordinating these levels of analysis is important for developing the construct of the teacher as a professional, a profile that inspires current teacher training policies in Europe. Based on theoretical contributions such as the construction of professional identities for real social change (Claude Dubar), and the idealtypical model of professionalism (Eliot Freidson), this article aims to present the construction of teacher identity as a subjective dimension of the process of teacher professionalisation, viewing it as an ecological construct. To this end, the article presents the results of research carried out during the 1990s and the early twenty-first century, in order to shed some light on the dynamics inherent to each of the levels of analysis and the interactions which are established between them. The article concludes with a discussion of the advantages of this approach for teacher training and research.

Introduction Educational research and improved education will be the most important features in a European space fabrication (Nvoa & Lawn, 2002). A European education space will have to be grounded on a strong, common cultural basis, according to Martin Lawn (2001, 2003), and teacher education and the teaching profession will play an important part. The most significant theme of European teacher education policies focuses on a professional teacher profile, stressing high quality teacher education for high quality teaching and learning (Buchberger et al, 2000). Some years after this important Green Papers hopeful claim, the professional teacher profile is at risk of being restricted to prescribed individual performances. Educational reforms and governments discourses seem to put teachers on the educational agenda only to blame them for the poor performance of educational systems (Teodoro, 2008). In practice (discursively or in action) the claim of teacher as a professional can be both a single-level challenge (the class/individual level) and a claim that is more de-professionalising than professionalising. Educational reforms in all European countries are in fact emphasising a narrow version of teacher professionalism the managerial one although they are not doing so simultaneously. So it would seem that to achieve a professional teacher profile we need a broader professional project for teachers. This project should clearly aim at the social recognition of teachers, as well as their autonomy and dignity, uniting teachers efforts at different levels along with motivation from 461
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Amlia Lopes the government. This professional project can be designed through the combined efforts of current professional groups and teacher identity studies. In fact, the development of theoretical approaches for understanding professions and professionalism in the last two decades has, interestingly, gone hand in hand with the emergence of studies on professional identities as an attractive research topic. Studies on professional identities were at first viewed as an alternative to thinking that all professions and all professionals could build up their own working conditions, both individual and collective, in a very different world from that which created the professions. Indeed, the society of professions was giving way to the community of professionals (Lopes, 2001a, p. 71). Separating the study of occupations from the rigid and elitist norms of the modern professional ideal, studying the construction of professional identities stresses individual meaning and the interactive process of recognition (the quality of communication between parties) as important sources of individual and collective identity; that is, as means of constructing autonomous, responsible personal and collective identities, from within the professional group itself. At the end of the 1980s and the start of the 1990s, this approach was broadly adopted in European research to consider the teaching profession (see, for example, Nvoa, 1987, 1989, 1991, 1992; Lopes, 1993, 1995). It influenced the theorisation and research methodologies that are now bound to the qualitative paradigm in the form of descriptive and ethnographic research, or action research. The notion of constructing social and professional identities for real social change (Dubar, 1995) was the inspiration for many these studies. This was a time when schools were seen as places for developing and expanding the independence of teachers and their specific learning, based on personal exposure, on sharing in a small group and on organisational awareness. Educational systems were then experiencing what Bolvar (2007, p. 31) called school-based curriculum development, in the belief that teachers would improve the quality of education and pupil attainment, as well as their professional status, through new ways of collaborative working. Along with the increase in references to lifelong development and learning, in-service teacher training was eagerly invoked as the best route to construct new teacher professional identities. Meanwhile the traditional objective criteria for defining professions, professionals and professionalism, whose reference was the macro level, were reviewed in terms of a more interactive, dynamic and phenomenological context (see, for example, Rodrigues, 1997; Dubar & Tripier, 1998). Incorporating the functionalist, interactionist and power approaches, considering the role of society, the State and professional associations in the professionalisation process (now regarded as an open project and a possibility for all occupations and all workers), the discussion about occupations and professionalism currently takes the micro level of analysis into account (traditionally limited to the interactionist approaches). In the sphere of education, this approach stresses the place of knowledge in professionalisation. It seeks to increase interest through initial teacher training, and in teachers relations with in-service training (Day, 2001; Tardif et al, n.d.) The rediscovery of the importance of initial training to professionalisation coincided with an emerging awareness of the limitations of a school-centred approach to improving schools and the professional development of teachers, and thus the limitations of (re)constructing teacher professional identities solely by changing school relations (Lopes, 2001b; Lopes et al, 2004). As is asserted by Freidson (e.g. Freidson, 1998), reflecting about his interactionist approach to professional groups, a lot of aspects of teaching practice and action in school could not be negotiated only within the schools. These aspects related to the macro level of analysis and included relations with the State and professional associations, together with the production of scientific knowledge on education and initial training. This inability to think of building new teacher professional identities solely by changing school relations is even more obvious when schools and teachers start to be steadily faced by standards based reform (Elmore, 2000). Although this takes place in the school, it is standardised and regulated worldwide. Focused as it is on the individual teacher, the class and final outcomes of both pupils and schools, and as it makes educational change a merely technical issue, this reform of standards ignores the important place of subjectivities (in cognitive, affective and emotional terms) in the teaching profession. So it seems to be necessary to broaden the scope of the notion of construction of professional identity to take in other levels of the system. As recent approaches to professionalism consider various levels of analysis (Evetts, 2003, 2006), it should be possible to achieve a broader construction of teacher professional identity. This article seeks to contribute to a deeper 462

Teachers as Professionals conceptualisation of teachers professional profile, linking professional groups and professional identities studies to propose teachers professional identities construction as an ecological construct able to establish an understanding of the processes that unfold at different levels (macro, meso and micro) of social analysis of interaction and as the subjective dimension of the professionalisation of teachers. When I say ecological, I am, on the one hand, drawing on Bronfenbrenners ecology of human development (Bronfenbrenner, 1979). He believes that development comes from interaction between different levels of the system (micro, meso, exo and macro), fitted inside one another like a Russian (matryoshka) doll. We are also inspired by the psychosocial viewpoint of Wilhelm Doise (1980, 2002), which, by coordinating micro and macro approaches, considers the individual, small group, organisational and societal levels of analysis. Our goal is pursued by combining theoretical thought and data from a biographical process of empirical research. Professionalism and Teacher Professionalism Today At the end of the 1980s it was not yet possible to talk about the professionalism of teachers without causing a really negative reaction, thanks to the elitist aura that surrounded professionalism in the past. Today, as we know, while professionalism may not be regarded in a neutral light, it is not now always viewed as a danger or betrayal. A long path has been travelled in the thinking on professionalism, and its pros and cons, from the functionalist theory of professions and interactionism to the critical movement (paradigm of power) and its latest developments. In relation to Johnson, Larson and Freidson, Rodrigues (1997) notes that the new views on professionalism have two important consequences: they stress professionals acquisition of status, and not their ideal qualities (which are now being examined); discourses on the profession construct the profession, especially at the symbolic level of professional status. The acquisition of social power power to define their own job is a central topic in these new viewpoints. Freidson brings together approaches that emphasise professions and approaches which emphasise professional groups, and even engages traditionally antagonistic theoretical approaches, like the ideological model and the normative model (Evetts, 2003), and so he is regarded as the author who best represents these new perspectives. Evetts (2003, p. 403) mentions Freidsons contribution and characterises current viewpoints on professionalism thus: besides ensuring the protection of a market, Durkheim sees professionalism as also representing a distinctive form of decentralised occupational control that is important in civil society; public interest and professional self-interest are not necessarily in opposition ... the pursuit of self-interest can be compatible with bettering the public interest; professionalism can create and represent distinct professional values or moral obligations which restrict competition and encourage cooperation. Professionalism as a third logic, according to Freidson (2001), is an ideal-typical model that is based on the concept of occupation as a wider category of theoretical analysis, able to consider the capacity to motivate productive work by using knowledge and know-how (Freidson, 1998, p. 54). Valuing the quality of services to consumers and professional motivation, Freidson (1998) argues that workers should not be regarded as anonymous employees, but as people capable of organising, creating and improving their own jobs and who have a strong personal and social identity, thanks to their work (p. 54). The author emphasises autonomy and the power to decide in relation to work as criteria for the quality of the work and motivation of professionals. The ideal-typical control of labour by occupations implies an official position that neutralises consumer and employer power, giving an occupation the power to control a division of labour, a labour market and training opportunities (Freidson, 1998, p. 54). The delegation of part of the division of professionals work by social and political authority is essential to this process. The group, meanwhile, must ensure the competent practice of an important social service that includes respect for a set of values that mould the professional ethic. These are the values that justify the delegation of powers by the state and ground public belief in professional legitimacy (Dubar & Tripier, 1998, p. 127). Delegation is an important step, since, as Freidson says (1998, p. 54), as soon as an occupation controls a division of labour, it is systematically different from 463

Amlia Lopes what is produced in a free market or in the case of control by a bureaucratic authority: the number of specialisations, their continuance in time, hierarchical relations, recruitment, how the work is controlled, supervision and assessment are different; careers and ideal-typical characteristics of training controlled by the workers, on whom rest references and titles, are different, too. This is the theoretical background with which Evetts (2003, p. 398) revisits the distinction made by McClelland (1990) between professionalism from above and professionalism from within. In the latter, though taking a different line of argument, Ramalho et al (2004) suggest that we can distinguish between professionality development by teachers in schools of an effective professional and valued knowledge and professionalism development by teachers of a deliberate social strategy aiming at the recognition and legitimation of their social worth and at freedom of choice in terms of work and occupation. When and how does the State give a profession the chance to control part of the division of labour? Freidson (1998, 2001) considers that the conditions for this vary from era to era, but he points to these as the most important: the organisation and political guidance of the state, the composition and organisation of the profession, the prevailing ideology that goes hand in hand with this specialised work and the economic and social institutions needed to operate these various bodies of theoretical and practical knowledge (Freidson, 1998, p. 54). Evetts (2003, 2006) believes that here the core issue is not why professional groups achieve this control, but why the State allows them this possibility. Freidson, meanwhile, adds that if we are to understand what an activity gains and loses in terms of control, we must systematically [examine], in clearly established times and places, the changes in an occupation given these contingent conditions (Freidson, 1998, p. 54). What is the situation of professionalism of teachers in light of this? Teaching, especially in continental countries and authoritarian states, has traditionally been seen as a semi-profession. The main barriers to the recognition of teaching as a profession have been the lack of proper knowledge, construed as scientific, and, as Blin (1997) notes, its hierarchical dependencies (the ways in which authority is exercised). Recent developments in teacher professionalisation, stressing the professional knowledge specific to teachers, the quality of their training and the epistemological gains in terms of the scientific nature of teaching and other social activities, have increased the possibilities for the professionalisation of teachers in relation to their relationship with knowledge and science (Tardif et al, n.d.) In fact, ever since initial and in-service teacher training has been viewed with more consideration, and ever since schools and teachers started to make more effort to tackle the new challenges of public education, the likelihood of teachers developing a strong sense of professionalism from within, in the two ways mentioned above, have increased. Meanwhile the reform of standards was disseminated, increasing bureaucratisation, decreasing the quality of services and resulting in a serious crisis of occupational identity (as teachers themselves put it). The reform of standards in education is part of a wider, more inclusive movement called managerialism. Evetts (2006) sees this as corresponding to organisational professionalism, found especially, the author reports, in knowledge-based, service sector work (p. 140), like that of education and health, and he wonders why managerialism, with all its contradictions and causing such crises, is still an instrument for occupational change and social control. To answer this question, Evetts (2006, pp. 140-141) goes to Fournier, who analyses the dynamics of managerialism on the basis of Michel Foucaults viewpoint. The managerialist discourse in occupations has an impact at all levels of the system (macro, meso and micro), modelling subjectivities. Evetts (2006) sees this discourse as competing with the more conventional, historical forms of occupational professionalism, i.e. as a value system that governs professional action and takes the professional group as its reference. Along the same lines, Judith Sachs (1999) says that, in education, managerialism has also had a significant impact on the work of school principals as well as teachers (p. 3); when states promote devolution and decentralisation [they] have [at the same time] relied heavily on managerialist structures to ensure implementation and compliance of a frequently resistant profession (p. 3). This strategy has had a major, and dangerous, effect on teaching and teachers: recent reforms, particularly those concerning devolution and marketisation have given rise to a set of paradoxes about the nature of teaching as a profession and about the professional identity and professional development of teachers (p. 2). Taking Menter et al (1997) as her authority, Sachs argues that, in these circumstances, a new model of professional identity has emerged: the entrepreneurial 464

Teachers as Professionals professional who will identify identity with the efficient, responsible and accountable version of service that is currently promulgated (p. 6). While Evetts (2006) tells us about the competition between organisational professionalism and occupational professionalism, Sachs (1999, 2001) talks about the competition in the sphere of education between managerial professionalism and democratic professionalism. Expounding on democratic professionalism, Sachs says that
The core of democratic professionalism emphasises collaborative, cooperative action between teachers and other education stakeholders. Preston (1995) maintains that this approach is a strategy for industry development, skill development and work organization. According to Brennan (1996) it suggests that the teacher has a wider responsibility than the single classroom and includes contributing to the school, the system, other students, the wider community, and collective responsibilities of teachers themselves as a group and the broader profession. (1999, pp. 2-3)

Sachs (1999) suggests a teacher identity that changes the basis for collective recognition and relation (p. 10). These prospective identities are launched by social movements, and are engaged in conversion through their engagement with economic and political activity to provide for the development of their new potential (p. 10). The core question is the collective action, which is industrial (trade union activities and working conditions) and professional (activities related to continuous professional development). As Evetts (2006) calls attention to the importance of relating and differentiating levels of analysis, Sachs (1999) argues that identity is an ongoing work in a large arena, with multiple and not always consistent levels of intervention:
I would suggest that there would be incongruities between the defined identity of teachers as proposed by systems, unions and individual teachers themselves and that these will change at various times according to contextual and individual factors and exigencies. Identity must be forever re-established and negotiated. (p. 5)

The Construction of Teachers Professional Identities: an argument based on research results The purpose of this article is to enhance our conceptualisation of the professional teacher profile, including it in a larger professional project by proposing the construction of teachers professional identities (CTPI) as an ecological construct and as a subjective dimension of teachers professionalisation, involving aspects of professionalism from within that we earlier identified and professionalism from above. In fact, it seems that the construction of an alternative to managerialist professionalism and entrepreneurial identities needs a more thorough description of identity dynamics within and between the various levels of the social/ecological system. This description should be possible from the results of our research, guided by Claude Dubars notion of professional identities for real social change. I will examine this concept first, before moving on to the research carried out. The Notion of the Construction of Professional Identities for Real Social Change The notion of constructing professional identities for real social change (Dubar, 1995) obviously sees identity from a prospective point of view, and, furthermore, introduces interactions (actions and practices) into the discussion, in an ongoing process of negotiation, and an ethical point of view relative to the communicational quality that ought ideally to be a part of such negotiation. The core concept of the notion is that of dual transaction the construction of a professional identity is a transaction between two parties, each of which is also in another transaction: first there is the biographical transaction (subjective or internal) between what I have been and what I want to be; then there is the relational transaction (objective or external) between what I want to be in a certain situation and what I am offered by the situation, or not, to enable me to be what I want to be therein. So we have individual identities seeking recognition and self-fulfilment, and with their own histories and plans, in interaction with others (persons and institutions) which, with their own 465

Amlia Lopes identities, structures, cultures, projects and aims, may or may not sustain the individual identities claimed or desired. Recognition is the centre of this transactional dynamic. Identity construction is a continuous process of supply and demand. If the demanded differs from the supply, the individual, pursuing recognition, will develop interactions assimilating the other part to his or her own projects, thereby acting to change the context according to his other interests or projects, or adapting to accommodate the projects of others (and so changing himself/herself accordingly). Recognition and self-fulfilment are only achieved if this process is handled with due respect for the quality of the communication between each party. Real social change is social change that changes modern social relations (based on recognition that excludes one party) for social relations based on mutual recognition. Real social change stresses that the instrumental changes in an activity (working methods) must be accompanied by communicational changes (which alter the power relations underpinning the carrying out of the work). Openness in the demand for an identity (openness to changing the request according to other peoples circumstances and projects) and uncertainty of supply (agreeing to change it in terms of the projects and realities of others) are the main qualities of a dual transaction that contributes to real social change. It allows the achievement of individual identity projects, alongside the construction of a new, shared identity (collective identity), during the negotiation process. The Construction of Teachers Professional Identities: a line of research The main problem with managerialist professionalism is the way it disregards subjectivities and interactions, imposing itself surreptitiously from outside, at all levels of the system, thus sustaining modern social relations with other content, based on the exclusion of part of the right to recognition. Meanwhile, the notion of identity construction for real social change takes subjectivities into account, and their ability to build new collective identities through mutual recognition, but it does not develop the systemic/ecological topography in which it can take place. To learn about the topography and the systemic dynamic that the CTPI may exhibit, we need to look at the results of three stages of our research work. Stage one of the research: from teacher unease to the theoretical identification of ways to construct new identities. Researching teachers identity crisis from the end of the 1980s to the early 1990s, we brought together studies on teacher unease and studies on personal and social identities in social psychology and ego psychology. Our problem was not so much the entrepreneurial identity, but the professional suffering that we found in beginner teachers we were training. Changes about how to teach and relate with pupils, shaped by new conceptions of authority and knowledge learned during training, faced with the reality of teaching in schools still bound by traditional organisational forms of authority and conceptions of knowledge, seem to be at the centre of an individual and collective feeling of disquiet, which has an impact on problems of working in class, in relationships between school colleagues and with parents and other community bodies. Furthermore, it would seem that teachers unease was one part (an important part, since it is their job to train future generations) of a profound social change that was implying new conceptions of being a person and relating with others and the world at large. Our research tools were the Teachers Interpersonal Self Matrix (Abraham, 1984) and the Psychosocial Identity Inventory (Zavalloni & Louis-Gurin, 1984). The results of the research (see Lopes, 1993) showed that unease is routinely expressed in everyday school activities, as a defensive strategy, and in competition relations between colleagues, in an effort to preserve personal identity based on a strong desire for change, but lacking any individual or collective ability to accomplish it. Theoretical references were drawn from interactionist approaches to relations of self (agency) and society, and from Tajfels social identity theory and Moscovicis theory of social representation (the very concept of identity is changing). This first stage of the research concluded by pointing out three interrelated ways to promote the construction of new identities for teachers: the broad contexts should be diversified and multidimensional, the institutional contexts should be decentralised and autonomous, and the proximal contexts should provide social support that allows the identification and acceptance of conflict (Lopes, 1995, p. 182). 466

Teachers as Professionals These conditions as a whole offer a new path to build new collective identities, starting from new individual identities and vice versa. The causality is circular but it was clear to us, just as Sachs (1999, 2001) observed, that the main challenge for schools and education is to change current collective identities; individual suffering and disquiet are consequences of professional desires that are not achieved because of the old forms of collective identity still found in schools. Stage two of the research: from theoretical identification to empirical identification of ways to construct new identities. In the second stage of our research we activated the empirical and theoretical contributions from the first stage in an action research project (inspired by Elliott, 1990) with the objective of changing teachers practices, bearing in mind the ways specified earlier (see Ribeiro et al, 1997). At the same time we captured the whole process using field notes, transcripts of conversations from small-group meetings and open (about school life, colleagues, the principal, parents and pupils) and closed questionnaires (semantic differential to find the meanings teachers assigned to school, to colleagues and to teachers in general) at the beginning and at the end of the process. Our chief goal was to capture the process of (re)constructing professional identities during the action research project. This process was now based on the notion of constructing professional identities for real social change, which we felt should assemble all the theoretical perspectives that we had used before, but putting them to professional groups and professions for specific discussion. Our intervention in schools amounted to supplying an identity in an uncertain situation. The project groups consisted of five or six teachers and the supervisor, and these were the key element of the action research work. The group work was the outcome of the interactive engagement of the individual teachers desire for change, which included collaborative pedagogical action and the construction of a genuine project for the school. In their meetings, the groups reflected on the work narratives written by each teacher, which could be about any of the different aspects of the teachers life in school. These narratives were read and considered by the group, so that the teachers could become aware of what they were doing in their work, and what they needed to be and do to fulfil their professional projects. Decisions were sometimes taken, but above all the group (and, bit by bit, the school) was sharing a new conception and a new structure for acting together. Individuals changed to a conception of themselves as more flexible teachers who had an impact on more cooperative relations with their colleagues. This change relied on the social and affective support and intellectual and cognitive challenge provided by the group. Individual identity change was always informed by desired ideal identities and depended on the biographical transaction and relational transaction (possibilities which were offered by the group and the school). The directions of change thus differed from teacher to teacher. The shared school project that it was possible to build up on the way enabled social competition arising from individual identity suffering to be solved. As reported by Ng (1986) and Ng & Wilson (1989), intergroup competition (e.g. between progressivists and traditionalists) arises when personal identity is threatened by devalued social identities in a comparative dual social situation (allowing recognition for only some). The school project was constructed with the equal participation of all the teachers, with certain coherence, where each teacher had a place in relation to others places. It worked as a new frame of reference (cognitive, for thinking about and doing teaching) and professional recognition (allowing the affective reward necessary for work where the self is systematically jeopardised). Intergroup complementarities took the place of social competition between different groups (sharing different conceptions of education and teaching). Stage three of the research and identity construction at the macro-social level. The third stage of the research stemmed from problems identified in the second stage. The professional and educational gains from the process that was tried out were achieved at the cost of a considerable effort to monitor and facilitate the changes, and this would be hard to replicate on a large scale. Also, we found that the beginner teachers, on work placement in school, were still being trained for the old forms of schooling. It was therefore decided to examine the role of initial training and professional practice in the construction of professional identities, in an effort to pinpoint the part played by initial training in constructing the first professional identity, and its destination in professional practice. With this new research problem, there emerged two others: professional knowledge, and education policies. 467

Amlia Lopes Documentary analysis was used to characterise the initial training curricula on offer, and biographical interviews were used to assess their effects and that of professional practice on the shaping of identities. The main conclusions are as follows: the typical first identity effectively varies according to the curriculum offered; teachers thought that their initial training impacted on their professional career, but this was relative to the informal curriculum (represented by unconventional methods and places of learning and instruction), and the hidden curriculum not the formal curriculum (represented by traditional subjects and classes); in the last few years, with the inclusion of initial teacher education in higher education, the curriculum has become more academic and less professional; the more demanding the teacher training (in academic and professional standards) the greater is the shock of reality; after some years of professional socialisation at work all the identities become pretty much the same, in a traditional pattern, following a biographical process that is overwhelmingly isolated, suffering and intuitive. Continuous (in-service) training is also disdained, being seen as unable to resolve the main problems suffered by teachers and schools (the shocking reality mentioned in Lopes, 2006). Education policies (notably training policies, which include the relationship with knowledge as well as a system of authority) and their relations with the shaping of identities are now the focus of analysis. After the appearance of some signs of the managerial discourse in the late 1980s and after a decade (the 1990s) of teachers continuous training based on individualised learning and careers, and on the accreditation of training courses, not on the accreditation of an overall training scheme for associations of schools or professionals, the managerial discourse emerged and has lasted until now, mainly through the laws about school autonomy and on teacher performance assessment. Recent educational policies do not offer schools and teachers adequate conditions for professional development (Day, 2002); instead the gap between the new demands and the conditions (material and other) available to teachers to deal with them widened further. In addition, managerialism has led to the standardisation of identities based on efficiency and visibility, removing from teachers the essence of their professional identity: the emotional and cognitive attachment to the pupils, the starting point for the achievement of any other changes (Hargreaves, 1996; Day et al, 2003; Collay, 2006). Taking the dual transaction as a point of reference, and submitting it to macro-social analysis, we will use Dmaillys (1987) terms to propose a pedagogical policy that simultaneously challenges teachers to improve their practices and provides them with the conditions they need to do so, i.e. independence to choose their curricular structure and to control their own work (Lopes, 2008). This pedagogical policy, which we see as corresponding to the from above professionalism proposed by McClelland (1990), fits into what Bolvar calls the policy and work innovative paradigm. Other principles are associated with this paradigm, and these correspond to the macro-social version of the dual identity transaction: the providentiality principle (Lopes, 2001b, from Shotter, 1996), under which what we can collectively be in the future is limited by what we were in the past and what we are in the present; and the principles of reciprocity (Elmore, 2003) and sustainability (Hargreaves & Fink, 2005) already proposed by Bolvar (2007). With the first it is said that the demands of attainment of standards has the quid pro quo of corresponding to the ability to achieve them (Elmore [2003], in Bolvar, 2007, p. 26). The second (based on Hargreaves & Fink [2005], in Bolvar, 2007) relates to respect for the diversity of schools and calls attention to the need to make time so that the changes can be made from within. While these principles ought to inspire education policies in a from above professionalism, they should also be claimed by trade unions and teachers associations as the leading actors of the occupational professionalism that today competes with the organisational (Evetts, 2006). Professional Identity Construction as an Ecological Construct and the Subjective Dimension of the Professionalisation Process: a model While current viewpoints of professionalism suggest an analytical model with different levels and warn us of the dangers (in terms of shaping subjectivities) of managerial discourses, the notion of 468

Teachers as Professionals teacher professional identity construction, which we can now present, gives us the communication (and ethical) criteria that must be present at all levels, and between them. If the notion of teachers professional identity construction fails to specify the levels of analysis, the perspective in terms of professionalism neither takes into account the specificities of the interactions at the different levels, nor clarifies what is particularly at issue in them. To overcome the limitations of each point of view and make them complementary, we now propose the CTPI as an ecological construct and subjective dimension of the professionalisation process. As mentioned earlier, ecological means combining the interaction dynamic and the structure of subsystems of the ecology of human development described by Bronfenbrenner (1979) with the levels of social analysis from the psychosocial perspective of the social psychology propounded by Wilhelm Doise (1980, 2002). This psychosocial angle is a reply to the recurring question of interaction between the micro- and macro-social by taking the cognitive, interactional and institutional dimensions into account (Blin, 1997, p. 56). Four analytical levels are considered (Blin, 1997, p. 56, from Doise, 1980):
the first focuses on intra-individual processes and concerns explicative models centred on how individuals organise their experiences of the environment. What do the facts observed in professional activities say about the individuals in question? Why do some people react differently in similar situations? the second level relates to inter-individual processes and looks to the interaction systems for explanations. The image of an individual subjected to social determinants gives way to an individual who takes part in the construction and deconstruction of the reality in relation to others; the third level is linked to positional processes, and explicative principles consider the various positions that the actors occupy in the fabric of social relations. The actor (i.e. the implementing subject) is signed up to social structures that to some extent predetermine the adaptations that each person can apply to the circumstances; and so, the fourth level of analysis is linked to ideological processes, since these are the typical cultural and ideological output of a particular society or group that not only give meaning to the behaviour of individuals, but also create and foster social differentiation in the name of general principles.

When we talk about the subjective dimension of the professionalisation process, we are describing the role of subjectivities and the production of meaning in teaching and teachers professionalisation and proposing an alternative to managerialism, as it is regulated by the quality of the communication process within and across levels. The model specifies the nature of the dual transaction for real social change on each level, and across levels. Intra-individual or Individual Level Agency (Levine, 2005) and narrative identity (Ricouer, 1990) are the main references that characterise the dual transaction at this level, which is established in the individual, with him/herself. Narrative identity is itself a new social relation through which the ethical perspective of the subject will arise: lived and told, the narratives are formative social relations (Bolvar, 2006). This identity is characterised by openness, and it can cope with conflicts, cooperate with others and, by discussion and will, it can establish consensus with others about appropriate new ways of thinking and acting at work. Individual training comes from a reflective attitude, allowing a new understanding of oneself and the world, and a new intentionality. Inter-individual Level According to Alfred Schutz (Blin, 1995), the other only exists in face-to-face relations; the other is the one with whom we share spaces, times, plans and anxieties. The small group is like a protective cocoon (Giddens, 1994) that provides a (cognitive) structure for action, recognition (affection) and exchange (interaction) of feelings and cognitions. Within this small group subjectivities can be exposed without running the risk of non-recognition. Sincere exposure from 469

Amlia Lopes one side and affective support and cognitive challenge on the other, interrelation and adjustment between the identities demanded and those on offer are the main components of the dual transaction at this level. Communicative discussion (Pinto 1996; Habermas, 1997) that includes emotional and affective elements (Dejours, 1995) is the main theoretical frame of reference, coordinating individual expression and community construction. Organisation Level At the organisational level the prime objective is to build new norms and new shared descriptions of work, as in the preceding level, by communicative discussion and joint action. Shared norms and work descriptions represent a new justice (Derouet, 1996) or joint legitimacy, which functions as a supply of a new cognitive structure a new organisational project of which all the participants feel they are a part and this promotes participation in the construction of new, concrete organisational forms. Reaching this agreement in words and deeds requires a leadership that urges the development of the work as a real project and is keen for everyone to be included. Communication among individuals and groups should draw inspiration from the communication ideal, respecting diversity and promoting inter-group complementarity. But because the organisational level does not guarantee, like the small group, the necessary proximity to the construction of new references through words, as Shotter (1986) argues, there is a need to invest in shared feelings or conviviality (Maffesoli, 1990), which unite, beyond words, as a basic step in the construction of new collective identities. Societal Level When the decision was taken to relinquish old norms, regulations and certainties, many problems arose, which routine practices attempted to deal with. This is why the model includes the training relationship that should monitor and follow the process. The guidance or training relationship helps to tackle group conflicts, with the traditional social perceptions about knowledge and social comparison that can call the entire process into question (Pags, 1982). Emancipatory action research as conceived by John Elliott (1990, 1993) here represents the dual transaction between university lecturers and schoolteachers. The new paradigm for innovative work and policies (Bolvar, 2007, p. 21) formulates the dual transaction for relationships between the State and teachers in schools and in professional associations. Bolvar (2007) stresses the transactional character of this paradigm, noting that it focuses on interaction between the indigenous dynamics of the school and the external forces ... that might stimulate and support them (p. 21). He agrees with Fullan that What happens internally (i.e. inside, those who work in the school) needs to go outside (inside/out), and at the same time the outside pressures must empower the inside (outside/in) (Bolvar, 2007, p. 16). Conclusions: contribution of the model for a research and training agenda In this article we have tried to contribute to better conceptualise and exercise (in research and in training) the idea of the teacher as a professional. We have done so by suggesting the construction of professional identities for real social change (based on the perspective of Claude Dubar) as an ecological construct (relevant to the various levels of the social system, from the micro to the macro) and as a subjective dimension in the process of teacher professionalisation. We also wanted to contribute to the idea of the construction of a professional teacher project which may be an alternative to the managerialist professionalism which tends to restrict the profile of the professional teacher to an individual and enterprising entity, confined by the narrow borders of the possibilities of being implied by managerialism. Given that the profile of the professional teacher is a very important step towards improving the quality of education in Europe (Buchberger et al, 2000), with this aim we intend to achieve objectives related to policy decision and practice in education, and especially related to the construction of scientific knowledge regarding the processes of teacher professionalisation and to teacher training. 470

Teachers as Professionals The construction of identities as an ecological construct and the subjective dimension of the professionalisation process, and more precisely the model we have outlined based on our investigative biography, has four characteristics which constitute contributions for the study of the professional teacher: (1) the introduction of a clear ethical dimension, through reference to the identity transactions for real social change and their translation into each level of the system in terms of precise guidelines for the promotion of democratic and transformative identities; (2) the articulation between the studies of professionalism and the studies of professional identity; (3) the ecological character, which refers to different levels of the system in interaction and at the same time with specificities, capable of informing new research and reflections; (4) the importance given to relational and communicational processes traversed by the logic of recognition, making it possible to prevent the studies of professionalisation from economising on the representations and emotions of the actors at all levels of the system (and not only at the micro level) and, instead, placing them at the centre of the issue as instances that determine real successes and failures (even when objectively apparently successful). These are fundamental dimensions in a research agenda on the conditions of a teacher professionalisation project, combining professionalism, identity and ethical orientation in a single construct. The ethical orientation lends meaning to the whole model. The contribution of CTPI, as defined, for the development of the professional teacher model has a communicative and relational character. It is the dimension of human relation that is emphasised. It is assumed, using Habermass (1987) terminology, that instrumental changes (related to contents, methods and techniques, or to structures and organigrams) are worth nothing if they are not combined with communicational changes which truly transform. Changing people/professionals, the relationships between people/professionals, (human) organisations replacing recognition that excludes with recognition that includes is the central issue in the cultural transformation under way. It is a proactive, and not a descriptive, orientation. The association between the studies of professionalism and the studies of identity emerges here as a second basic condition, which defines the point of view we adopt when studying identities that of the construction of the professional identities of teachers, therefore emphasising the professional dimensions of identity. Even when we speak of personal or relational dimensions, these are seen as professional. The ecological character, while it is not a sufficient condition of our proposal, is, however, a subordinating condition. In fact, its novelty lies not in the treatment of the subjective dimension, which defines the studies of identity, but in its expansion to levels of the system that the study of teacher identity normally does not cover (see Beijard et al, 2004). The individual, group, organisational and societal levels emerge as new fields of the social ecology where the identity of teachers is constructed with its own characteristics and requiring different actors and levels of action. The model makes concrete proposals in this respect, indicating elective dimensions of study. The topographical character of the construct allows us to identify what is specific to each level, clarifying objectives, contents to be studied and methodologies to be selected. At the societal level, the emphasis is on the forms of communication, in a broad sense, between schools and governments, on the one hand, and between schools and universities on the other, and it is crucial to investigate the processes of communication that contribute or are an obstacle to the improvement of schools, teachers and student learning. At the individual level, we examine the emergence of narrative identities (reflexive or agency, in the words of Levine, 2005) and we attempt to understand how teachers organise their experience in their work context, what professional activities say about teachers and why different people react differently to similar situations. At the group or interpersonal level, we are interested in knowing how, in the relationship with others, the individual constructs and deconstructs reality and develops or holds back. The organisational and societal levels are the ones where the contribution of the model is more visible, providing a plan that, while it needs enriching, can act as a starting point for future research. It allows the identity of teachers to be studied at those levels, normally left to the studies of education policy and school administration, areas that, when they are sensitive to identity issues, regard them more as outputs of policies and organisational forms, rather than as inputs or processes: the organisational and policy proposals should take the initial identities and the processes they may be involved in into account, in order to interpret, adjust or reject them, or to suggest 471

Amlia Lopes alternatives. In these cases, the model therefore creates conditions for the establishment of urgent thematic and disciplinary bridges, stripping identity of its ineffable character and acknowledging its informative and structuring capacity in decision making and in the implementation of measures. If one of the consequences of the topographical character of the model concerns the need to consider the place of each and every level of the system in the promotion of the profile of the professional teacher, the consequence of its interactive character is the fact that in each of the levels, all of the other levels are felt. But changes at one level will also be felt at the other levels, and, as Crozier (1982) pointed out, and was furthered by Freidson (1998), in certain historical periods and situations certain levels are more strategic than others. Indeed, if all levels should contribute to the democratic professionalism of which CTPI is the subjective part, the current landscape in which teachers and schools are living calls our attention to the organisational level, since it is in the organisation (the workplace) that the managerial discourse is being materialised and taking shape. The managers and leaders are thus now acquiring a crucial role, promoting what Sachs (1999, 2001) calls professional identity what we have called professionality in the professionalism from within. The strategic importance of the organisational level calls for the urgent development of research that compares the reactions of different schools and leaders to the same policies (in a single country and in different countries), with the aim of identifying the identity processes and the structures and conditions (material and symbolic) involved in organisational forms which make a difference, as well as their impact on the other levels of the system (individual, group and societal) and vice versa. According to the model, it is important to explore the construction of norms and descriptions shared from work (through conversation or coordinated action), participation and the organisational project, the role of leadership in inclusion or exclusion, in the promotion of the diversity and the complementarity of groups, and the level of conviviality in the organisation. But since what gives the organisational level strategic importance is also what reduces its margin of freedom the magerialism this agenda would not be complete without a reference to the place of unions, professional associations and social movements in the professional teacher project informed by CTPI. In fact, the current situation also alerts us to the importance of occupational professionalism industrial identity, as Sachs (1999, 2001) calls it, corresponding to the professionalism in professionalism from within in the resistance to managerial professionalism. In other words, teachers unions and formal and informal professional organisations which were in a critical situation in the 1990s, with the school-based approach, once again have an important part to play in the development of teachers democratic professionalism. The Portuguese experience during 2009 is a good example of this. If we now analyse the contribution of the model for outlining a training agenda, the subjective dimension of the processes and the ethical concern, already present in the research agenda, are now of decisive importance. The construction of professional identities is by definition and in its initial formulation (Dubar, 1995) a process of socialisation/learning. In social interaction, individuals are formed, the double transaction takes place: the relationship with others and the world (the relational transaction) is established in light of a biographical or subjective transaction and results in another one. In this process, the individual risks or conquers his actual and desired identities, in light of the recognition he encounters. The novelty of the model lies, firstly, in the actual reference to different levels, the specification of the transactional conditions that in each level promote real social change and the emphasis on the interaction between them. Teacher training, pre-service or in-service, for real social change should refer to each and all of these levels, take into account the interactions between them and organise itself in light of their specificities. In terms of what to do in each level, the model is explicit, indicating the objectives and methods of the formative activities which contribute to the development of subjectivities for real social change and, therefore, to a process, lengthy but sustained, of teacher professionalisation. What in the investigative sphere are dimensions of analysis, in the training sphere are concrete guidelines on how, why and for what to do. At the level of the training of the individual teacher, the aim is to develop, particularly through the narrative methodology, reflexive identities (agency); that is, identities capable of pursuing the best in themselves and involving themselves cooperatively with others; at the level of small group training, it is about creating intellectually challenging and affectively welcoming conditions that sustain the necessary exposure and openness for professional development, in its 472

Teachers as Professionals collaborative dimension, particularly through writing, reading and sharing work narratives; at the organisational level, the focus is on the creation of communicational conditions that allow the existence of a true (participated and integrating) project of the school. At the societal level, the focus is on the negotiation and the responsibility that should underlie the conception and implementation of education policies (including pre-service and in-service teacher training policies), whose quality is made clear in the expression pedagogic policy. The organisational, group and individual levels are relevant both for developing in-service teacher training and for designing pre-service teacher training, in the first case indicating training modes, in a work context or not, and in the second case appealing to a curricular design and a training environment that cover all of the levels in the model and its spirit. For reasons already mentioned, at the organisational level the training of managers and leaders given that they lie on the interface between the outside and inside the school emerges as a strategic dimension of the transformations. Most of these recommendations are not new: the reflection, collaborative work, the project of the school ... However, the model confirms tendencies about teacher training, showing that they are indispensable and necessary for a robust professional project, which becomes important when we face the risk of the technical dimension being the only one to have a place in training. Due to its interactive character, the model also allows us to understand the origin of the obstacles that arise in each of the levels: individuals do not always have the personal conditions to engage immediately in fertile interpersonal relations, interpersonal relations do not always allow individual reflexive identities; organisational conditions are often an obstacle to the organisation of training individually and in small groups, etc. In each training situation, it is important to identify those limits and their origin, and especially to know how they work and overcome them. Training coincides with that effort. While constructed based on the study of concrete situations, the model identified is an abstraction, a plan, whose virtuality lies precisely in the fact that it is made up of the essential and general conditions which can inspire research and training projects that promote the development of a professional teacher profile integrated in a sound professional teacher project. References
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AMLIA LOPES is Associate Professor of the Faculty of Psychology and Educational Sciences, a member of the Board of the Educational Research Unit of the University of Porto, Research and Intervention in Education (CIIE), Co-coordinator of the Subunit School, Curriculum and Identity Formation, and Director of the Master (2nd cycle) in Educational Sciences. Her teaching interests are: identity construction and teacher training and education; professional identities and organisational cultures; methodologies of research; communication and human relationship. Her research interests are: teachers and professorial identities construction; teachers and nurses education and training; teaching and learning in higher education; professional development. Correspondence: Professor Amlia Lopes, Faculdade de Psicologia e de Cincias da Educao, Universidade do Porto, Rua Dr. Manuel Pereira da Silva, P-4200 392 Porto, Portugal (amelia@fpce.up.pt).

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