Narratives from the North: Early Childhood Teachers’ Narrative Identities in Place

ABSTRACT This study focuses on early childhood teachers’ narrative identities in the North, based on the concept of narrative identities in place. The aim of the study is to deepen understanding of early childhood teachers’ work in the culturally diverse North by approaching the teachers’ narrative identities as closely connected with place. The research question guiding this study is: How do early childhood teachers from the culturally diverse North narrate their identities? The research material consisted of 12 peer interviews (24 teachers). The findings show that early childhood teachers’ narrative identities in place are shaped in between three crucial dimensions: meaningful places, temporality, and (un)belonging to multiple communities. The study contributes to international research on teachers’ narrative identities, place-based education, and early childhood education both theoretically and methodologically. The findings of the study challenge teachers, teacher educators, and policymakers to recognise the significance of place for teachers’ identities.


Introduction
This study focuses on early childhood teachers' narrative identities in the culturally diverse North. People have different understandings of the North based on variables such as political boundaries, geographic features, or identified lines of latitude (e.g., the Arctic Circle) (Anderson & Moore, 2021). The North is also a relative and subjective term involving different issues in different locations. Finland is one of the world's eight arctic countries (along with Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Russia, Sweden, and the United States), and the northern parts of these countries are known as the Circumpolar North, which contains both arctic and subarctic regions (e.g., UArctic, 2021). Various indigenous people live throughout the Circumpolar North (Anderson & Moore, 2021), and in northern Europe, for example, the Sámi home region stretches across the northern parts of Finland, Sweden, Norway, and Russia.
In this study, the North refers to the northern part of Finland, covering both the arctic and subarctic regions and forming a wide geographical area. There are only a few urban centres, and the area is mostly rural, with small villages. This area borders several nearby countries, and people cross these borders frequently in their everyday lives. As in many Arctic countries, both the majority population and the indigenous people live in the northernmost part of Finland (Määttä & Uusiautti, 2015); however, the relationship between these groups has not been unproblematic. Over time, the Sámi have encountered mistreatment, and some problems still exist regarding the rights of the Sámi people at different levels (e.g., Non-discrimination Ombudsman, 2021;Pietikäinen & Hujanen, 2003).
Although the North is inherently and traditionally rich in human diversity, the effects of globalisation, tourism, and immigration increase this cultural diversity further. In this study, we understand the concept of cultural diversity in its broader definition to refer to several factors, including language, ethnicity, nationality, socio-economic background, religion and world view, gender, sexual orientation, age, and ability (see Jokikokko & Järvelä, 2013).
The present study is connected to research on teachers' narrative identities, place-based education, and early childhood education (ECE). Previous research on teachers' and teacher students' narratives has provided insights into their professional growth, work, and identities (e.g., Edwards & Edwards, 2017;Estola, 2003;Taylor, 2013;Uitto et al., 2014). Researchers in education have been interested in the significance of place; for instance, some studies have addressed teachers' work and small villages in the North (e.g., Estola & Erkkilä, 2007;Lanas et al., 2013). There is also growing international interest in exploring ECE from different perspectives in the Circumpolar North of today (e.g., Card & Burke, 2021;Hellman & Lauritsen, 2017;Äärelä, 2016).
Despite the increasing interest in teachers' narrative identities and northern contexts, early childhood teachers' narrative identities in the North have received less attention. The significance of place for their identities has largely been ignored, although research evidence suggests that individuals' experiences of places and their identities are mutually entangled (Antonsich, 2010). Our study fills that gap by creating new knowledge about early childhood teacher' narrative identities in connection with their work in the culturally diverse North. The research question guiding this study is: How do early childhood teachers from the culturally diverse North narrate their identities?

Theoretical Framework: Narrative Identities in Place
Theoretically, this study draws from a relational approach that regards individuals' relations with their social and cultural environments as crucial for their evolving identities. We employ a concept of narrative identities in place to combine ideas from two branches of research: the idea of identity as narratively constructed (De Fina, 2015;Smith & Sparkes, 2008) and the idea of complex connections between human beings and places (Antonsich, 2010;Counted, 2016;Menatti, 2019).
The concept of identity is often referred to as an individual's answers to the questions "Who am I and where do I come from?" (Estefan et al., 2016;Puroila, 2019). Narratively oriented studies reject essentialising theories of identity that see it as an individual's stable, inner conception of self, calling for understanding of the significance of narrative for constructing and negotiating identities (De Fina, 2015). Thus, narrative scholars often refer to identity as a dynamic phenomenon and prefer to talk about identities in plural rather than about a single identity. Even though most narrative scholars agree that identities are narratively constructed, there are different understandings of the concept of narrative identity (Smith & Sparkes, 2008).
A distinction is made between approaching narrative identities from the perspective of the content of the narratives and taking an interactional approach to narrative identities (De Fina, 2015). Whereas the former focuses on what kinds of individual and collective identities are constructed through narratives, the latter prioritises the processes through which identities are produced in between narrators, co-narrators, and their audiences (Smith & Sparkes, 2008). As De Fina (2015 notes, identity is "in the doing, rather than in the thinking" (p. 352). Moreover, there are notions that narratives intersect at multiple levels in human lives: there are, for example, individuals' life stories, collectively shared organisational narratives, and culturally biased meta-narratives (Tuval-Mashiach, 2014). These levels are intertwined in individuals' narratives, providing the multi-voiced quality of narratives.
In this study, we combine the concept of narrative identities with notions of connections between human beings and places (Antonsich, 2010). Human geography scholars have discussed people-place relationships from multiple perspectives, such as humans' place attachment, place belonging, place identity, and sense of place (Agnew, 2011;Counted, 2016;Skogheim et al., 2018). The concept of place relates to other spatial concepts, including space, landscape, and territory (Menatti, 2019); however, space and place are often differentiated, with a space referring to a physical location and a place referring to an experienced and meaningful space in which human life and actions occur (Agnew, 2011). Despite the different concepts and approaches to the person-place relationship, scholars generally agree that individuals' experiences of place and their identities are mutually implicated (Antonsich, 2010). Skogheim and colleagues (2018) differentiate between two aspects of place identity: the identity of the place and the identity with the place. Whereas the first refers to the landscape, history, cultural heritage, and industry of the place, the latter concerns individuals' sense of belonging and emotional attachment with the place. Skogheim and colleagues (2018) further note that these two aspects of place identity are intertwined: individuals and groups of people identify themselves with the places where they live, and their identities are shaped by those places. Like other scholars, they maintain that the dynamics of place identity concern both individuals and groups of people and their collective identities, such as ethnicity, citizenship, and nationality (e.g., Antonsich, 2010;Counted, 2016;Pietikäinen & Hujanen, 2003). The collective element of identity formation foregrounds the tensions, politics, and power relations that are significant for individuals' identities. Antonsich (2010), among others, remarks that an individual's intimate sense of belonging to a place-place identity-is framed by the discourses and practices through which people are included and excluded in that place.
Combining the ideas of narrative identities and place allows us to develop a framework of narrative identities in place for this study (Figure 1). Our starting point is that early childhood teachers' identities are produced and shaped on a landscape between two continuums. We assume that teachers' identities are narratively constructed in between individuals' life stories and collective narratives. Collective narratives refer here to the narratives shared by the communities in which teachers work and live. We also assume that the participant teachers' narrative identities are rooted in the North as a place, along a continuum between identities of the place and identities with the place. Identities of the place connect teachers' narrative identities to discourses on language, cultural heritage, and politics in the North, whereas identities with the place refer to the experiences, meanings, and emotions that they attach to the North. The arrows illustrate the dynamics and constant movement in between the continuums as crucial for narrative identities in place.

Methodology
The ontological and epistemological basis of our study lies in narrative research which provides one potential way of gaining understanding of teachers' lives and identities (Clandinin et al., 2009;Clandinin et al., 2010;Estefan et al., 2016). According to Connelly and Clandinin (2006), "people shape their daily lives by stories of who they and others are and as they interpret their past in terms of these stories" (p. 477). Clandinin and Connelly (2000) point out that narrative research is a situated and relational practice within which narratives are considered to be tightly connected with the time, place, and relationships of narrating. Relationality is at the heart of narrative research: as narrative researchers we engage in relationships with the participants (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000;Clandinin et al., 2010). These relationships provide spaces for sharing narratives and co-constructing knowledge (Puroila & Haho, 2017).

Context, Participants, and Research Material
ECE in Finland is guided by policy documents, such as the National Core Curriculum for Early Childhood Education and Care and local curricula (FNAE, 2019). The national guidance is complemented for example by the Plan for Sámi Early Childhood Education and Care, which makes recommendations for Sámi ECE throughout Finland (Sámi Parliament, 2009). Cultural diversity is one of the guiding principles of the national core curriculum, and the right to one's own language, culture, religion, and world view is highlighted as a fundamental right (FNAE, 2019). This study was conducted in the North, where groups of children and working communities are becoming increasingly culturally diverse, following the general trend of Finnish society. Despite the increasing cultural diversity in Finnish society, recent studies indicate that ECE settings do not provide equal opportunities for all children, especially if they have individual needs or minority linguistic and cultural backgrounds (Puroila et al., 2021).
The research material consisted from 12 peer interviews (24 teachers), of which six peer interviews (12 teachers) were selected for detailed analysis (Table 1). The reason for including these six peer interviews was that they differed from each other and provided rich material for exploring the thematic of the study.
The backgrounds of the participants varied, including qualified early childhood teachers, those who worked as early childhood teachers without qualifications, and early childhood teacher students who were about to enter the ECE field. For practical reasons, we use the term "teacher" to refer to all the participants. Despite the variation in their backgrounds, all participants had worked in culturally diverse educational contexts in the North. The participants were free to discuss their backgrounds as much as they wanted in the peer interviews; for example, some participants narrated that they were Finnish, others narrated that they had connections with the Sámi, and still others narrated that they lived in family environments with different cultures and languages. Respecting the wishes of the participants, we do not provide more detailed information about their individual backgrounds. The peer interviews were conducted in several municipalities in the North in 2018. The first author and another researcher, Jaana Juutinen, organised the peer interviews, the purpose of which was to create spaces for the participants to share their narratives about serving as an early childhood teacher in the North. The teachers were asked to reflect on two main themes regarding their work and life in the North: belonging and diversity. There were no instructions for the participants' roles in the situation; rather, they were encouraged to freely narrate experiences they believed were relevant to these themes or other issues they considered important for their work as teachers in the North. The researchers started the meetings with participants by describing the purpose and process of the study, and the participants were then randomly divided into pairs, and each pair was given a private place for discussion. The peer interviews were audiotaped, and the researchers were in another room, available for questions, if necessary. Peer interviews were followed by informal joint discussions between the participants and researchers, which gave everyone an opportunity to ask questions and share feelings (see Juutinen & Kess, 2019).

Analysis
The peer interviews were analysed according to Zilber and colleagues' (2008) three-sphere context model, which includes three distinct but entangled levels of analysis: immediate intersubjective relationships, social field context, and cultural meta-narratives (see Tuval-Mashiach, 2014). Zilber and colleagues (2008) describe "reading for context" as a potential means to gain insight into narrative identities. By applying their model, we were able to draw attention to the changing and everevolving contexts in which the teachers' narrative identities were culturally, socially, historically, and politically embedded.
The first level of the model includes the immediate intersubjective relationships in which a narrative is produced. It contains the usage of language pertaining to the moods, intentions, and motivations when telling the narrative (Zilber et al., 2008). The audio recordings of the peer interviews reflected the confident and open atmosphere of the discussions; however, because we were not present in the peer interview situations, we were unable to observe nonverbal communication and body language, which are significant means of shared meaning-making. The second level of the model, the social field context, relates to the surrounding social world (Zilber et al., 2008). Because the participants were early childhood teachers, one of the social field contexts was ECE, as evidenced by the professional language and discussions about pedagogical practices. Besides their professional motives, the teachers shared personal experiences and memories. The third level of the model, cultural meta-narratives, refers to social and cultural meaning systems that enable the understanding of single narratives (Zilber et al., 2008). In our study, cultural meta-narratives provided insights into the historical, societal, and political aspects framing teachers' identities in the North.
The analysis proceeded in three distinct though intertwining phases. In the first phase, the first author listened to the audio recordings and read the transcripts of all 12 peer interviews to obtain an overview of the research material. In the second phase, six peer interviews were selected for more detailed analysis. The first author consciously read the research material from the perspective of the three-sphere context model, with the intention of "thinking with" the narratives, rather than breaking them into smaller units (Estefan et al., 2016, p. 16). After several readings, three relevant dimensions shaping early childhood teachers' narrative identities in place were identified from the research material: meaningful places, temporality, and (un)belonging to multiple communities. After the second phase, the second author contributed to the analysis and writing process, and interpretation and discussions continued between the two authors during the third phase.

Ethics
The researchers informed the participants about their interests and research aims and discussed these issues. The participants gave their voluntary and informed consent to participate in the study and had the opportunity to withdraw from the research at any point. The researchers anonymised the research material by, for example, changing the names and places. By choosing peer interview as a method, the researchers reached for a different kind of knowledge that they could not have acquired if they themselves had conducted interviews (see Devotta et al., 2016;Juutinen & Kess, 2019). In narrative research, however, the researchers cannot be separated from the research process (Clandinin et al., 2010). The relational research ethics that is tightly connected with the narrative approach challenged us to carefully consider our positions and relations with the participants (see Clandinin et al., 2010). We did not regard ourselves simply as insiders or outsiders in our relationships with the participants; rather, there were both connective and distinctive aspects between us. On the one hand, we shared the same ECE field with the participants, since both authors had worked as teachers in northern ECE settings and later cooperated as researchers and teacher educators in the culturally diverse North for many years. On the other hand, it was not possible for us, as researchers with a Finnish background, to fully understand all the cultural meanings framing the participants' experiences; hence, we inevitably interpreted the teachers' discussions partly as outsiders. The cultural diversity of the participants forced us to consider ethical questions thoroughly, and various discussions between the researchers and participants were significant in increasing mutual trust. To strengthen the credibility and ethicality of the study, the researchers offered participants an opportunity to read the transcribed peer interviews and continue discussions with their peers and researchers thereafter. The participants stated that they were satisfied with the content of the transcripts.

Findings
The findings of this study show that early childhood teachers' narrative identities in place are shaped in between three intertwined dimensions. First, teachers shared experiences about ECE settings, small villages, and the North as places meaningful for them. Second, they moved between the past, present, and future in their narratives of work and life. Finally, they narrated and negotiated their (un)belonging to multiple communities in the North. In the following sections, we will discuss these three key dimensions more thoroughly.

Meaningful Places Shaping Teachers' Narrative Identities
The findings show that the teachers narrated themselves as connected to some meaningful places. The teachers' narratives echoed deep personal relationships, emotional attachments, and a sense of belonging with these places, which are referred to as identities with the place in our framework (see Skogheim et al., 2018). Meaningful professional places mentioned in the narratives covered various educational settings, such as day-care centres, preschools, and other schools. Moreover, the teachers addressed their groups of children as important places in which their professional work, including encounters with children, parents, and colleagues, was carried out. The teachers used expressions that expressed their ownership of these places by, for example, attaching the personal pronouns "my" or "our" when narrating about educational settings and groups of children.
In their discussions, the teachers often shifted from their workplaces to the places where they lived: cities, city neighbourhoods or suburbs, and small villages. The teachers varied in how their relationships with these localities were established. Some teachers had lived in the same area for a long time, while others had moved to their present residential area later during their life course. Moreover, some teachers were returnees, meaning that they were born and had lived in the North, moved to another place, and then returned to the North. Regardless of their different life histories, the teachers' narratives indicated commitment to these places, especially to small villages. In line with Skogheim and colleagues' (2018) study, the teachers showed a willingness to continue developing their future in these small villages, as the discussion between Emma and Sofia illustrates: Emma: We are probably going to live in the same area also in the future, and there are likely to be even more cultures in this area in the future, so it would be important to have something like that, a sense of belonging to make it work … Sofia: This is exactly what I want to do there, in that small village; really maintain a sense of belonging. (PI1) As the discussion indicates, the teachers regarded small northern villages as favourable places for constructing a sense of belonging. Their discussion also shows their emotional attachments with these places (see Skogheim et al., 2018). The teachers described the small villages as cosy living environments with some special characteristics; for instance, they expressed that everyone knows each other, and relatives may live nearby in small villages. However, the teachers also recognised some challenges in living in small villages: Eva: Do you agree that you are always the educator in these small villages, always and everywhere you go? Sara: Yes. You can't split your roles; you are always the same adult.
Eva: And particularly in the eyes of children. I think many people don't see the responsibility we have in the ECE field.
Sara: And regarding minorities, the responsibility is even greater because the majority population is pretty strong, and they have support, but smaller groups don't have that common or public support, so many issues depend on individual educators.
Eva: In small communities, each member of the community has meaning, and when you think of a small ECE group or unit, there may be [only] one educator who carries the huge responsibility of what values are highlighted. (PI5) Eva and Sara shared their experiences of the holistic role and huge responsibility teachers have when working and living in small villages. The discussion shows how tightly the teachers' personal and professional lives were intertwined. Furthermore, the findings indicate that the teachers' narrative identities were deeply rooted in the North. The teachers located their narratives in the North and often used the expression "here in the North". They addressed the landscape, languages, and cultural heritage in the North, which represent the "identities of the place" dimension in our framework (see Skogheim et al., 2018). The following excerpt shows, how the traditional northern way of life may clash with institutional education practices. As Ida noted, this required understanding and appreciation of the diversity of families on the teacher's part: Elsa: Some children of the North may have really diverse lives, and life can have a different tempo: they might be on the fell at the weekend and then on a school bench and engaged in study on Monday.
Ida: We are talking about cultural diversity, and we must understand that families live in very diverse cultures, and it needs to be appreciated, and we have to consider it in the right manner. (PI4) The teachers often represented the North and the South as opposites in their discussions. In the public discussion, northern and southern Finland have been dichotomised as the "remote and far away" North and the "prospering and thriving" South (see Pietikäinen & Hujanen, 2003, p. 263). The participating teachers expressed against these dominant narratives and created counter-narratives that characterised the North and its lifestyle more positively. As shown by the following excerpt, the teachers worried whether the dominant lifestyle was spreading to the North: Eva: Probably the rush has also come up here; distances to work are long, working days are long, so for the core family, everyday life can be kind of hectic, and there may be little time to visit grandmother or see the neighbours' children.
Sara: A little while ago, there was a tendency to highlight individualism and individuals-to want to be different individuals. I see it as opposite, at some level, to this belonging. I would not support this idea very much. (PI5) In the above discussion, Eva and Sara pointed out values that were important to them in living in the North: the unhurried northern lifestyle and the sense of community. They positioned themselves in opposition to individualism, which they regarded as the dominant value in the current societal discourse.

Producing Teachers' Narrative Identities in Between the Past, Present, and Future
While discussing their work in the North, the teachers constantly moved in between past, present, and future events. Their narrative identities in place were thus thoroughly temporally embedded. The teachers looked backwards to their professional life histories, recalling the times when they were teacher students or describing incidents in their previous workplaces. Besides their professional lives, the teachers discussed their personal lives in relation with time. They shared memories from their childhoods and described their family histories and school years with their peers. Some teachers described intimate childhood experiences and talked about how these experiences shaped them as teachers; for instance, Julia and Laura discussed how childhood experiences of divorce in a family can help teachers to work with children in similar life situations: Julia: Because you have experienced that issue [parents' divorce], one can assume that you might be able to better support children from divorced families, because you have your own experiences of how it feels as a child.
Laura: Yeah, I know. I've lived in such a family, but I haven't previously discussed it openly like now, you know. While talking now, I feel that, yes, our own experiences matter. In my case, such diversity was present in my life as a child. (PI3) The excerpt from Julia and Laura's discussion exemplifies how the peer interviews provided teachers with opportunities to recall and reorganise their earlier experiences. This enabled Laura to become aware of how earlier experiences might have influenced her work as a teacher. This notion aligns with previous studies, highlighting experience as a temporal phenomenon, "in which previous experiences shape the present, which, in turn, influences experiences that are yet to come" (Estefan et al., 2016, p. 17). The excerpt also shows how fluently teachers moved between different tenses when discussing childhood experiences. In the teachers' narratives, the temporality was not a linear process but there were simultaneous and continuing traces of past, present, and future (see Hanson, 2017).
While the teachers shifted their time perspective during the discussions, they presented themselves as part of a generational chain, which was important for them both personally and professionally. Some teachers narrated about their parents, and others about their children and themselves as parents. The teachers also addressed the generational chain as an important part of their pedagogical work in the North. They highlighted the need to understand children's family histories to support their growth, learning, and development. As the following excerpt illustrates, the teachers participated in collective storytelling through which they aimed to support children's awareness about their roots: Sofia: We also tell the children a story, about strong understanding and connection with one's parents and a slightly weaker connection with grandparents. The connection weakens further when going back to earlier generations, but one must know and accept them all, both the good and bad sides [of the whole] and understand that diversity inherently exists in all of us.
Emma: As an early childhood educator, you should understand the diversity of children and consider that one child can come from many cultures. (PI1) Because the participants worked as teachers, their narratives not only concerned the children's past but also their present and future. As noted in previous studies, the educational discourses tend to be future-oriented: the educators' role is often viewed as influencing children's current "beings" and their future "becomings" (Tesar et al., 2016). Hanson (2017), however, suggests that a triolectical prism composed of children's "been", "being", and "becoming" offers a fruitful lens for understanding how children's present-day engagements relate to their individual and collective past and future.
Since the teachers highly valued the generational chain in their work, they also shared ideas about how they put these values into practice. As shown in the following excerpt, Eva described how many generations and village members are invited to ECE events: Eva: Often, many generations are invited; actually, very few events are meant only for children and, usually, everyone is invited. When an event is organised in small villages, it is open to all, regardless of whether the organiser is day-care centre, a school, or someone else. All members of the village are invited and perhaps passers-by too. (PI5) The excerpt above mirrors the collective orientation the teachers had towards their work: they did not restrict their work to individual children but rather viewed children as part of extended families, generational chains, and village communities. They purposely attempted to nourish children's intergenerational relationships, which are especially emphasised in Sámi ECE (Sámi Parliament, 2009;Äärelä, 2016). The teachers also addressed the importance of intergenerational relationships when supporting children's place identities through memories, experiences, knowledge, history, and stories of places (see Skogheim et al., 2018).

Narrating and Negotiating Teachers' Belonging and Unbelonging to Communities
The teachers also narrated about people and social communities when discussing their work and life in the North, positioning themselves in relation to these diverse groups and communities. As Skogheim and colleagues (2018) state, the dynamics of place identity concern not only individuals but also groups of people and their collective identities. For example, the participants often introduced themselves in terms of "who I am and where I (un)belong", as the dialogue between Emma and Sofia illustrates: Emma: Yes, belonging is quite important on a personal level, but it's also difficult to see myself doing this work if I don't feel that I belong in any way. I feel like an outsider quite easily, so somehow, I feel like I'm a little bit in the wrong place, so maybe some kind of sensitivity.
Sofia: Yes, but it's really interesting. I look at it from my perspective because I belong to the Sámi culture, and I feel that I belong strongly to it. And I was going to start making a difference in how much it's also seen as a cultural collision, because others look at the same ECE everyday life from a Finnish point of view, while I look at it through Sámi glasses, how much it can create belonging … but also differences at the same time. But it's so great that you can explain, and I can hear, from another perspective, how you feel.
The discussion continued as follows: Emma: So maybe it's my personal stumbling block at work, that I like my work so much. But even so, I feel kind of timid, so am I the right person to do this … Sofia: And for encouragement, I want to say that I have it, too … (PI1) In the above discussion, the teachers seemed to reach out to each other as they searched for a shared understanding based on their own relation with the Sámi and Finnish cultures. Despite the respectfulness that was evident in the above dialogue, the teachers balanced on the borders between these cultures, either consciously or unconsciously. Identities were reconstructed by peers; a teacher not only represented herself as belonging to a community but also positioned the other as an insider or an outsider. However, the teachers continually recognised both connective and distinctive aspects between diverse groups and communities in their narratives. Besides balancing between diverse communities, the teachers distinguished between municipalities, generations, families, and professionals, often categorising people from different cultural backgrounds than themselves as Others.
A significant notion is also that the teachers' insider and outsider positions changed during the discussions; for example, the teachers might perform themselves as professional insiders one moment but as cultural outsiders the next. As Estola and colleagues (2014) describe, teachers' identities are continuously reconstructed at the nexus of multiple social relations. In the teachers' discussions, belonging and unbelonging emerged as a complex and multilevel phenomenon: simultaneously, people can have a sense of belonging to multiple communities based on, for example, culture, language, world view, or sexual orientation. In the next excerpt, Sara described how her sense of belonging varied depending on the issue and the context: Sara: If I think as a Sámi, I have a sense of belonging to the Sámi. But if I think something like sports competitions, I can feel a sense of belonging to the Finnish as well. Thinking more broadly, I can feel a sense of belonging to Europe, so it depends. (PI5) Many participants had lived out the multiple layers of cultural diversity in their personal and professional lives, which seemed to promote their commitment and willingness to collaborate across diverse communities. The teachers experienced increasing cultural diversity as an opportunity, but they also found it challenging, because it raised ethically tricky questions that the teachers were forced to reflect on (see Puroila & Haho, 2017). For example, the teachers struggled how to treat children equally and promote the development of children's unique cultural and linguistic identities, especially for those children from different backgrounds than the teachers themselves. Laura and Anna reflected on children's equality, as shown in the following excerpts: Laura: I can say that I treat all children equally, but do I really? How one can see it in my ECE group that there is a child with a different native language, and do I really encounter him/her in an equal manner? Does his/her native language have a part in the group of children's daily lives in the same way as the Finnish language? Do we really take this into account? (PI3) Anna: How do you handle diversity with them and how do you take that child into consideration in a group of children? Can he/she participate or whether he/she should be somewhere else for that time? That has bothered me, and I feel an inner conflict all the time. Should I tell the parents, that we handle this issue at a general level, and I think it would be really important for this child to be there, too? Or is it just like that, this child is not allowed to participate? (PI6) As these considerations show, such ethical challenges and value conflicts were part of the teachers' work in the North. Through confrontations, teachers also define, who they are as teachers: What kind of values and ethical principles are guiding their work? Teachers are required to encounter cultural diversity in a positive way and respect diverse viewpoints and manifold values when working with children, families, colleagues, and communities in the North. Above all, intercultural dialogue, cooperation, and two-way learning are important premises for working in culturally diverse contexts (see Jokikokko & Järvelä, 2013).

Discussion
The aim of this study was to deepen understanding of early childhood teachers' work in the culturally diverse North by approaching their narrative identities as closely connected with place. We also attempted to provide space for narratives that often remain unheard: narratives that are shared outside the cities and urban growth centres (see Anderson & Moore, 2021;Lanas et al., 2013). The study contributes to international research on teachers' narrative identities, place-based education, and ECE both theoretically and methodologically. It also provides empirical knowledge about the meaningful aspects that shape teachers' narrative identities in the North. Since narratives are unique and context-specific, the empirical findings cannot be directly generalised beyond the research context. Nevertheless, the narratives have the potential to evoke mental images and memories and inspire teachers and researchers from various contexts to reflect on how the findings of this study relate to their own life contexts (Heikkinen et al., 2007).
The theoretical contribution of the study relates to the concept of narrative identities in place, which connects ideas from narrative identity research with ideas about the significance of place in shaping individuals' identities (De Fina, 2015;Skogheim et al., 2018). The study illustrates that the concept of narrative identities in place is applicable to teacher research. Previous research on teachers' identities has described them, for example, as relational, holistic, and multiple (e.g., Edwards & Edwards, 2017;Estola, 2003;Uitto et al., 2014). This study both complies with and enriches this view of teachers' narrative identities by drawing attention to the significance of place in shaping teachers' identities. The concept of narrative identities in place can enable researchers to recognise the variety of aspects that are meaningful to teachers' identities: how teachers narrate themselves in relation to the social, cultural, historical, geographical, and political contexts in which they live and work. Moreover, the concept highlights the multiplicity and the dynamics of teachers' identities. As the findings show, the participants' narrative identities are shaped between meaningful places, temporality, and communities in the North. Rather than conceptualising identities as stable, narrative identities in place allow for an understanding of identities as a dynamic process in which all the forementioned meaningful aspects intertwine and become negotiated by narrators and listeners. As the findings show, this process involves questions that are highly ethical by nature, questions concerning how to relate as a teacher to cultural diversity, equality, and equity.
Methodologically, the peer interviews provided a novel method to explore teachers' narrative identities when teachers encountered each other without the presence of a researcher. The peer interview method has rarely been used in previous teacher research despite offering opportunities to reach for a different kind of knowledge that researchers could not acquire if they themselves had conducted interviews (see Juutinen & Kess, 2019). However, it is worth noting that, even during the peer interviews of this study, the participants were clearly aware that the discussions would be used as research material. The researchers' interests influenced the situation, despite the researchers being invisible and not participating in the discussions. Besides offering a potential method for educational research, peer interviews have the potential to provide teachers with significant opportunities to share their experiences and learn from their colleagues. As previous studies note, teachers can benefit from arenas in which they can discuss their work and receive collegial support from their peers (e.g., Edwards & Edwards, 2017;Estola et al., 2014;Taylor, 2013). This study indicates that peer interview method can also be applied to intercultural studies.
Empirically, the study advances knowledge about the significance of places, temporality, and communities in shaping early childhood teachers' work and their narrative identities in the North. One of the striking notions was how tightly the teachers' personal and professional lives were intertwined in their narratives. The teachers' personal and professional identities were inseparable, despite a long-standing belief that the professional and personal are separate domains in human lives (see Estefan et al., 2016). When working as professionals, the teachers not only drew on what they learned in their professional training but also on their personal life histories and cultural backgrounds (also Edwards & Edwards, 2017). The circumstances in the North underlined the tight connections between the personal and the professional and, especially in a sparsely populated region where people live in small villages and communities, it was hard for the teachers to differentiate their personal and professional lives. The study also unfolds how the teachers' narrative identities were rooted in the cultural heritage, history, and politics of living in the North. As Antonsich (2010) notes, an individual's place identity is inevitably framed by the discourses and practices through which people are included and excluded in that place. Balancing on the borders between diverse cultures and communities emerged as a meaningful part of the teachers' work and narrative identities in the North. Despite the tensions and confrontations that occasionally differentiated communities, the profession and the desire to live in the North were connective factors for the teachers. In the peer interviews, the teachers shared their individual and collective experiences, which helped them to make sense of the North as part of their identities (see Pietikäinen & Hujanen, 2003).
The findings of the study challenge both teacher educators and policymakers to recognise the significance of place for teachers' identities. By consciously paying attention to the significance of place, teacher education could help teacher students to develop their evolving identities: who they are and where they come from (e.g., Edwards & Edwards, 2017;Estola, 2003). The challenge for teacher education concerns both the content of educational programmes and the sites for offering teacher education. ECE in the North would benefit from organising programmes even more in line with Arctic pedagogy, which considers the multidimensionality of learning and teaching in the diverse learning environments of the Arctic area (Määttä & Uusiautti, 2015). In addition, the contemporary digital technologies enable teacher education to be delivered in the places where people live. People who have been born or have built lives in the North are likely be committed to working there (Määttä & Uusiautti, 2015).
Although globalisation has led to people's increasing mobility, places still matter (Skogheim et al., 2018). As Estola and Erkkilä (2007) note, the more people travel both concretely and virtually, the more important are the places to which people attach emotions and memories. For the teachers participating in our study, the North, with its many layers, is such a place.