This article focuses on what student teachers tell about the emotional dimension of their identities with self-portraits. Narrative interviews with self-portraits were conducted with two student teachers in the final stages of their studies. The interviews were analysed by using narrative analysis, followed by a thematic cross-analysis of the two…

The article discusses parent-teacher relationships in school micropolitics based on beginning teachers' stories. We employ a narrative approach and investigate how micropolitical conditions and strategies are portrayed in beginning teachers' stories of parent-teacher relationships. The research material consists of narrative interviews with seven…

This article addresses emotions involved in encountering classroom diversity as appearing in beginning teachers' stories. Previous research has pointed out that teachers' emotions related to growing classroom diversity are seldom addressed, although increasing classroom diversity has been distinguished as a significant emotional challenge for…

It has been increasingly acknowledged that emotions are a significant dimension in teachers' work and professional development, and an inseparable part of reflection promoted in the research-based teacher education. However, at the same time the difficulty of prompting student-teachers to reflect on their emotions in teacher education has been…

The need to improve teachers' abilities to respond to the needs of diverse students has been widely acknowledged. To acquire these abilities teachers need ongoing reflection and opportunities to learn in practice in various contexts. However, earlier research has not extensively theorised teachers' intercultural learning as a holistic life-long…

This article focuses on teacher identity. Based on two small stories told in a peer group by a beginning teacher, we ask: How does a beginning teacher tell about her identity as part of the micropolitical context of school? Theoretically and methodologically, the research is committed to a narrative approach in understanding teacher identity. The…

This article employs a narrative approach in examining the intertwining of the personal and professional in teacher-student relationships. A total of 141 Finnish people of various ages wrote about their teachers; specifically, the article focuses on memories related to their teachers' personal lives. Such memories illustrate the inevitable…

This narrative inquiry analyses the memories of a group of female teachers telling about their own teachers. We ask how gender and emotions are intertwined to teacher-student relationships. Gender was present in the stories where the teachers described being a schoolgirl in relationship with a teacher and told about their teachers as women and…

This narrative inquiry aims to look at teacher-pupil relationships through teacher memories. When 49 university students of education were asked to write their memories of teachers, they told about their teachers in relation to pupils. The data were analysed thematically and, based on that, re-read through the concepts of body, caring and power in…