Becoming an educator in and through the arts: Forming and informing emerging teachers' professional identity

•Insights from the student teacher experience of arts education are presented.•Arts education informs part of a complex emerging teacher identity development.•The importance of practical and reflective arts experiences is highlighted.•Student participatory arts experiences inform values and approaches to teaching.•Arts experiences broaden student teacher candidates' professional identity.

This article examines student experience and identity formation within an arts education module (involving music, drama and visual arts) on an initial teacher education programme in Ireland. Student reflections (n = 106) and interview data (n = 33) are analysed to explore the complex nature of becoming an arts educator within a general-education model. Using student voice, findings are presented through a series of dualisms to problematise teacher development and identity-building in and through arts education. Findings reveal the importance of practical and reflective arts experiences to shape emerging teacher identities but also to inform the values and approaches to teaching the arts in schools.