ABSTRACT
Teachers’ careers, increasingly, are becoming difficult to define and to realise as the profession declines in status and as opportunities for promotions diminish. Both in terms of the efficacy of one’s teaching and of one’s own career, there would appear to be great need currently for teachers to reflect and to rethink on a systematic basis. With “Tom” experiences which had contributed to shaping that self were found to be in his early home and parents, in certain teachers and coaches, in books and art, and in his own later family. The life history enabled quite a full appreciation of how this teacher negotiated his way through teaching., engaging with it at a deep personal level and continually juggling commitments and changing situations to maximise his own interests. Teachers need a catalyst to help them get started on a life history and to construct it.
