"I am a teacher like my mother" : mothers’ contribution to their daughter’s process in becoming teachers

Abstract

The main aim of this dissertation is to explore the contribution of the mothers in their daughter’s process in becoming teachers. In exploring this issue, this study also draws on ideas about the relationships between mothers and daughters and concepts about teaching and women. The main concepts were explored first by reviewing literature on related issues. The themes found in the literature review were then investigated through the use of four semi-structured interviews with three student teachers and one newly-graduated teacher, and their mothers, who are teachers. Then, the data obtained from the interviews with each mother and daughter pair, was analysed and discussed in relation to literature. This research also highlights the mothers’ support during the daughter’s process in becoming teachers, including the emotional, practical, academic and professional support and the effect of this process on the mother-daughter relationship. It also explores the mothers’ and daughters’ concepts of education, and the mothers’ contribution to their daughter’s choice of becoming a teacher. This study concludes that the mother contributes greatly to her daughter’s process in becoming a teacher and argues that the daughter’s dependence on the mother helps the daughter develop a similar yet separate self from that of her mother.