Describes an action research study among preservice teachers in an educational psychology course in which resistance to learning associated with a particular working class masculinity appeared to be overcome. Resistance apparently developed because some activities and content of the preservice program threatened an occupationally constructed…

An action research project was conducted in an Educational Psychology class within a program training tradespeople to become secondary teachers of technology studies in Australia. Findings demonstrated the importance of group culture in helping these individuals move from manual to mental labor. Participants (n=62) increased their self-disclosure,…

This paper interprets a tale of resistance and its dissolution in an Educational Psychology class of male tradespeople employed as Technology Studies teachers in Secondary Colleges. Changes in identity required by the transition from manual to mental labor are so difficult that negativism and an aggressive pupil control ideology permeate the…