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Open Access CC BY-NC-ND V4.0
Journal article
Divergent trajectories through disruption: Narrative portraits of performing arts teacher-mothers
Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol.184, 105879
2026
Abstract
Teaching is understood as emotional, relational and identity-based work, yet little is known about how teacher-mothers negotiate these demands over time, particularly in performing arts education. This qualitative follow-up study returns to four performing arts teacher-mothers seven years after their original participation. Narrative portraits constructed from a follow-up focus group examine how participants retrospectively made sense of changes in their professional and personal lives over that period. Participants retrospectively described how trauma, motherhood, workload intensification and changing forms of participation reshaped their professional identities. Their accounts suggest that institutional expectations of availability, co-curricular labour and visible commitment can position caregiving in tension with professional legitimacy. Co-curricular responsibilities and relational teaching in performing arts extended work beyond formal hours, intensifying these tensions. The study contributes a long-term follow-up perspective to scholarship on teacher identity, arguing that sustaining teachers requires redesigning school systems around caregiving rather than expecting individual adaptation.
Details
- Title
- Divergent trajectories through disruption: Narrative portraits of performing arts teacher-mothers
- Authors/Creators
- Kirsten Lambert (PhD) (Author) - Murdoch University, School of EducationChristina Gray (Author) - Edith Cowan UniversityTammy Green (Author/Creator)
- Publication Details
- Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol.184, 105879
- Publisher
- Elsevier Ltd.
- Identifiers
- 991005927918607891
- Copyright
- © 2026 The Authors.
- Murdoch Affiliation
- School of Education
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Journal article
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