A Post-Intentional Phenomenology Study of Success for Teacher Candidates in a Residency Program

While alternative pathways in teacher preparation draw a highly qualified and diverse pool of candidates, teacher candidate success within these programs remains insufficiently studied. This study explores the lived experiences of success of a group of English as a second language (ESL) teacher candidates in a Teacher Residency Program (TRP) as they complete their coursework and clinical field experiences. Using post-intentional phenomenology (PIP), a qualitative research approach that draws from phenomenology and poststructuralist inquiry, the study addresses success as both an ontological and epistemic phenomenon that shifts, cannot be reduced to a matter of statistics, and is experienced only as it emerges within context. After a dialogic integration of the data (phenomenological material), theories (agential realism, community cultural wealth), and the researcher’s post-reflexivity, the participants’ accounts reveal that success emerged through technological companions in the form of agentic objects, through aspirations to overcome perceived barriers, and through relational encounters that fostered confidence and purpose as the ESL teacher candidates learned how to be teachers.