Narratives of high school teachers’ identity renewal through teaching a new intercultural curriculum subject

Contrary to popular myth, teachers do not simply deliver a ready-made curriculum. Rather, they interpret and make meaning of the curriculum. The introduction of a capabilities dimension in the formal curriculum in Australia invites a case study of curriculum innovation in action. Drawing on Clandini...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Australian educational researcher Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 647 - 664
Main Authors: Browning, David, Kriewaldt, Jeana, McLeod, Julie
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01.03.2025
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Active Learning
Classrooms
Creative Thinking
Cross Cultural Training
Cultural Pluralism
Curricula
Curriculum Development
Education
Educational Change
Educational Objectives
Educational Policy and Politics
Educational Practices
Educational Psychology
Inquiry
Intergroup Education
International Cooperation
Interpersonal Competence
Interviews
Labor Force
Multicultural Education
Multiculturalism & pluralism
National Curriculum
Peace
Professional Identity
Students
Teacher Characteristics
Teacher Workshops
Teaching
Teaching and Teacher Education
Australia
Torres Strait
Flexible
Identity
Narrative
Intercultural curriculum
Capabilities
ISSN:0311-6999, 2210-5328
Online Access:Get full text
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Summary:Contrary to popular myth, teachers do not simply deliver a ready-made curriculum. Rather, they interpret and make meaning of the curriculum. The introduction of a capabilities dimension in the formal curriculum in Australia invites a case study of curriculum innovation in action. Drawing on Clandinin and Connelly’s narrative inquiry approach, complemented by Aoki’s concept of curriculum-as-lived, we offer an analysis of the dilemmas three teachers confronted and the pedagogical decisions they made when implementing a new Intercultural Capabilities (IC) curriculum. We argue that one of the effects of negotiating the new curriculum was a destabilising of teachers’ professional identity. Through the process of re-storying classroom events, these early innovators were forced to confront their own cultural identity. Initially an unsettling or unmooring experience, it became a positive encounter. Teachers reported a sense of identity renewal in which they became more reflexive and flexible in their approach to IC pedagogy as a deliberate response to the unpredictable pedagogical challenges that emerged.
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ISSN:0311-6999
2210-5328
DOI:10.1007/s13384-024-00734-z