This paper explores beginning teachers’ perceptions of the development of their professional and social identity within the context of a national pilot project on teacher mentoring in the Republic of Ireland. It identifies the various factors within beginning teachers’ life history, their preservice education, their first year as classroom teachers, and school culture that contributes to the construction of their identity as teachers. In particular, it focuses on how beginning teachers construct and perform their professional identities within a number of different contexts: what they bring to teaching from their own “apprenticeships of observation”, their pre-service education, their subject domain, the mentoring programme, and their school culture. Research on teacher learning attests to the difficulty in educating teachers adequately for the multifaceted nature of professional practice in settings that are characterized by complexity and competing goals (Claxton and Wells, 2002; Darling-Hammond, 2006; Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Hargreaves, 2000; OECD, 1998, 2005). Increasingly, in the Western world it is recognised that beginning teachers need to be supported in deliberate and intentional ways through induction and mentoring programmes in order to learn the skills to participate in schools as learners and as members of a learning community (Feimen-Nemser, 2001; Orland-Barak, 2002; Roberts, 2000; Wang & Odell, 2002). This study seeks to explore these issues and map out how various contexts influence how beginning teachers view and participate in the world of teaching. What are the factors that help or hinder beginning teachers to construct professional learning identities? How do they view their pre-service teacher education? How does the mentoring relationship influence their view of teaching? What are the practices that support their ongoing learning?

Methodology This study will use mixed methods approach which will generate quantitative and qualitative data. Initially, a Teachers’ Perception of Professional and Social Identity Instrument (TPPSI) survey will be used with a cohort of 36 beginning teachers taking part in a national programme for teacher induction in three centres in Ireland (Killeavy, M.. & Murphy, R. 2006). The TPPSI is quantitative instrument specially designed for the study to investigate teachers’ perceptions of the factors which contributed to their professional and social identity. In addition, focus group interviews with three select 4 member groups for an in-depth investigation of the pivotal factors involved in the construction of a professional identity as well as generating qualitative data on beginning teachers’ perspective on the mentoring relationship and pre-service education experience. Teachers’ written reflections on focus group questions will be analyzed.

Expected Outcomes This study will map how beginning teachers negotiate the discourses and practices of teaching and learning. It will investigate how teachers initial stance changes over time through the negotiation of different contexts: pre-service teacher education, induction, and the classroom and school.