Living Identities: South Asian Heritage Teachers' Experiences and Pedagogies in London Primary Schools

Abstract

This research explores the lived experiences, identities, and pedagogies of South Asian heritage teachers working in London primary schools. Despite sustained policy attention to teacher diversity, South Asian heritage teachers remain underrepresented within the primary teacher workforce, and their lived experiences are often homogenised within existing research. This study addresses this gap by foregrounding teachers’ voices and examining how identities, belonging, and participation are negotiated within institutional contexts largely shaped by whiteness. Situated within an interpretivist paradigm, the research adopted a narrative inquiry approach. Data was generated through in-depth life history interviews, river of life elicitation sessions, and classroom observations with 17 South Asian heritage primary teachers across London. Drawing on the theoretical frameworks of Sara Ahmed (2007) and Etienne Wenger (1998, 2016), the study develops an original conceptual framework – Living Identities – to capture identity as dynamic, embodied, and continuously negotiated within everyday professional practice. The findings show that teachers conceptualise identity as plural and lived, shaped through intersecting dimensions of ethnicity, religion, gender, and professional experiences. While London is often experienced as a comparatively enabling context compared to the rest of the country, teachers’ sense of belonging remains conditional, mediated by institutional norms and practices that privilege whiteness. Importantly, teachers resisted deficit framings of identity, instead articulated their identities as sources of insight, agency, and pedagogical purpose. These identities actively shape pedagogies, influencing relational practices with students, and commitments to inclusive and socially just teaching. This thesis contributes empirically by providing an in-depth qualitative account of South Asian heritage teachers’ experiences in London primary schools, and conceptually by advancing the Living Identities framework. It offers implications for teacher education, school leadership, and policy, emphasising the importance of acknowledging the distinction between structural barriers and the positive agentic meanings teachers attach to their identities.