This article examines how second-career teachers may be better supported in their professional development. The study found that second-career teachers' skills and experiences were not valued within their schools. It also found that this was reflected in a rigid division the participants drew between the institutionally endorsed identity positions made available to them and the type of teachers they wanted to be. In response to this antagonism, second-career teachers used their position of non-participation to establish identity territories that connected aspects of their first-career identities, such as engineers and managers, to their emerging teacher identities.