Pragmatic radicalism: An autoethnographic perspective on pre-service teaching

How might a pre-service teacher ‘teach against the grain’ and challenge their pre-existing assumptions about the profession? By deconstructing and reconstructing my schooling experiences and the social and cultural discourses and practices that have shaped and defined me, I hope to interrupt my conditioning and avoid revisiting my unhappy school experiences upon future students [Miller, A. (2006). The teaching urge: and seeking amnesia. English in Australia, 41(1), 18–24., p. 18]. I am trying to break the cycle of social reproduction and domination and become the type of teacher who liberates rather than domesticates. In this article I use ‘autoethnography’ and ‘mystoriography’ to analyse my professional development and to imagine and enact a teaching identity based on Garth Boomer's ‘pragmatic–radical’ educator. Pragmatic radicalism provides a strategic means of surviving and undermining hegemonic school systems while revolutionising the politics of the classroom. Pre-service teachers can challenge the socialisation process and build teaching identities that break the traditional ‘authoritarian–transmission’ model. Critical reflection on identity construction and past school experiences is essential to this endeavour.