Making new worlds at the intersection of mathematics and language learning : teacher professional identity in the neoliberal era

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Doris A. Kroiss (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Sam D. Miller

Abstract: This multiple case study explored the professional identities of teachers at the intersection of mathematics and language learning. Situated within a neoliberal schooling context, teachers were required to adapt standardized instructional goals and practices to support the cultural, linguistic, and academic backgrounds of new-arrival refugee and immigrant youth while simultaneously contending with a range of accountability pressures (Block & Holborow, 2012). Of particular interest were the personal, professional, and political resources impacting teachers’ professional identity development and, ultimately, their resilience to neoliberal pressures (Holland et al., 1998; Mockler, 2011). A job crafting perspective (Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001) illuminated the extent to which teachers were successful in adapting the normative boundaries of their prescribed teaching roles to better support students’ academic backgrounds while building off their cultural and linguistic repertoires. Findings revealed that teachers’ resilience to high-stakes testing, standardization of instructional goals and practices, and oversight was mediated by key differences in their personal and professional backgrounds. This resilience was paramount for teachers to be able to counter neoliberal measures and support their professional identity development by aligning their moral purpose for teaching with their instructional practice. Implications suggest the importance of teachers developing the necessary political knowledge to untangle the effects of neoliberal pressures on their instruction (Gutiérrez, 2013; Yeh, 2018) by exploring how a variety of cultural resources impact the alignment between their moral purpose and their teaching practice (Mockler, 2011).

Additional Information

Publication
Dissertation
Language: English
Date: 2022
Keywords
Identity, Immigrant, Language, Mathematics, Neoliberalism, Refugee
Subjects
English language $x Study and teaching
Mathematics $x Study and teaching
Immigrant children $x Education
Refugee children $x Education
Neoliberalism

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