Adverse Life Experiences of Teachers: Childhood Trauma and Its Impact on Teachers' Life and Work

• In Event: Moscone Center West Roundtable Session 8
  In Roundtable Session: Constructing a Teacherly Identity: Perspectives From Australia, Brazil, and the United States

Abstract

This study focusses on teachers with adversity histories as counter-narratives to discover how those experiences influenced teacher role perception, motivation and identity. To understand how teachers with adversity histories experience the work of teaching, I sought to ask teachers for their stories and understand (1) what are the experiences of teachers with adversity histories in Australian schools? (2) how do these teachers understand or make sense of their experiences in relation to their teaching? (3) how do these teachers manage the tensions between personal and professional identities? Discussion focusses on how teachers were able to maintain their sense of self and personal practical knowledge in a profession which stigmatises their experiences, and by extension, their identities.

Author

• Stevie Browne, La Trobe University