Hungary is home to 13 legally recognized national minorities, which are considered constituent elements of the state and whose collective and individual rights are guaranteed by cardinal laws. According to the 2022 census, 5.1% of the population (approximately 492,000 people) identified with a national minority based on mother tongue affiliation or language use in family or friendship contexts (KSH, 2023; parliament.hu). However, most minorities in Hungary are highly assimilated: intergenerational language transmission has often weakened or ceased, and the maintenance of minority identity has increasingly become the responsibility of public education institutions (Bindorffer, 2007). In this context, the role of minority teachers extends beyond instruction to include identity maintenance and community-building functions.

This pilot study focuses on the professional identity of teachers belonging to the Greek minority in Hungary. The Greek community is one of the smallest minorities in the country, with an institutional educational network limited to only two schools, which makes the role of teachers particularly crucial in sustaining the Greek language, cultural traditions, and community ties. Since the introduction of the Bologna system in 2006, there has been no dedicated Greek minority teacher education program in Hungary. As a result, teacher identity in this context is shaped at the intersection of multiple domains—family, school, community, and transnational experiences—where movement and mediation between contexts play a significant role in identity formation. This specific situation calls for an in-depth qualitative exploration of teacher identity.

The study is grounded in Bronfenbrenner’s bioecological model, specifically its PPCT (Person–Process–Context–Time) framework (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006), which conceptualizes professional identity not as a static attribute but as the outcome of temporally unfolding, recurring proximal processes. These processes are realized through sustained, emotionally meaningful interactions between individuals and their environments and play a central role in the stabilization and reorganization of identity (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011).

The research applies Digital Storytelling (DST) (Lambert, 2002/2013) not only as a narrative data collection technique  but as a complex learning and reflective practice (Pados & al., 2025, Lanszki & Kunos N., 2021). Life history exploration in qualitative research is often conducted through narrative interviews, in which an external researcher collects life history data and subsequently analyzes them (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000); beyond this approach, digital storytelling (DST) enables participants to process their life-course and learning experiences through multimodal narratives, supporting narrative sense-making and identity stabilization (Lanszki, 2022).

In the digital stories examined, three clearly distinguishable groups of teachers emerge based on their socio-historical background: (1) descendants of civil-war refugees, (2) those who came to Hungary as a result of migration to seek employment, and (3) philhellenes of Hungarian origin. These groups are not merely demographic categories; rather, they indicate different forms of ecological embeddedness (social networks, institutional access, linguistic and cultural capital, and patterns of legitimation), which, within the interpretive logic of the PPCT model, can be understood as distinct sets of conditions shaping proximal processes. The life-course narratives further pointed to two dominant identity configurations: one characterized by early pedagogical orientation and another by a later consolidation of teacher identity, both strongly shaped by familial, institutional, social and temporal factors.

The analysis revealed three mutually reinforcing patterns of proximal processes: (1) the role of relational legitimation and feedback in the emergence and stabilization of the teacher role; (2) cyclical processes of learning and reflection as mechanisms of identity maintenance; and (3) the mediation of language and culture as a lived lifeworld that provides moral and community-based legitimation for the teaching role. These patterns align with ecological and learning-centered interpretations of teacher identity (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006).

The methodological framework of the study combines Digital Storytelling (DST) and thematic analysis. Digital storytelling is conceptualised as a complex, learning-organising and reflexive approach that simultaneously supports the narrative processing of experiences and meaning-making (Lambert, 2002/2013; Lanszki, 2016). Data collection took place in January 2026 through two one-day digital storytelling workshops involving teachers from the two Greek minority schools operating in Hungary. Participation was voluntary, and informed consent was a prerequisite for inclusion in the study. In total, 14 Greek minority teachers participated in the workshops. The workshops were jointly facilitated by the PhD student and her supervisor and were grounded in an art-based participatory action research approach, which combines participatory collaboration between researchers and participants, art-based methods such as creative writing and video-making, and action research in which the researcher designs, facilitates, and analyzes the process to support reflection, learning, and change. (Leavy, 2015) The DST process provided a structured yet flexible framework for participants to narratively process their life histories and learning experiences, in line with national and international approaches to the pedagogical and higher education application of digital storytelling (Lambert, 2002/2013; Lanszki, 2022). The multi-phase creative process—including story circles, planning, story writing, selection of visual and audio materials, editing, sharing, and collective reflection—enabled repeated engagement with personal experiences and the integration of peer feedback, which is of particular significance for reflective learning and self-representation. A total of 13 digital stories were produced during the workshops. Two narratives were excluded from the analysis because their creators were visiting teachers from Greece who were temporarily working in Hungary, and whose life trajectories and institutional embeddedness differed significantly from those of minority teachers in Hungary. Consequently, the analysis was based on 11 digital stories (n = 11), selected through convenience sampling. The method of analysis was thematic analysis integrating multiple data sources: (1) the complete audio recordings of the workshops, (2) the narrative texts of the digital stories, and (3) the visual and auditory elements of the stories. Both inductive and theory-driven approaches were applied. In the inductive phase, recurring motifs, patterns, narrative nodes, and narrative arcs were identified, followed by theoretical interpretation along the dimensions of the PPCT model (Bronfenbrenner & Morris, 2006; Tong & An, 2024).

This pilot study demonstrates that digital storytelling provides a productive methodological and analytical lens for exploring the professional identity of Greek minority teachers in Hungary. Interpreted through the PPCT framework, the findings highlight that teacher identity in minority contexts is not a fixed professional attribute but an ecologically embedded, temporally unfolding process shaped by sustained relational, institutional, and cultural interactions. The identified proximal processes—relational legitimation, cyclical learning and reflection, and the mediation of language and culture as a lived lifeworld—underscore the central role of emotionally meaningful interactions in the stabilization and reorganization of professional identity. Methodologically, the study shows that digital storytelling extends beyond conventional narrative interviews or oral history approaches by positioning participants as active meaning-makers rather than solely as sources of retrospective accounts. As an art-based participatory action research practice, DST enabled teachers to narratively and multimodally reorganize their life-course experiences, fostering reflexivity, agency, and identity coherence. The participatory and creative dimensions of the workshops supported collective reflection, while the researcher’s facilitative and analytical role ensured methodological rigor and theoretical alignment. Although based on a small, convenience sample, the pilot offers important insights into the ecological complexity of minority teacher identity formation in highly assimilated contexts where educational institutions carry significant responsibility for language and culture maintenance. The findings also suggest that DST may function not only as a research method but as a transformative learning space with implications for teacher education and professional development in minority and migrant settings. Future research with larger and more diverse samples could further explore how art-based participatory approaches contribute to identity resilience, professional learning, and community sustainability across different minority education contexts.

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