“Nailing it Across the Board”: Negotiating Identity as Trades Teachers

Authors

  • Barbara Gustafson University of Saskatchewan

Keywords:

Education, Post-Secondary, Trades, Teachers Vocational Identity

Abstract

A vocational identity of teacher has been linked in research to teaching efficacy, job satisfaction, and commitment to the profession. For postsecondary college instructors, teaching is most often a second career, with the first career providing the subject matter expertise that is the foundation of the second. The first career also carries an established vocational identity, leading to a negotiation of that concept with the new identity of teacher. This article presents recent doctoral research exploring vocational identity among postsecondary trades teachers in Western Canada. The exploratory mixed-methods study found the two identities of tradesperson and teacher were interconnected, with teaching seen by study participants as part of being a journeyperson, and the identity of tradesperson seen as essential to teaching in vocational education. An understanding of this negotiated interconnection provides insight for colleges in the hiring, training, and retention of trades teachers.

Author Biography

Barbara Gustafson, University of Saskatchewan

PhD candidate, Educational Administration; faculty, Saskatchewan Polytechnic

Downloads

Published

2016-12-16

Issue

Vol. 7 No. 2 (2016)

Section

Research Study/Recherche

License

  • Manuscripts submitted to CJNSE/RCJCÉ must be original work that has not been published elsewhere, nor is currently being considered for publication elsewhere. The author should confirm this in the cover letter sent with the manuscript.
  • Articles that are published within the CJNSE/RCJCÉ must not be published elsewhere, in whole or part, for one year after publication.
  • Copyright for articles published in this journal is retained by the authors, with first publication rights granted to the journal. By virtue of their appearance in this open access journal, articles are free to use, with proper attribution, in educational and other non-commercial settings. Granting the CJNSE/RCJCÉ first publication rights must be in the cover letter sent with the manuscript.
  • If the manuscript contains copyrighted materials, the author should note this in the cover letter sent with the manuscript, and indicate when letters of permission will be forwarded to the Editor.
  • If the manuscript reports on research with “human subjects,” the author should include a statement in the cover letter that ethics approval has been received for the research, indicating the granting body and protocol number if applicable.
  • Authors are encouraged to use language that is inclusive and culturally sensitive.