“A system that is geared towards competition”: Identity-based pedagogies and student teachers’ beliefs about resisting neoliberal and neoconservative structures in the educational system
Keywords:
student teachers’ beliefs, teacher education, neoliberalism, diversity, inclusion, language educationAbstract
In this paper, we aim to analyze how identity-based pedagogies with a focus on diversity and inclusion aspects are related to student teachers’ beliefs about resisting neoliberal and neoconservative structures in the educational system. Data from eleven students was collected in an asynchronous session in a Spanish pedagogies course at university through an online discussion forum and analysed through content and discourse analysis. The results reveal that student teachers refer to different aspects of diversity for identity-based or interest-driven reasons. Beliefs about capital, equity, othering, and agency in resisting neoliberal and neoconservative structures in education are primarily expressed by individuals with personal experiences of poverty and racism.
References
Baumert, J., & Kunter, M. (2011). Das Kompetenzmodell von COACTIV. In M. Kunter, J. Baumert, & W. Blum (Eds.), Professionelle Kompetenz von Lehrkräften (pp. 29–54). Waxmann.
Block, D., Gray, J., & Holborow, M. (2012). Neoliberalism and applied linguistics. Routledge.
Bohner, G. (2003). Einstellungen. In W. Stroebe, K. Jonas, M. Hewstone, & M. Reiss (Eds.), Sozialpsychologie: Eine Einführung (4.th ed., pp. 265–313). Springer.
Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in grammar teaching: A literature review. Language Awareness, 12(2), 96–108. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658410308667069
Borg, S. (2017). Teachers' beliefs and classroom practices. In P. Garrett & J. M. Cots (Eds.), The Routledge handbook of language awareness (pp. 75–91). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315676494-5
Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J. G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education (pp. 241–258). Greenwood.
Bourdieu, P. and Passeron, J-C. (1977). Reproduction in education, society and culture. Sage.
Brinkmann, L. M., & Melo-Pfeifer, S. (2023). Linguistic landscapes in multilingual pedagogies: International teachers' beliefs on the use of linguistic landscapes in the foreign language classroom. In L. Eibensteiner, A. Kropp, J. Müller-Lancé, & C. Schlaak (Eds.), Neue Wege des Französischunterrichts: Linguistic Landscaping und Mehrsprachigkeitsdidaktik im digitalen Zeitalter (pp. 199–226). Narr Francke Attempto.
Brown, C. P., Ku, D. H., Barry, D. P., & Puckett, K. (2022). Examining preservice teachers’ conceptions of teaching to consider the impact of policymakers’ neoliberal reforms on their sensemaking of their new profession. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(5), 463-478. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871221105803
Buehl, M. M., & Beck, J. S. (2015). The relationship between teachers' beliefs and teachers' practices. In H. Fives & M. G. Gill (Eds.), International handbook of research on teachers' beliefs (pp. 78-96). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203108437-11
Burns, A., Freeman, D., & Edwards, E. (2015). Theorizing and studying the language‐teaching mind. The Modern Language Journal, 99(3), 585–601. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.12245
Cenoz, J., & Gorter, D. (2021). Pedagogical translanguaging. Cambridge University Press.
Darvin, R. (2023). Sociotechnical structures, materialist semiotics, and online language learning. Language Learning & Technology, 27(2), 28–45. https://doi.org/10.64152/10125/73502
Darvin, R., & Norton, B. (2015). Identity, language learning, and critical pedagogies in digital times. In J. Cenoz, D. Gorter, & S. May (Eds.), Language Awareness and Multilingualism (pp. 1–12). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_3-1
De Costa, P. I. (2016). The power of identity and ideology in language learning. Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-30211-9
De Graaf, N. D., De Graaf, P. M., & Kraaykamp, G. (2000). Parental cultural capital and educational attainment in the Netherlands: A refinement of the cultural capital perspective. Sociology of Education, 73(2), 92–111. https://doi.org/10.2307/2673239
El-Mafaalani, A. (2020). Mythos Bildung. Die ungerechte Gesellschaft, ihr Bildungssystem und seine Zukunft. Kiepenheuer & Witsch.Freire, P. (1975). Pedagogia do Oprimido (2nd ed.). Afrontamento.
Freire, P. (1994). Pedagogia da Esperança (3rd ed.). Paz e Terra.
García, O., & Wei, L. (2014). Translanguaging: Language, bilingualism and education. Palgrave. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137385765
Gerwers, F., Gauci, P., Melo-Pfeifer, S., & Stathopoulou, M. (2022). Teachers' beliefs about cross-linguistic mediation tasks. LEND: Lingua E Nuova Didattica, 05, 159–173.
Gogolin, I. (1994). Der monolinguale Habitus der multilingualen Schule. Waxmann.
Gorter, D., & Arocena, E. (2020). Teachers’ beliefs about multilingualism in a course on translanguaging. System, 92, 102272.
Hardy, C., Phillips, N., & Harley, B. (2004). Discourse analysis and content analysis: Two solitudes? Qualitative Methods, 19–22. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.998649
Melo-Pfeifer, S. (2021). Eine pas très facile Leidenschaft? Die Entwicklung berufsbezogener Überzeugungen von angehenden Französischlehrkräften. In M. Grein, B. Schädlich, & J. M. Vernal Schmidt (Eds.), Literatur-, Kultur- und Sprachvermittlung: LiKuS. Die Krise des Französischunterrichts in der Diskussion (pp. 64–85). J.B. Metzler.
Melo-Pfeifer, S., & Tavares, V. (2024). Language Teacher Identity and Education at the Crossfire of Evolving Raciolinguistic and Monolingual Ideologies. In S. Melo-Pfeifer & V. Tavares (Eds.), Language Teacher Identity (pp. 1–18). Wiley. Norton, B. (2013). Identity and language learning. (2nd ed.). Multilingual Matters.
Norton, B., & De Costa, P. I. (2018). Research tasks on identity in language learning and teaching. Language Teaching, 51(1), 90–112. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444817000325
Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers’ beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307–332. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543062003307
Portolés, L., & Martí, O. (2020). Teachers’ beliefs about multilingual pedagogies and the role of initial training. International Journal of Multilingualism, 17(2), 248-264.
Prada, J. (2021): The critical awakening of a pre-service teacher in a Spanish graduate program: a phenomenology of translanguaging as pedagogy and as content, International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, DOI: 10.1080/13670050.2021.1881945
Reusser, K., & Pauli, C. (2014). Berufsbezogene Überzeugungen von Lehrerinnen und Lehrern. In E. Terhart, H. Bennewitz, & M. Rothland (Eds.), Handbuch der Forschung zum Lehrerberuf (2. ed., pp. 642–661). Waxmann.
Rodriguez, A., & Magill, K. R. (2016). Diversity, neoliberalism and teacher education. International Journal of Progressive Education, 12(3), 7–23.
Sabarwal, S., Abu-Jawdeh, M., & Kapoor, R. (2022). Teacher beliefs: Why they matter and what they are. The World Bank Research Observer, 37(1), 73-106. https://doi.org/10.1596/40096
Schachter, E., & Rich, Y. (2011). Identity education: A conceptual framework for educational researchers and practitioners. Educational Psychologist, 46(4), 222–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/00461520.2011.614509
Schwartz, A. (2023). Spanish So White. Multilingual Matters.
Stenberg, K., Karlsson, L., Pitkaniemi, H., & Maaranen, K. (2014). Beginning student teachers’ teacher identities based on their practical theories. European Journal of Teacher Education, 37(2), 204–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2014.882309
Stopforth, S. & Gayle, V. (2022) Parental social class and GCSE attainment: Re-reading the role of ‘cultural capital’. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 43(5), 680-699, https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2022.2045185
Svalberg, A. (2015). Understanding the complex processes in developing student teachers’ knowledge about grammar. The Modern Language Journal, 99(3), 529–545. https://doi.org/10.1111/modl.1224
Tavares, V. (2023). Teaching in Diverse Lower and Upper Secondary Schools in Norway: The Missing Links in Student Teachers’ Experiences. Education Sciences, 13(4), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci13040420
Tillema, H. (1997). Stability and change in student teachers’ beliefs. European Journal of Teacher Education, 20(3), 209-212. https://doi.org/10.1080/0261976970200301
Tschannen-Moran, M., Salloum, S., & Goddard, R. (2014). Context matters: The influence of collective beliefs and shared norms. In International Handbook of Research on Teachers' Beliefs (pp. 301–316). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203108437-21
Vikøy, A., & Haukås, Å. (2023). Norwegian L1 teachers’ beliefs about a multilingual approach in increasingly diverse classrooms. International Journal of Multilingualism, 20(3), 912-931. https://doi.org/10.1080/14790718.2021.1961779
Williams, C. (1996). Secondary education: Teaching in the bilingual situation. In C. Williams, G. Lewis & C. Baker (Eds.) The Language Policy (pp. 39–78). CAI.
Zembylas, M., & Chubbuck, S. M. (2015). The intersection of identity, beliefs, and politics in conceptualizing "teacher identity". In H. Fives & M. G. Gill (Eds.), International handbook of research on teachers' beliefs (pp. 173–190). Routledge.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 McGill Journal of Education / Revue des sciences de l'éducation de McGill
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
