Becoming the teacher she needed: a narrative analysis of the transcendent teaching of an early career black educator

Teacher attrition remains a pressing concern, particularly for teachers of colour who navigate systemic barriers, racialised hostility, and limited institutional support. This narrative inquiry examines the lived experiences of Kora, a first-year Black teacher transitioning from paraprofessional to teacher of record in a predominantly White, suburban Texas district. Drawing on humanising pedagogy, narrative inquiry, thematic coding, and poetic representation, the study explores how Kora navigated, resisted, and reimagined teaching within a racially hostile school context. Three themes emerged: Obstructed Pathways, Racialised Friction, and Transcended Limitations. Together, these findings show how institutional gatekeeping constrained Kora’s professional agency, how collegial spaces became sites of racialised surveillance and harm, and how Kora enacted humanising pedagogy as a form of resistance under constraint. The study contributes to scholarship on early career teachers of colour by cautioning against romanticised narratives of resilience and calling for structures that sustain teachers’ dignity, agency, and well-being.