On becoming an educational professional: the past in the present

The process of becoming a professional in an educational setting is, arguably, unique and may be distinguished from all other professions, as those who decide to take up this role have had substantial previous experience during their own schooling. It is the impact of this earlier experience that forms the basis of this thesis. In particular, it explores how individual subjectivities interact with the objective reality of professional practice in educational settings. Previous research has identified the tensions and complexities within this process and this exploration is expanded here by using a synthesis of psychoanalytic group theory, a sociological understanding of the social construction of reality and a recent adaptation of critical theory that emphasises the role of recognition in forming relations to the self. A series of narratives, representing an earlier life story and the more recent experiences of professional development in an educational setting, are collected from professionals early on in their career to provide rich data on the encounter between subjectivity and the facticity of education. These narratives were analysed using a gestalt methodology, the Narrative Process Coding System and 'future-blind' panels. Continued comparison of the data enabled an education biography for each participant to emerge and also revealed two main findings. The first confirmed that patterns of relating to educational settings as a pupil were replicated later in the context of developing a professional role. It is argued that this represents a transferential relationship with the structures and processes of education. Secondly it was found that themes of agentic behaviour and responses to the reality of educational settings provided a commonality between the education biographies of all the participants. A discussion of these themes within two case studies and a wider application to the other participants provides an empirical understanding of the objectification of a profeSSional practice. These two main themes also offer a unique synthesis of psychoanalytically informed social defences, recognition theory and how a facticity of professional practice may emerge. Finally it is argued that the collection of life story narratives from trainees or profeSSionals early in their career provides a simple and efficacious technique to engage in meaningful and reflexive professional development dialogue. Ultimately this research seeks to move the present standards and competency focused approach to developing a professional practice to a more nuanced and realistic one that considers how individuals encounter and respond to an objectified professional world.