Embodied teacher identity: a qualitative study on ‘practical sense’ as a basic pedagogical condition in times of Covid-19

TY - JOUR

T1 - Embodied teacher identity

T2 - a qualitative study on ‘practical sense’ as a basic pedagogical condition in times of Covid-19

AU - Christensen, Mette Krogh

AU - Nielsen, Karl Johan Schmidt

AU - O’Neill, Lotte Dyhrberg

N1 - Publisher Copyright: © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.

PY - 2022/8

Y1 - 2022/8

N2 - Worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has transformed teaching contexts rapidly. Studies on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have largely focused on students’ learning and well-being. In contrast, little is known about how emergency online teaching affects teachers. The aim of this study was to examine how disrupted teaching contexts during the Covid-19 pandemic affected academic teacher identities in health science education. Interviews were conducted with 19 experienced lecturers in health science education from two universities. Interview data were analysed using systematic text condensation. The established codes were compared across interviews to identify common themes and subsequently synthesized into descriptions of the emerging phenomena. Findings indicated that a form of embodied teacher identity, i.e. internalized teaching practices turned into dispositions, constituted a basic pedagogical condition and a resource for the teachers, and that the sudden change in the teaching context caused a loss of teacher identity. This identity loss was related to an incorporated understanding and use of the teacher’s sense of the classroom (subtheme 1), non-verbal feedback from students (subtheme 2) and reciprocal visual contact (subtheme 3). Data also indicated that teachers’ ability to adapt their teaching to students’ needs while teaching and teachers’ motivation and job satisfaction may have suffered. Universities should carefully consider how to cultivate sustainable and adaptive teacher identities compatible with the increasing digitalization of learning environments. Teaching is an embodied affair, and teacher identities are sensitive to structural changes in teaching contexts.

AB - Worldwide, the Covid-19 pandemic has transformed teaching contexts rapidly. Studies on the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have largely focused on students’ learning and well-being. In contrast, little is known about how emergency online teaching affects teachers. The aim of this study was to examine how disrupted teaching contexts during the Covid-19 pandemic affected academic teacher identities in health science education. Interviews were conducted with 19 experienced lecturers in health science education from two universities. Interview data were analysed using systematic text condensation. The established codes were compared across interviews to identify common themes and subsequently synthesized into descriptions of the emerging phenomena. Findings indicated that a form of embodied teacher identity, i.e. internalized teaching practices turned into dispositions, constituted a basic pedagogical condition and a resource for the teachers, and that the sudden change in the teaching context caused a loss of teacher identity. This identity loss was related to an incorporated understanding and use of the teacher’s sense of the classroom (subtheme 1), non-verbal feedback from students (subtheme 2) and reciprocal visual contact (subtheme 3). Data also indicated that teachers’ ability to adapt their teaching to students’ needs while teaching and teachers’ motivation and job satisfaction may have suffered. Universities should carefully consider how to cultivate sustainable and adaptive teacher identities compatible with the increasing digitalization of learning environments. Teaching is an embodied affair, and teacher identities are sensitive to structural changes in teaching contexts.

KW - Covid-19

KW - Undervisning

KW - Universitetspædagogik læringsmiljø studiemiljø virtuelle

KW - Teacher identity

KW - Embodiment

KW - practice theory

KW - Covid-19 pandemic

KW - Eye contact

KW - Health science education

KW - Higher education

KW - Non-verbal communication

KW - Online teaching

KW - Practical sense

KW - Qualitative research

KW - Teacher identity

KW - Pandemics

KW - Humans

KW - Universities

KW - COVID-19/epidemiology

KW - Students

KW - Qualitative Research

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125527391&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s10459-022-10102-0

DO - 10.1007/s10459-022-10102-0

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 35235103

AN - SCOPUS:85125527391

SN - 1382-4996

VL - 27

SP - 577

EP - 603

JO - Advances in Health Sciences Education

JF - Advances in Health Sciences Education

IS - 3

ER -