ECTs' polymorphous identities: visualising a way to plan career support

My doctoral research aimed to understand better the perceptions of how ECTs' identities as professionals developed and changed over time in response to personal and professional factors they were exposed to during the first three years of teaching. Findings •ECTs assess and reassess their role against personal and societal values •ECTs recognise they professionally develop constantly i.e., learning to be a teacher in practice, not just a qualified professional. •ECTs need supportive cultures and people (usually a mentor, a more experienced other) to support navigating dynamic primary school environments. •ECTs need support to control which identities to project at any one time. •ECTs articulated hierarchies of power and recognised a gap between their aspirations and expectations of more experienced others amidst six aspects - organisational, personal, social, cultural, political, and historical. •The six aspects interact dynamically with ECT identities, which morph under pressure and over time. •The tension between ECTs aspirations and others’ expectations where unmitigated, can lead to concerns about self-efficacy and thoughts about leaving the profession. This session will share evidence from the research and practically engage with a small number of volunteer participants in modelling the morphing of identities (Dockerty, 2023) using audience participation (three people required from the audience). There will be discussion and personal action planning - reflecting on what has been heard and seen and considering what resource/processes might need to be modified or created to support those actions to happen in practice and I will close with a Q&A. The presentation will conclude that the six aspects might be considered a new framework to support building strong relationships to scaffold teacher-mentor reflective discussions to help maintain ECTs' confidence and competence and mitigate some of the challenges they experience. Reflections for supporting ECTs •Consider how to develop strong and consistent mentor-ECT relationships deemed crucial to maintain confidence in ECT self-efficacy, and to enable ECTs to work autonomously by the end of the two-year ECT support package. •Through audience participation at the conference, enact a living model (Dockerty, 2023) to help visualise how the six aspects (personal, organisational, social, political, cultural, historical) interact dynamically. •To help those that support ECTs to analyse ECTs’ challenges and work through personalised solutions. •To reflect and propose actions that those supporting ECTs might work towards, to consider what resource/processes they might need to modify or deploy to support those actions to happen in practice. Please see my published article associated with this research - Dockerty, K. (2025). Early career teachers’ identities: polymorphous identities that form, morph, and flex over time. Journal of Education for Teaching, 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2025.2530470