voices

language mediating teacher voice in narratives (ii)

So, it is important to realise that the notion of teacher voice is not a simple or unproblematic one. Barbara Kamler (in Relocating the personal, 2001) summarises one aspect of the poststructuralist critique of teacher narrative, quoting Timothy Lensmire:

Lensmire (1998) argues, like many poststructural feminist scholars, that to assume a stable pre-existent self that can be expressed in writing is to assume that language itself is simply a tool for that expression, a neutral vehicle for making and expressing pre-existent meaning—rather than a site of struggle where subjectivity and meaning are produced. It is to ignore that the act of writing does not simply express a self, but has serious effects on the self that is writing. It is to ignore, further, that writers are not isolated individuals pursuing personal meaning but are embedded in social relations of gender, race, class and sexuality that influence the work of writing and creating a self. Kamler (2001, p. 38)

Ivor Goodson (2003) is one of many researchers and teacher-researchers who argue for the need to critically situate any teacher narrative within clearly articulated socio-political context. He advocates the construction of ‘life histories’:

A new collaborative mode [of teacher narrative] focusing on the teacher’s life and work, but retaining a reflective critical and theoretical dimension is required, and faculties of education must play a proactive part
(Professional knowledge, professional lives : studies in education and change, 2003, p. 14).

In fact, Goodson (like Wells, 2001, 2004; see also Wells’s on-line article about dialogic inquiry :
www.oise.utoronto.ca/~gwells/NCTE.html

sees great dangers in the uncritical celebration of the individual teacher voice, since it can so easily be dismissed as purely individual, idiosyncratic. Thus, he explains, even if the voice is potentially critical of destructive managerialist practices, systems or policy, it can easily be dismissed as idiosyncratic and peculiar to a particular setting, and of no bigger significance. (See also Parr and Bellis’s chapter, titled ‘Autobiographical inquiry in pre-service and early-career teacher learning: the dialogic possibilities,’ in Writing = learning, edited by Doecke and Parr, 2005.)

What do you think about the notion of teacher voice in teacher narratives? Do you agree with Lensmire or Kamler or Goodson? Do you have any reservations about celebrating the teacher’s voice in teacher narratives?



	If standards could be used to promote genuine professional development, improve knowledge of teaching practice and raise the professional standing of teachers, I welcome them. If all teachers could be involved in the kind of collaborative, productive development of literacy teaching standards we were involved in with STELLA – fantastic. Robyn Perkins 2000