Certain uncertainty and the importance of teacher meanings

Teaching is an uncertain, dilemma ridden endeavour. Attending to the significance of these characteristics of teaching for teachers involves taking their meanings and meaning construction seriously. This paper does this, focusing on one teacher’s meaning making in relation to her expectations, tolerance of uncertainty, changing roles and shifting identities/images of teaching. In doing so it calls attention to how the professional development of teachers can be based on the meanings they themselves develop and examine, and how cognitive and affective sense-making reveal personal orientations toward uncertainty, influence teaching practice and expectations for the future.