Teachers’ pedagogical and relational identity negotiation in the Finnish CLIL context

This is a self-archived version of an original article. This version may differ from the original in pagination and typographic details. Author(s): Title: Year: Version: Copyright: Rights: Rights url: Please cite the original version: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Teachers’ pedagogical and relational identity negotiation in the Finnish CLIL context © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. Accepted version (Final draft) Pappa, Sotiria; Moate, Josephine; Ruohotie-Lyhty, Maria; Eteläpelto, Anneli Pappa, S., Moate, J., Ruohotie-Lyhty, M., & Eteläpelto, A. (2017). Teachers’ pedagogical and relational identity negotiation in the Finnish CLIL context. Teaching and Teacher Education, 65, 61-70. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.03.008 2017 1 Teachers’ pedagogical and relational identity negotiation in the Finnish CLIL1 context Sotiria Pappa Department of Education, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland Ruusupuisto D423.6, P.O. Box 40014, Jyväskylän Yliopisto, Jyväskylä, Finland +358 408053832; [email protected] Josephine Moate Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland Ruusupuisto D222.2, P.O. Box 40014, Jyväskylän Yliopisto, Jyväskylä, Finland +358 408057795; [email protected] Maria Ruohotie-Lyhty2 Department of Teacher Education, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland Ruusupuisto D222.1, P.O. Box 40014, Jyväskylän Yliopisto, Jyväskylä, Finland +358 408012834; maria.ruohotie-lyh[email protected]i Anneli Eteläpelto Department of Education, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland Ruusupuisto D437, P.O. Box 40014, Jyväskylän Yliopisto, Jyväskylä, Finland +358 408057669; [email protected] 1 Content and Language Integrated Learning 2 Permanent address: Department of Languages, University of Jyväskylä, Jyväskylä, Finland Agora D321.1, P.O. Box 40014, Jyväskylän Yliopisto, Jyväskylä, Finland 2 Abstract This study explores the professional identity of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers in Finnish primary education. It aims at explaining how CLIL teachers negotiate their pedagogical and relational identity, and how identity agency is exercised in negotiating a more encompassing professional identity. Thematic analysis of thirteen interviews outlines the bi-directional process of identity negotiation between personal and professional resources, and social contexts at work. The results highlight a connection between professional identity and agency, and suggest that identity negotiation is a process of working and sharing with others, but also individually. Keywords: Content and Language Integrated Learning; Teacher identity; Identity agency; Pedagogical identity; Relational identity; Finnish education Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank the CLIL teachers for their participation and valuable insights. In addition, they would like to thank the reviewers for their feedback. This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors. 3 Teachers’ pedagogical and relational identity negotiation in the Finnish CLIL3 context Introduction Despite the long history of education as an institutionalized means of sharing cultural knowledge and international research, contemporary research continues to highlight the considerable flux that takes place within and around education (Weiner & Torres, 2016). In the midst of this flux, however, education continues to be enacted at a local level in institutional communities divided into classrooms in which teachers and pupils – ideally – enter into a pedagogic contract to teach and learn. It is this relational heart of education that has led to the descriptions of teachers as mediators of the curriculum (Alexander, 2001). At the same time, notions of teaching as a lifelong career are being replaced by temporary trials (Ingersoll, Merrill, & Stuckey, 2014). It is perhaps this recognition of the central role of the teacher at the cutting edge of education and the importance of teachers in the midst of change (Vähäsantanen, 2015) that has focused research on the professional identity of teachers (Day & Gu, 2010; Korhonen & Törmä, 2016; Körkkö, Kyrö-Ämmälä, & Turunen 2016; Varghese, Morgan, Johnston, & Johnson, 2005). Whilst some attention has been given to second/foreign language teacher identity with studies addressing language teachers’ institutional contexts, teacher education, early years of practice, classroom practice experience, and non-native speaking teachers (e.g. Kayi-Aydar, 2015; Tsui, 2007), the professional identity of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) teachers has received little attention (e.g. Moate, 2013). 3 Content and Language Integrated Learning 4 From a contemporary perspective, professional identity is deemed multiple, discontinuous and social in nature, immersed in various social worlds where interdependence and discourse cause shifts across time and contexts (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011). Lemke (2008) argues that as a notion identity links the personal domain of lived, moment-by-moment experience with cultural and social systems of beliefs, values and meaning-making practices. The professional identity of a teacher, however, "integrates the intellectual, the emotional, and the physical aspects of a teacher’s life with the subjectivities of ‘teacher’” (Alsup, 2008, p. 36), that is, the different positions a teacher can take up within a particular context. These positions are influenced by teachers’ intricately connected personal and professional biographies, as well as their social contexts at work (Bukor, 2015; Flores & Day, 2006). For teachers to renegotiate their positions amid collective discourses and practices at work, thus crafting their professional identity, they exercise agency in developing and learning (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Wells, 2007). In this paper, we refer to the form of agency used for identity negotiation as identity agency (Eteläpelto, Vähäsantanen, & Hökkä, 2015; Ruohotie-Lyhty & Moate, 2016), using it as a lens to better understand teachers’ professional identity. The aim of this study is to investigate how CLIL teachers in Finnish primary education craft their professional identity. We first examine identity agency as exercised at the level of classroom and collegial relationships, i.e. the ways in which pedagogical and relational identities are negotiated. Second, we examine how CLIL teachers’ negotiation between the pedagogical and relational sides gives rise to a broader sense of professional identity. Background on CLIL Teaching Teacher identity denotes a departing point for decision-making and actions that affect the work environment, which in turn affects the teacher. Very often, a struggle between 5 personal and contextual components yields opportunities for negotiating one’s professional identity (Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004). Within the Finnish educational context, however, teachers have a high level of autonomy, trusted as professionals with no inspection or accountability regimes. This system purportedly promotes professional commitment and innovation, public engagement and inspiration, responsibility and sustainability (Sahlberg, 2011). It might, therefore, be anticipated that when teachers in Finland choose to take on the challenge of teaching subjects through a foreign language, they can more easily, more positively, respond to this challenge and the professional context might give rise to the potential of synergistic and transactional spaces for developing teacher identity. As a methodology, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) recognises the dual aims of language and subject learning by using a foreign language (FL) to mediate the teaching and learning of curricular subjects. This approach became popular in Finland in the early 1990s, providing teachers with a more flexible and dynamic methodology (Coyle, 2007) for exercising autonomy and directing teaching efforts without being explicitly tethered to strict guidelines. Although Finnish educational authorities have not supported CLIL with topdown policy efforts as in other EU countries (Dalton-Puffer & Nikula, 2014), Finnish teachers’ grassroots innovations have continued over the last two decades despite struggles along the way (Lehti, Järvinen, & Suomela-Salmi, 2006; Moate, 2011a). The latest curriculum reform explicitly recognizes the importance of language innovation and integration in education and maintains that ‘every teacher is a language teacher’ (FNBE, 2014) creating a CLIL-friendly environment. Previous research on Finnish CLIL teachers has focused on the fundamental role of language for teachers’ individual and collective integrity (Moate, 2011b, 2014), teacher beliefs (Bovellan, 2014) and different forms of agency CLIL teachers draw on 6 (Pappa, Moate, Ruohotie-Lyhty, & Eteläpelto, 2017). International research suggests that the challenges CLIL teachers face can open new paths to teacher action (Nikula, Dalton-Puffer, & Llinares, 2013), despite the lack of explicated theoretical and pedagogical understanding (Cammarata & Tedick, 2012; Nikula, 2016). In order to better understand how in-service CLIL teachers exercise professional agency in forming their identities, this study investigates the negotiation of teachers’ identity on pedagogical and relational levels within the context of CLIL in Finnish elementary education. The following section elaborates on the theoretical framework for this study. Identity Negotiation The concept of professional identity has received a significant amount of interest and generated much debate around the meaning of the term (for a review of studies on teacher’s professional identity, see Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004). Gee (2000) offers a basic definition of identity as context-bound, yet premised upon an individually held interpretive system, life-trajectories, active construction and negotiation. Day, Kington, Stobart and Sammons (2006, p. 613) elaborate that “identities are a shifting amalgam of personal biography, culture, social influence and institutional values which may change according to role and circumstance”; that is, identities are multifaceted and liable to change according to external influences (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). These definitions are reiterated in Akkerman and Meijer’s (2011) comprehensive mapping of identity that highlights the recurrent multiplicity and unity, discontinuity and continuity, and social and individual nature of identity. Teachers’ professional identity is always negotiated in the individual and social space that is shared between the teachers’ personal and professional lives. According to Day et al. (2006), Nias (1989) identified personal and professional elements as distinct in teachers’ lives and identities, arguing the crucial role of the former in understanding 7 teachers within their working lives. It is not only through influences of external policy, and social or structural conditions that teachers define their professional identity (Lasky, 2005), but also “through their beliefs and values about the kind of teacher they hope to be in the inevitably changing political, social, institutional and personal circumstances” (Day et al., 2006, p. 610). Thus, teacher identities are contextualized and draw on material and immaterial affordances to be negotiated at classroom, collegial and professional level. In this study, teacher identity is conceptualized as the dynamic shifting process of an ongoing conception of oneself (Vähäsantanen, 2015), comprising biographical and professional trajectories as well as interpersonal, physical and material resources. In other words, teachers might be aware of past and present experiences and roles, yet negotiate their sense of being as professionals according to the circumstances they find themselves in. This process is guided by the organizing principles that teachers use in making sense of themselves and contexts alike as well as (re)interpreting their values, beliefs and experiences to achieve (trans)formation in answer to personal, social and cognitive influences (Flores & Day, 2006). The outcomes of this process are manifested through the multiple aspects of teachers’ being, acting, and understanding (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). In effect, teacher identity is both an intrinsically psychological phenomenon and a deeply social, real-word phenomenon; the self- and other-image of teachers are negotiated within discursive and institutional settings, affecting their communities and working conditions (Varghese et al., 2005). In educational settings, professional agency is salient in the process of professional identity negotiation, change and continuity (Vähäsantanen, 2015). The particular sense of professional agency that is related to one’s professional identity has been termed identity agency and entails renegotiating one’s professional ideals, 8 maintaining one’s own ethical standards and availing oneself of possibilities to use personal interests and competences at work (Eteläpelto et al., 2015). In other words, identity agency is the form of agency teachers employ to act in accord with who they believe they are at the moment (present), who they have been (past) and who they would like to become (future) (Emirbayer & Mische, 1998). Within the context of CLIL in Finnish elementary education, this study adopts this term of identity agency, but also argues for a more enriching relationship between teachers’ personal and professional lives as well as a more dialogical relationship between teachers and their community (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009). This study examines identity agency within two levels of CLIL teachers’ professional identity negotiation which acknowledge two immediate contexts of teachers’ working lives. First, identity agency is manifested at the level of the classroom. Pedagogical identity is the aspect of teachers’ identity that concerns negotiating who one is as a pedagogue by acting upon one’s professional ideals and by drawing on one’s personality and experiences in doing so (Day et al., 2006). These act as resources that, coupled with a projective reconfigurations of possible actions, can help teachers understand the relationship between their identity and contextualized practices (Lemke, 2008; Mora, Trejo, & Roux, 2016). Identity agency, then, constitutes professional decision-making and actions at classroom level, while employing affordances or constrains therein, and their beliefs (e.g. moral, social) as sources for satisfaction, commitment, motivation and self-efficacy at work (Körkkö, Kyrö-Ämmälä, & Turunen, 2016; Lasky, 2005). Second, identity agency is manifested at the level of collegial relationships. Relational identity is the aspect of teachers’ identity created between individual action and social relationships at work. While independent and autonomous in decision- 15 Actually, I kinda think that my special education background gives a good starting point for the CLIL teaching, because they both kinda require clarity, so that you have to give instructions that are very specific and easy to understand, so then… I’ve been actually been surprised to find how much common ground there is in special education and in the CLIL education. It is not only the ability to evaluate and draw on past experiences to manage within present conditions, but also the connection teachers make across various professional contexts and their corresponding principles that factor strongly in the meaning-making process of identity negotiation against a temporal and physical background. Professional training, as mentioned by some participants (7/13), can heighten this process by providing access to different perspectives, inviting questions, and validating current experiences. However, what could be the most potent element in meaning-making would be interactions with students or encounter with children (10/13), as they prompted reflection, inspiration and learning, and have affected how participants thought about teaching and students. Such interactions become ‘pieces to [their] puzzle’ (Teacher 7) and contribute to a ‘gradual grow[th] altogether’ (Teacher 8). Continuously cultivating positive relationships with pupils creates an important space for identity agency. Such professional experiences are negotiated through beliefs about the profession in general and CLIL in particular. As Teacher 12 characteristically says: CLIL is a ideal way of teaching, because it’sit really makes teaching much more active, both for the learner and for the teacher. So, um, in that way, it sort of reinforces what you’re doing there. Participants’ ways of understanding themselves as teachers were reflected in views of CLIL and its role within education. The extent to which they agreed with the aims and outcomes of CLIL, and the way the methodology resonated with their actions (e.g. being an active teacher) suggest that internalization and identification with elements 16 inherent in the profession are essential strategies to identity negotiation. Within this negotiation, agency is exercised in judging which of these elements are relative or appropriate to teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of foreign-language mediated teaching and learning. Pedagogical identity negotiation is, then, intricately linked to views of themselves as teachers, which itself is strongly connected to the presence of first and foreign languages. This entails validating a personal perspective on thoughts and perceptions about CLIL teaching and teacher expression. That sometimes I’m comparing that what I could give to these kids if I would be working in Finnish. But now, I’m working in English, I have to concentrate on this basic, basic words, and that repetition. And it’s, uh, kind of, you’ve got the colour, but you don’t have the shades (Teacher 10) CLIL teachers can be aware of the discrepancy between teaching in their first and foreign language, what methodological choices they have to make and how language affects the presentation of the teacher self in the CLIL classroom. Using the colour to gradually provide pupils with the shades goes beyond a mere comparison of the ‘teacher in Finnish’ and ‘teacher through the foreign language’ dichotomy, touching upon overarching pedagogical convictions, teaching style and hopes for students’ learning that may affect action concerning instruction and pedagogy in CLIL in tandem with students’ reactions and interaction. These are mediated by the language which, perceived as either a tool or a positive challenge coupled with student interest, may fuel positive views of oneself as a CLIL teacher and reinforce a sense of purpose in the classroom- and CLIL-related actions teachers take. Teachers need to understand the language part of CLIL as part of their teacher identity by internalizing the goals, tasks and principles and owning the methodology (Nikula et al., 2016). Yet, language use and internalization in CLIL is not devoid of emotion. While many teachers expressed a 17 sense of efficacy (9/13), there were a few who experienced instances of self-doubt (4/13): Well, of course, I’ve had my doubts about whether I want to be a teacher. And one reason has been that I don’t believe in the system so much. I think there are many things that restrict learning. (Teacher 13) I suppose, all the teachers ask that, quite many- At some time, at some points that ‘Am I good enough?’ (Teacher 4) Feeling competent and good as a teacher might help teachers in their day-to-day school life, such as the feeling of being in control or on top of the curriculum, but second thoughts about themselves fitting the job or being good enough as teachers could be demoralizing. Such considerations, among others, could be resolved with support from the immediate relational environment at work. Relational Identity Negotiation This section concerns the aspect of identity CLIL teachers enact within social relationships developed at school in the immediate collegial environment. Relational identity regards the synergistic negotiation of individually-initiated as well as collectively-driven actions. With colleagues, CLIL teachers’ identity negotiation could be seen in their social involvement and willingness to partake in collegiality. The actions of sharing (8/13) and participation (8/13) comprised participants’ involvement. Speaking about everyday challenges in the classroom, Teacher 11 says: Well, discussing with colleagues. I think that’s the best way [laughs] to deal with them. To share, cause I’ve noticed that most CLIL teachers are struggling with same problems, so. 18 Sharing seemed to be participants’ individual way of bonding with colleagues over tensions they encountered in their shared, immediate professional environment. While originating in individual teachers’ preoccupations, the actions they took within their community could have a wider impact. Teacher 10 elaborates: Now we’ve got this one big project in our school where we’re writing out a lot better, like, a lot more clearly what we mean by CLIL and the aims for each class, so, so we are trying to help that. […] Before we’ve had a very vague, eh, text in curricula and it’s, likeit’s been very much up to the teacher, how they sort of, what they do, and how they do things, like, in the CLIL. […] The English they are doing here. The English teacher obviously does work, you know, there, but we are trying to open that. So hopefully that will help every CLIL teacher in our school. Such actions aimed at offering help on a larger scale and becoming a member of a smaller or larger community. Participants’ relational identity was validated by using professional membership to address matters that affected themselves, colleagues and their pedagogical tasks. At the same time, it entailed jointly making sense of those tasks, acknowledging other colleagues’ role in completing them, and determining one’s own role in ameliorating current state of affairs in CLIL education at school level. To further this involvement, identity agency was exercised within a shared sense of collegiality, whereby teachers used others as resources and proactively responded to an invitation for collective activity. Whereas involvement stems from the individual and aims at the collective, collegiality stems from the wider social and professional environment of the school that facilitates or validates legitimate membership, collegial connectedness and professional support: Or it used to be that every teacher had their own material and they, like, jealously guarded it as if they were on their own island, keeping their own material. […] And because the CLIL teachers were relatively new and maybe also more outgoing, open-minded… I’m fine with sharing material. I really don’t care. And they were 19 also of that mind, so we would share much more. We would also that would help share the burden of teaching. (Teacher 12) The possibility of working with others to share the workload and materials not only provides a support system, but also supports the quality of practice. Rather than work in isolation, teachers can work cooperatively, although it is the culture shared by colleagues that will determine under which conditions and to what extent cooperation can take place. The importance of collegiality and its function as resource for teachers’ professional identity lies in its potential for creating a self-regulated, productive work community, where one can express thoughts and emotions or seek advice and find help. By doing so, issues under discussion can yield new insights or understandings, and enrich professional learning by means of collective educational practices. It should be noted, however, that this would be more successful with support from the principal, as they hold the primary executive and administrative authority in schools. When asked about the professional and social relationships with their principal, almost all teachers (12/13) voiced their opinions, most of them describing it in positive terms, such as ‘supportive’ (Teacher 7) and ‘positively influencing’ (Teacher 5). This might echo the trust invested in teachers in the Finnish society and the contemporary importance attributed to educational leadership (e.g. Nevalainen & Kimonen, 2013). Despite this valuable web of social relationships at school, teachers act on a comparatively independent level of action that runs parallel to those relationships. Relational identity on this level entails reflective autonomy in light of certain, profession-related considerations. While feeling autonomous at work (9/13), participants engaged in consciously thinking (10/13) about their work and its meaning as well as their performance and the means they have to do it. As Teacher 6 says, ‘in Finland it’s really […] free I think to do […] what we like’, while keeping in mind the 20 national curriculum. Pondering one’s work, coupled with autonomy, becomes a tool for ‘evaluating’ (Teacher 6) and keeping one ‘active and creative’ (Teacher 12). Identity agency, then, would be making use of a thoughtful awareness within a flexible space of autonomous action to determine their actions and the meaningful impact these could have on their professional identity. Nonetheless, the boundaries of this space become blurred in contact with that shared amongst colleagues, which has the potential to reinforce or constrain identity agency. A sense of identity can encounter demands and expectations that originate in institutional, interpersonal and temporal settings. For instance: Well, the curriculum. [laughs] Too many things in the curriculum and we have to do too many things. We are expected to do a lot, which I think restricts deep learning. And some of the things we do- I do in school, I feel this doesn’t make any sense. Why are we doing this? (Teacher 13) The curriculum was felt to be important in grounding the professional self, as it is the official document which stipulates language policy and directs teachers’ work. While it was deemed the foundations on which they could build their teaching and a strong presence in the school books, reference to CLIL practices were vague and not represented in the course material. As a consequence, teachers became material designers and could negotiate what aspects of the curriculum they would teach through the foreign language. Not strictly adhering to the book was perceived positively by participants, although that required investing more time in lesson planning and coping with a general insufficiency of time in their work. Concerning the interpersonal setting, a parental and leadership interest in CLIL was welcomed, yet did not help address considerations and challenges which remained part of teachers’ responsibilities. 21 Identity Agency across Contexts The previous sections outline how professional identity is negotiated within different contexts through different relationships. We understand this ongoing negotiation as identity agency, which is the agency an individual exerts to be and become themselves. This section concerns the agency CLIL teachers exert between the classroom and collegial level in negotiating a more encompassing professional identity. It attempts to explain how teachers use their pedagogical identity in the classroom, as well as their relational identity and corresponding resources to negotiate considerations that affect action on both individual and collective levels. In the light of pedagogical identity, participants’ personal and professional biographies could be seen as resources conducive to identity formation. Personal experiences, changes in their personal life, and available opportunities guided participants’ actions in their careers: I came to this school where they had CLIL and I was a class teacher. And since I had studied English and was qualified as an English teacher as well as a class teacher, I was employed. […] Just happened in a way, yeah. I didn’t, kind of, go for CLIL. I just wanted to change jobs, so. (Teacher 3) Identity agency can take place through adaptation to or seeking change in new work circumstances as a result of changes or experiences in personal life circumstances. At the same time, participants’ individual characteristics, beliefs and perceptions accompanying such biographies contribute to a meaningful exchange between the personal and professional aspects of teachers’ lives: Like I said, I think I’m, as a personality I’m quite flexible, but it gets harder every year, when you get older , so I- usually I don’t start, I… criticizing. Uh, usually I try to sleep over changes first and then... but this year when I have had so many changes, I got really angry with all these changes and I felt that it was honest to, to, 22 kind of, let the school head know about how I feel and how this affects my, my work. (Teacher 3) Identity agency is also using one’s interpretation of events to inform work-related actions through which a sense of self in the profession may be reinforced or questioned. Identity formation requires an acknowledgment of one’s traits and beliefs as well as past and present experiences. Consequently, identity agency will not only reflect those, but also help understand current situations and direct possible future courses of action. However, as teachers are not lone agents, but members of a work community, their pedagogical identity interacts with their relational identity. Through this interaction, pedagogical identity is afforded a collegial atmosphere which, if supportive and collaborative, can encourage one’s autonomous action, and guide that action. For example, sharing expertise and instructional material can affect methodological choices, help face instructional challenges and meet teacher responsibilities in CLIL. In other words, participants try to determine their professional identity within social settings that have an immediate impact on their teaching. Moreover, participation in the work community can generate a sense of belonging and purpose: Of course, this CLIL group we have. There I’m part of the group and there I can always say what I think and why and I think I can say and I’m heard if my colleagues. And they ask me if they need to know or if they want to know and I think we have a good relationships in our CLIL group, that group of teachers. But that group doesn’t include all these CLIL teachers. It’s only, like, three or four of us. […] But, hopefully, with the new curricula, we will have new working groups inside this school and these CLIL class teachers will be one group. (Teacher 10) Participation and the possibilities for change may affect teachers’ perceptions about the profession as well as address curricular demands and lack of clarity. On a classroom level, identity agency becomes not only pursuing autonomous and reflective action, but 23 also availing oneself of opportunities for participation and belonging in a community of practice. In turn, the collective can have an impact on the professional and external factors attempting to shape identity. As such, it becomes tethered to the relational, and entails membership and engagement with the community and its practices. Within these circumstances, participants’ identity agency seemed to take place in negotiating their role in light of considerations and responsibilities. Although their role might have been partly ascribed to them from a wider educational and institutional culture, it was the importance it held for them and their own beliefs about what a teacher should be and do in the CLIL classroom that helped them position themselves at work. Sometimes, eh, we haven’t tested all the children that come to the CLIL classes, and sometimes we’ve had a couple of children where I’ve been thinking that this is not right for that. And then, that situation is strange. And it’s challenging, because you can’t lower the whole level of the whole- You can’t wipe the CLIL out, because of one or two children, and then you just have to manage in the situation, even if you can see that their understanding is very low and their capability of absorbing new words and all that is very low. (Teacher 9) […] because we don’t choose children for CLIL classes in our school, it’s a lottery, this class, which class is going to be a CLIL? […] with children with the special needs, how do I, how do I integrate them so that they would feel as, as good as somebody else? (Teacher 2) We are not choosing any of those children. They are children with all different kind of abilities and they just, that they come- […] And I was saying to that, that that I think was so important to realize, that we are giving language to everybody. (Teacher 5) This stance entailed exercising one’s judgment regarding what is appropriate, which at times might be contrary to what they believe. Their positioning helped resolve ethical considerations about entitlement to CLIL education irrespective of the special needs or 24 level of English, while maintaining the positive stance of motivators and CLIL proponents in the face of instructional challenges. Thus, they became teachers compliant to school policies or acted in accordance with their own beliefs. Their individual understanding of themselves as teachers might or might not reflect the various roles attributed to teachers by the institutions of teacher education and school. Therefore, there is an internal organization of the individual with aspects related to the profession that is utilized in shaping who they want to be within the profession. Identity agency is manifested when this internal organization is used to achieve a preferred state of being as teachers, when encountering success or compromising in response to external pressure. Since identity formation is a reciprocal process between individual and contextual resources, identity agency is expected to be exercised in using any external pressure to review or change participants’ particular internal organization. At the same time, participants’ relational agency may be an independent aspect of teacher’s working life, but it can also serve as a supportive or structuring resource for pedagogical identity for CLIL teachers in Finland. Discussion This study examined how CLIL teachers in Finnish primary education exercise identity agency in negotiating their professional identity. In particular, it examined how CLIL teachers negotiated their pedagogical and relational identity, and how identity agency was enacted between these two sides of their professional identity. At the level of the classroom, participants negotiated their professional identity by drawing on personal and professional experiences and resources. Identity agency in relation to the pedagogical side was using self-awareness and past experiences to interpret current situations and direct future actions at work. Meanwhile, language was used as a mediational means to negotiate professional and relational aspects of participants’ 31 Tedick, 2012). Such settings could also shed more light on how in-service teachers’ professional identity and professional resources (Tsui, 2007) in CLIL could affect their level of commitment and personal investment in CLIL teaching. Limitations There are three limitations to this study. The first concerns the fact that this is a study within a particular context. The trust and respect toward the teaching profession in Finland affords teachers the possibility to follow their pedagogical beliefs and to be the teachers they want to be to a large extent. In addition, the lack of a top-down approach to CLIL, allows teachers to experiment with instructional diversity. Those factors may account for the absence of strongly perceived tensions, which could have established a direct link to current literature addressing identity formation as a struggle (Day et al., 2006; Ruohotie-Lyhty, 2013). The second concerns gender. All participants being women, one might suggest that male voices could have added to the findings. While that may be true, the diversity among the participants and an assumed common interest in being a teacher with their male counterparts support rather than devalue the present findings in light of gender. Future research could include a wider spectrum of teachers from different levels of education, gender and countries. The third concerns the method. Interviews were deemed the best way to gain insight into participants’ understanding of their professional identity, but future research could also include observations to examine how this understanding is enacted in the immediate work environment. Practical Implications The present study suggests that there are different contexts in which teachers negotiate their identity. Rather than separate, however, these contexts may interact according to how teachers position themselves therein. This positioning is achieved by exercising 32 agency on both an individual and relational level. Given the breadth of literature on teacher students’ identity (e.g. Flores & Day, 2006; Ruohotie-Lyhty & Moate, 2016), teacher education constitutes a major source of influence. Teacher education should be a place where theory and practice come together, but also one that acknowledges personal experiences and pre-existing beliefs (e.g. Körkkö, Kyrö-Ämmälä, & Turunen, 2016). Teacher students should be encouraged to ponder their own expectations and aspirations, being aided by pedagogical theories. During teaching practice, teacher educators could further enrich teacher students’ experience by helping them be more aware of how their idiosyncrasies, pedagogical convictions and practical knowledge inform their actions and how those very actions can strengthen or weaken their teacher identity. Moreover, mentors should allow for teachers to practice innovative instructional methods and enact their role as they currently understand it, while letting them make mistakes and providing constructive advice. Positive first teaching experiences and collaboration with members of the university and work community may significantly impact teachers’ relational agency and future resilience in the face of adversity (e.g. Banegas, 2012; Korthagen, 2004). With regard to in-service teachers, attention should be paid both to the synergy within contexts and the transaction between contexts for teacher identity formation and negotiation. It is important that teachers are able to work according to what they uphold as pedagogically valid and in a manner that does not strongly contradict externally imposed expectations. The tensions created should the case be otherwise, without any form of support, might be a chance for change or compromise for some, but a reason to withdraw altogether for others. Rather than suggesting no challenges be present, we would like to suggest presenting opportunities for change in the form of thoughtprovoking discussions or space for collective action. Identity agency will be drawn on to 33 reconceive oneself in the light of new information, such as new educational theories or the importance of certain academic skills, as well as their membership in the school community. Finally, as the personal aspect of teachers’ lives interplays with the professional, workshops by school counsellors or merely insightful collegial discussions could help teachers re-evaluate beliefs and bring to the fore competences that affect their perceptions about the profession, and vice versa. In some cases, they might help teachers maintain a balance between life and work circumstances, abate defeatist attitudes and self-doubt, and strengthen a sense of autonomy and agency. The study highlights a connection between teacher identity and agency in a context complementary to teacher education, suggesting that teachers utilize their agency in forming their identity within synergistic developmental contexts. 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