Shifting Constellations: The impact of community participation in sustaining professional identities of artist and teacher-educator

This autoethnographic self-study examines how shifting participation across distinct communities of practice reshapes a multifaceted professional identity within the UK higher education in further education (HE-in-FE) landscape. Analysing two pivotal events: a gallery opening and a teacher-educator gathering, the study reveals the opposing affective dynamics of identity movement: an outbound trajectory marked by silent disengagement and a sense of loss, alongside an inbound trajectory characterised by social warmth and newfound legitimacy. By drawing on the concept of brokering, the paper demonstrates how practitioners translate tacit specialist knowledge across boundaries to reconcile shifting roles and sustain a unified sense of self. The findings offer actionable implications for educational institutions, highlighting the need to reorganise identity disengagement as legitimate professional development work, structure networks for newcomer belonging, and position prior professional identities as transferable resources for pedagogical innovation.