Teacher Identity under Reconstruction: Positional Analysis of Negotiations in an International Teacher Education Programme

This paper explores the international learning experiences
of Indonesian teachers participating in a Finnish master’s degree
programme as an identity reconstruction process. We study the
participants’ experiences based on dialogical identity construction to
explore the positioning and repositioning occurring during an
international learning experience. Given the conception of this
experience as a boundary experience, repositioning is a way to create
continuity and support the multiplicity of identity. From the narrative
analysis of the participants' stories about the programme, we found
that the participants' repositioning during the programme involved
negotiation with temporality, sociality and spatiality. Throughout this
process, the participants' understanding of their identities and
practices evolved. The post-conflict and post-disaster context in Aceh,
Indonesia, manifests itself through a unique constellation of
positionings and stimulates new understandings of its impact on
teaching and learning processes. This study contributes to
understanding the international teacher programme as a
repositioning process for teacher identity reconstruction that supports local meanings and has practical consequences.