This paper draws on the same set of case study ethnographies from Stirling referred to in the above paper, but also includes comparative interview data from NQTs in six schools in Manchester and Cheshire. The analytic focus of this paper is more closely related to previous work offering a 'nuanced account of professional identities' involving experienced teachers and nurses in England (Stronach et al 2002). Comparisons are offered around the issues of identity formation in relation to novice and more established teachers, and the differences in induction arrangements and political contexts of the two countries. Key theoretical concerns include how inductees engage with the tensions they experience as they negotiate between what we theorise as an 'economy of performance' (official, formalised measures of standards applied to their work) and 'various 'ecologies of practice' (professional dispositions and commitments individually and collectively engendered) (Stronach at al 2002). Possibilities for productive rather than 'spoiled identities' (Tickle 2000) are considered. Our data is also related to recent literature on the experiences of beginning teachers in the UK and how processes of identity formation are accounted for (eg Atkinson 2004; Totterdell el al 2004)