Ecology of Knowledges: Professional Identities of a Language Teacher Navigating Between Secondary and University Education

Abstract: The abyssal lines (Santos, 2010) that divide the knowledge generated in schools and universities hinder language education in Brazil. Taking into account that collaboration between these two settings can address this issue, what if schools and universities were bridged in a way that they are not two but one educational institution offering both secondary and teacher education? In this article, I examine the facets of my professional identities and how my mutual roles as a teacher and teacher educator influence, contradict and enrich one another. I narrate my experiences at the Federal Institute of São Paulo and analyze them through the lenses of theories on identity as a discursive construction (Bamberg; Fina; Schiffrin, 2011). My narrative reflects on how integrating knowledge generated in both schools and universities could lead to significant improvements in language education across both contexts.