Chapter 19 Be(com)ing a Teacher in Challenging Circumstances: Sustaining Commitment or Giving up in Portugal?

This chapter draws on a larger study on beginning teachers and on their experiences of becoming a teacher in unprecedented challenging circumstances in Portugal. The aim is to look at the ways in which changes in policy and school context, as well as in personal and professional context, impact teachers’ professional identity over time. Two beginning teachers’ accounts are used to illustrate the key influencing factors that have impacted the development of professional identities. Four main themes emerged: (a) the influence of context, both at a policy and social level and at a school level; (b) the importance of relationships in teaching, particularly with students and colleagues; (c) the emergence of inner tensions resulting from the mismatch between strong beliefs and reality; and (d) the role of emotions in (re)defining teachers’ practice of teaching and teachers’ identity development. The chapter concludes with the discussion of the findings and their implications.