How pre-service physical education teachers develop their professional identities through talking about their school placements lived experiences?, is the research question at the centre of this study.

The school placement is considered by the research literature on teacher education as the most significant component of an initial teacher education programme (Tannehill, 1989). It is in this stage that students make the transition to certified teachers and begin to internalise a much more genuine and stronger sense of teacher identity which will support and sustain their future progression as education professionals (Sutherland, Howard, & Markauskaite, 2010).

Recent literature on teacher education highlights the importance of using identity development as an analytic framework to better address aspects of teaching and, most specifically, the challenges of becoming a teacher (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011; Luehmann, 2007). Amongst other aspects, the role that talk and discourse play in teacher identity construction is emphasised (Gee, 2000).

Learning and identity are developed to a significant degree by discourse: ‘speech is equally a means of acting in the world’ (Lave & Wenger, 1991, p. 22). Although discourse is manifested through language, it goes beyond the words used; it consists of a system of beliefs, perspectives, intentions, attitudes, actions, values and meanings that exist within the prevailing social and cultural practices (Clarke, 2008; Danielewicz, 2001). According to Correia, Martínez-Arbelaiz, and Gutierrez (2014), discourse is the primary way in which identities are constructed and negotiated, given that it is always performed with other people and that those other people are the ones who can legitimize identity.

As such, discourse is directly associated with issues of recognition. Gee (2000, p. 99) defines identity as: ‘being recognized [by oneself and others] as a certain ‘‘kind of person’’ in a given context’. The author perceives discourse and dialogue as an ‘individual trait’ (Gee, 2000, p.  103), for teachers construct and sustain their activities, perspective and identities through discourse, echoing Danielewicz’s (2001, p 11) understanding that ‘engaging in language practices shapes an individual’s identity’. Brown, Reveles and Kelly (2005), Cohen (2010), and Day, Stobart, Sammons, and Kington (2006) stress the intricate connection between identity, language and teaching/classroom learning, while arguing that teachers’ talk of their experiences both in school and in school placement settings are essential to our understanding on how they construct and re-construct their professional identities.

Januário (1996) presents a conceptual framework to explain the way a teacher develops his or her professional identity focused largely on the teaching practice, being the activity that the pre-service teachers (PSTs) most value in their school placement. Accordingly, the teacher (or teacher-to-be) makes decisions in three categories. The first category comprises pre-interactive decisions, prior to the lesson, concerning the teaching and learning process to be implemented in the interactive phase. The second category refers to interactive decisions, thoughts and actions emerging during the teacher's instruction in class. Finally, post-interactive decisions refer to later thoughts and reflections after the end of the class.

Luehmann (2007) and da Cunha, Batista, and Graça (2014) used discursive identity to understand teacher education programmes in Science and PE, and debate the challenges in  becoming a teacher. However, the literature keeps reiterating the need for further elaboration of the concept of identity in distinct empirical fields, using a varied range of methods to enhance new understandings on teacher professional identity (e.g., Akkerman & Meijer, 2011; da Cunha et al., 2014). Our study aimed to address this call by exploring the pre-service teachers’ (PSTs) discourses on their daily practices in school and how in discussing the teaching practice experiences of their school placements influenced the development of a professional teacher identity.  

The participants were seven PSTs from a cohort of students attending the final year of a master’s degree in teaching Physical Education (PE) qualification at a university in Portugal who agreed to participate in the study upon a signed informed consent. The master’s degree is a two-year postgraduate programme that qualifies the prospective teachers to teach PE to 10–18-year-old school pupils. The first-year courses provide a specific understanding of the pedagogy, didactics and subject matter of sports and PE. In the second year of the programme PSTs undertake a one-year school placement in a school, under the assistance of an experienced PE teacher (i.e. a Cooperating Teacher) and a faculty advisor assigned to each cohort of 2-3 PSTs. The study was conducted during a one-year school placement and highlights the links between discourse and identity formation made during a project which required PSTs to reflect upon their images portraying featuring elements of their practicum placements. As such, a combination of visual data and focus groups was used for data collection. Specifically, data were gathered through photo elicitation during a focus group session. To this effect, the participants were asked in advance to take their own photographs or videos featuring relevant contexts, activities and interactions in the course the two initial terms of their school placements to be used later at the focus group session as discussion stimuli. Each participant retrieved two to three photos each. The set of images were exhibited and described by each participant and jointly discussed by the group of seven PSTs in the focus group (Clark-Ibáñez, 2004; Harper, 2002; Pink, 2010). In the analysis process deductive and inductive approaches were used to conduct a thematic analysis (Gibson & Brown, 2009) of the photo elicitation interview data using QSR NVivo 12. Four main themes were identified: a) Pre-interactive decisions; b) Interactive decisions; and c) Post-interactive decisions (Januário, 1996). These main themes were broken down in the following sub themes: a.i) Lesson planning a.ii) Acquiring practical knowledge; b.iii) Classroom management and Instruction; c.iv) Reflecting upon teaching practice; c.v) Lesson observations.

The PSTs accounts featured predominantly teaching-related experiences built on images depicturing pre-interactive, interactive and post-interactive decisions. Few were the instances referring to the wider school context or to the pedagogical relationships developed with their cooperating teacher and faculty advisor. In the pre-interactive decisions, images such as being in front of a computer, individually or accompanied by their peers, elicited the participants to reveal planning and developing a practical knowledge as key-aspects for their professional development in a school placement context. Talking together brought a sense of collectiveness addressed to the practicum experience: "while pertaining to each one of us, individually, this is also a collective journey". The PSTs also highlighted interactive decisions mostly related to their teaching performances and interactions with their pupils. Images portraying classroom management and instructional strategies in a PE lesson are examples of such constructed meanings. In particular, the participants recognized the school placement as an opportunity to implement the instructional models they have learned in their initial academic training. Still connected with interactive decisions, the PSTs portrayed their participation in school events as milestones to develop a relationship with the school community. In post-interactive decisions, the participants referred to images illustrating moments of reflection about their teaching practice and of lesson observations as situations that largely contributed to their professional development. It also helped them to construct a collective understanding on the importance of PE in the school curriculum. Thus, the participants’ discourse about their selected images resonates with Amaral-da-Cunha et al., (2014) findings while seeming to recognize the PE teacher as someone who: i) carefully prepares their lessons and cares for an effective teaching; ii) searches for developing a professional knowledge; iii) reflects upon their practice and role in the school curriculum; and iv) builds their teacher professional identity in allegiance with others.

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