Transforming Learning Spaces and the Impact on Pedagogical Approaches: A Beginning Teacher's Journey

Abstract

Beginning teachers have a range of concerns when they commence their first appointment. Foremost amongst these is classroom management. While beginning teachers aim to meet new curriculum challenges and develop their personal pedagogical approaches, these concerns are often made subordinate to their strong desire to maintain control at a classroom management level. As a result, educational spaces often operate as zones of containment rather than spaces of learning. Using an auto-ethnographic approach that seeks to use personal experience as a means of illustrating broader cultural experiences (Ellis, Adams & Bochner, 2010), this paper will outline one beginning teacher’s journey from adaptat..