Growing pains: teacher becoming a transformative agent

This paper asks how a teacher transforms from constrained and controlled to an independent yet dialogical agent. We analyse and describe the transformation of a teacher in the Finnish rural north in one school semester from a conforming teacher to a transformative teacher, examining the narrative of her personal journal and ethnographic researcher’s journal. By analysing the transformation process of one individual teacher, we identify the contexts that an individual teacher may need to consider when transforming. This paper finds that the pedagogical transformation process did not focus on learning new teaching methods and applying them in class; instead, the pedagogic transformation occurred after the teacher reflected personally and professionally and carried out small, concrete changes. The pedagogical transformation culminated in two turning points and was enabled by professional support, personal support, space, and personal emotional resources. A three-year survey reveals that such a transformation had permanent consequences.