Negotiating psychological disturbance in pre-service teacher education

This article describes the results of studies into the intrapsychic disturbance experienced by student teachers. The process of becoming a teacher is explored in terms of transition and the emergence of a teacher identity. Interview data were developed into case study narratives around the theme of an emerging professional teacher self. The study drew on psychoanalytic theory to interpret the potential conflict between the students’ emerging identity and a historical, non-professional self. The fourth and final case study presented here illustrates how one student used an extended piece of personal writing during her pre-service course to explore her emerging teacher identity.