Courses / Module

This module is an exploration of the professional life of the teacher outside of their classroom. It aims to help emerging teachers expand their understanding of the role and professional responsibilities of teachers and develop their own agency in contributing to the broader school/educational community. It further offers student teachers the opportunity to critically reflect upon and deliberately begin to craft their own teacher identity.

Through engaging in a ‘professional project’, student teachers are invited to collaborate with school colleagues, external educational stakeholders, school leadership and Maynooth Department of Education Faculty to address a pressing need in their school or contribute to their professional community. The project calls upon student teachers to develop and enhance professional relationships and to understand the potential individual teachers have for supporting the stewardship of their school and their profession.
Lectures and tutorials in this module will explore the nature of the teacher, the teaching profession, and the leadership capacity inherent in the role of teacher as a professional. It will also invite student teachers to critically consider and curate their emerging teacher identity via a guided journal. Students will also be tasked with developing a portfolio that captures their work and thinking as it relates to an Ethical-Relational Concept of Teaching (as reflected in the department’s conceptual framework for ITE). Aspects of teacher identity and relationality explored in the lectures include: teacher agency and autonomy; plurality and diversity in teaching and education; responsibility and care for the personal, social/political, cultural and professional demands of teachers work.