In the research Teachers’ professional identity, knowledge and practice, I am examining how teachers and special educators apprehend their mission and their management of student learning in secondary schools. My aim is to ascertain how they construct meaning and develop professional identity and preparedness, when students need extra support and assistance with their learning and education. In my presentation I will discuss some approaches to teacher guidance in meeting with students.

The official mandate for teachers’ responsibility in many countries is extensive. There is a clear focus on developing the role of teachers as “educational caretakers” of students who need extra support. In Norway teachers, special educators and counselors are traditionally using different terms, whether it is support for the training, helping students who have personal problems or giving advice on further education and future career. From my perspective, guidance may be an appropriate term according to teachers constructing their professional identity and apprehending their mission.

The classification practice of special educators is particularly interesting in this research because student needs for extra support and assistance to a high degree are determined through testing and diagnosis (cf. Penne 2006; Pihl 2005). Professional discourses on what is normal and what is special, may contribute insight into how teachers approaching students’ need of general and special guidance in their learning processes. In this presentation the main question is how teachers include guidance activities in their conception of  a teacher’s role and mission.

Participants in schools’ activities construe both collective and individual meaning within a social dependency, according to Gergen (2005). Teachers act within the framework of legislation and regulations, and the way school activities are organized. In this project I try to identify the academic and institutional functions of the utterances as they structure social practice and gain professional importance and positions.

My theoretical point of departure is Bakhtin’s (1981) theory of contextualized discourses. This gives me tools to understand teacher’s professional narratives as essential ingredients in formation of professional identity.

Berg, K. (2009). I skolens randsone- opplæring for ungdom under offentlig omsorg. Thesis, University of Tromsø Bakhtin, B.B. (1981). The dialogic Imagination. Austin: University of Texas Press Conelly, F.M. & Clandinin, D.J. (eds.). (1999). Shaping a professional identity. Stories of educational practice. New York & London: Teachers College Press. Fairclough, N. (2008). Kritisk diskursanalyse. En tekstsamling. København: Hans Reitzels Forlag. Gergen, K.J. (2005). Virkelighed og relationer. Tanker om sociale konstruktioner. Trans. H. Thomsen. København: Dansk psykologisk Forlag. Penne, S. (2006). Profesjonsfaget norsk i en endringstid: norsk på ungdomstrinnet: å konstruere mening, selvforståelse og identitet gjennom språk og tekster: fagets rolle i et identitetsperspektiv, i et likhet- og et ulikhetsperspektiv. Thesis, Faculty of Educational Sciences, University of Oslo, Unipub. Pihl, J. (2005). Etnisk mangfold i skolen. Det sakkyndige blikket. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.