South African Journal of Education Copyright © 2008 EASA Vol 28:91–101 Understanding teacher identity from a symbolic interactionist perspective: two ethnographic narratives Brigitte Smit and Elzette Fritz bsmit@uj.ac.za In this ethnographic inquiry we portray two teacher narratives reflecting educational change in the context of two South African schools. The study was conducted as part of a larger inquiry into ten schools in urban South Africa. A 1 decade of democracy begs some attention to educational progress and reform, from the viewpoint of teachers and with the culture of their schools as the inquiry’s landscape. We present two ethnographic narratives, crafted of a typical ‘township/rural’ school, and an established Afrikaans school, with two teachers as the main social actors. Data were sourced from passive obser- vations, interviews, informal conversations, and journal data. These field texts were analysed for content and narrative using, as methodological frame, the ‘Clandininian’ “metaphorical three-dimensional inquiry space”. Three data themes, teacher authority, commitment to the profession in terms of staying or leaving, and multitasking are theorised from a symbolic interactionist frame- work, using constructs such as situational, social and personal identity. The major finding of this inquiry speaks to the power of the working context, the educational landscape, which appears to be a much stronger force in the development of teacher identity than national educational policies. Keywords: educational change; ethnography; narrative inquiry; symbolic interactionism; teacher identity Introducing the inquiry In this article we address the concern of teacher identity in the context of educational change. As is commonly known, teachers play a critical role in educating the youth and advancing the social collective good for all citizens. The way teachers see themselves as professionals and how they compose their identities in schools is the focus of this ethnographic inquiry. This study formed part of a larger research project involving 10 schools, an inquiry into teacher identity, and the culture of schools. The purpose of this particular inquiry was to portray two teacher narratives of teacher identity. The guiding 2 research question, both for the project and this particular inquiry, was: What constitutes the identity of the teacher and how does the establish- ment of identity interface with the ethnographic characteristics of the school in which the teachers work? Data were analysed for content and narrative. Themes such as teacher autho- rity, leaving the profession, and multitasking point to situational, social and personal identity. We begin by explaining the theoretical framework, then we describe the research design and methodology, and thereafter we describe and interpret data themes.