WDFLKMSLFThis paper examines the identity formation of six artists who become art teachers at three different stages in their career and seeks to find out how they negotiate the challenges of managing a teaching career, often alongside an art practice with the normal demands of a working life.  The experiences of the art teachers are viewed from three different points in their career: the beginning teacher; the mid career teacher and the end of career teacher. Drawing on the stage theories of Ball & Goodson; Huberman; Hargreaves; Lortie and Sikes amongst others, the research found that art teachers share many of the same challenges as other teachers when they enter the teaching profession.  But where they differ is in their attitude to their subject and to their careers over time.  Art teachers can often struggle with the loss of their art practice when they take up teaching positions in second-level schools (Dafiotis, 2013; Goetz Zirwan, 2006; Hall, 2010; Hickman, 2013). This research found the art teachers’ identity formation seems to be particularly affected by the ‘inner teacher self’. When the art teacher’s art practice is interrupted or suppressed, often through the demands of the classroom, the artist within the teacher can be conflicted in fulfilling the interrelationship between the personal and professional identities. In general, mid to end-of-career art teachers struggle less with ambitions of career advancement than the younger teachers, as they have invested throughout their teaching lives in a personal artistic identity that will live beyond the classroom.  
Drawing on identity theorists such as Beaucamp and Thomas (2009) and their work on the ‘development of teacher identity and sense of self in relation to others’, and Britzman’s (1991) theories on the importance of recognising teachers ‘inner self’ in developing a strong teacher identity . Wenger (1998) who stresses the importance of the negotiated experience of self (personal identity), which involves community membership, as essential to developing a strong professional identity.  Drawing on the Life stage work of Huberman (1993) as a key text while Adams (2003) Hickman (2011) work on the artist teacher in the UK provides a specific focus on art teachers identity issues. The reassessment phase is well documented in empirical studies of the teacher’s life cycle (Darling, Hammond & Bransford, 2005; Goodson & Hargreaves, 1996; Huberman, 1993; Sikes, 1985; Lortie, 1975) and in the stage theories of Feiman-Nemser (2001).   Cochrane-Smith and Lytle (1999) identify three different types of knowledge development in both professional and teaching contexts as knowledge for practice, knowledge in practice and knowledge of practice.  Specifically, knowledge for practice and knowledge in practice feature large in how the different art teachers approach their subject.

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