ABSTRACT

Stenhouse (1975) identifies the art of self-study as one of the key attributes of extended professionals, which can give rise to new possibilities for ‘qualitative research to focus on the everyday practices by which individuals constantly construct and reconstruct their sense of individual identity’ (Elliott, 2005b: 124). In writing and speaking of personal experiences, teachers engage in discourse which can explore ‘vulnerabilities, conflicts, choices and values’ and take measure of the ‘uncertainties, mixed emotions, and multiple layers’ (Ellis and Bochner, 2000: 748) of their experience. Reflective conversations thus become a powerful agent of understanding ‘self ’ as teachers recount not only what they observed in a given context, but also their emotions, feelings, ideas and thoughts as to ‘future possibilities’ (Pollard, 2002).