Dissertation committee:
Μαρία Δασκολιά, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης- ΕΚΠΑ
Ευαγγελία Φρυδάκη, Καθηγήτρια, Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης- ΕΚΠΑ
Χρόνης Κυνηγός, Καθηγητής, Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα Δευτεροβάθμιας Εκπαίδευσης- ΕΚΠΑ
Γεωργία Λιαράκου, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Τμήμα Εκπαίδευσης και Αγωγής στην Προσχολική Ηλικία-ΕΚΠΑ
Κωνσταντίνος Γαβριλάκης, Αναπληρωτής Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Παιδαγωγικό Τμήμα Δημοτικής Εκπαίδευσης, Πανεπιστήμιο Ιωαννίνων
Βασίλειος Τσάφος, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Εκπαίδευσης και Αγωγής στην Προσχολική Ηλικία-ΕΚΠΑ
Summary:
This Narrative Inquiry aims at a deeper understanding and interpretation of the identity of Greek primary education teachers who are systematically involved in Environmental Education (EE), having a constant presence and engagement for several years in their schools. It is situated in a broader area of research interest around the experience of teachers and how this relates to their identity and practice within the complexity of their lives (professional and personal) and the relationships they develop.
Four primary education teachers, with a systematic and focused engagement with EE over many years, Alex, Zoe, Penelope and Mario, were invited and agreed to participate in a Narrative Inquiry into their experience. With each of them we created a narrative space to explore their personal experience, in which, in repeated conversations with me, they shared their stories. In exploring these experiences with me, they undertook a journey of personal reflection, which helped them to examine in depth aspects of themselves: who they are as individuals, as educators and as teachers who are systematically and consistently engaged in EE. At the core of this research process, there has been a conscious effort of mine to build a quality research relationship, where researcher and participating teachers worked together and co-created narratives of experience in this shared space, which, as an experience and process, can potentially lead to personal development for both sides.
Exploring the experiences of Alex, Zoe, Penelope and Mario helped me, as a researcher, as an educator and as a person, to deepen my understanding and broaden my horizons around the identity of Greek primary education teachers who are systematically engaged in EE. By applying and developing Narrative Inquiry as my methodology, I was able to approach their identity through a narrative perspective, as an embodied synthesis of the stories they live by (Clandinin & Huber, 2005). As they move through in life, teachers develop and carry with them a series of stories, through which they explain who they have been and who they are, but also reflect on who they can become. These stories are linked to personal and professional landscapes of knowledge and are reflected in their educational practice. They are stories of the past, but they touch on the present and extend into the future.
The central finding that emerged from this narrative exploration highlights the need to approach and understand teacher identity as part of the experience-identity-practice triptych: experience shapes identity and is expressed in practice. This relationship is interactive and bidirectional, because, as the teacher develops her personal practice, she becomes involved in new experiences, which re-form her identity and are re-expressed in her practice. In other words, it is a dynamic, evolving and continuous process.
This holistic perspective on the identity of teachers who are systematically engaged in EE, opens up new perspectives for the education and training of EE teachers. Narrative Inquiry, as a research methodology with its rich ontological and epistemological aspects, can inspire the building of partnerships between research, education and teacher education institutions, so that researchers and teachers work together as equals and engage in processes focused on better understanding, reflection and personal and professional development for both sides. The ultimate goal of this process is the development of educational practice itself in school.
Keywords:
Environmental Education/ Education for Sustainability, Teachers, Narrative Inquiry, Teachers' identity
