Qualitative practitioner research undertaken by teachers in schools is a vital means of developing pedagogy and practice, one that is under-valued in today's educational climate. This essay explores representations of students in qualitative studies, which, I argue, necessarily transform student participants into 'characters' within the…

In this article I reflect on the early formation of my professional identity and practice. I argue that much of my early practice was 'decorative' in that it masked dominant structures and discourses that often limited learning opportunities. I consider how a dialogic approach to school English is important for offering more authentic teaching and…

This essay explores how and why English teachers, especially women, must unpack and honour the many facets of our autobiography that make up our experiences and identities in classroom practice. Drawing on the work of Jane Miller and Anne Turvey, it starts with a 'moment' with a Year 10 class. It calls for attention to be paid to the intensely…

In recent years, it has become fashionable to demand of research that it produces "evidence" that can be turned into easily generalisable findings. Ever more elaborate sets of managerial standards and pre-defined learning outcomes have been imposed, and English teachers are encouraged to see their practice as merely an implementation of…

This article is a piece of "fiction written under oath." It reports two key findings of a doctoral research project, which investigated English teachers' reactions to the abolition of Year 9 SATs in England and in Wales. The research showed that in both countries, English teachers' pedagogical repertoires have widened as a result of the…

This paper explores the metaphor of the classroom as a "crucible" for early professional learning where beginning teachers forge professional identities in complex, unpredictable, paradoxical, affectively and physically potent contexts of practice. It works into the dissonances and contradictions of the micro-narratives embedded in the…

This article considers questions surrounding the teaching of writing "from different cultures and traditions", in the context of debates over multiculturalism in Britain today, and contends that English teachers have a vital role to play in the survival and flourishing of multicultural British society. In view of the self-consciously…