The importance of orientation: implications of professional identity on classroom practice and for professional learning

Previous work on new teacher professional identity has focused on identity as a process of negotiation between individual and contextual factors. These negotiations are often filled with a struggle between personal agency and structures that prevent the enactment of an ideal professional self. This...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Teachers and teaching, theory and practice theory and practice, 2015-02, Vol.21 (2), p.178-190
Main Author: Hsieh, Betina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beginning Teachers
California
Classrooms
Comparative analysis
Identity
Observation
Preservice Teacher Education
Professional Development
Professional Identity
Professional Training
Qualitative research
Secondary School Teachers
Self Actualization
Self Concept
Semi Structured Interviews
Teacher Attitudes
Teacher education
Teacher Educators
Teacher Improvement
Teacher Role
teaching
Teaching methods
Urban Education
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Summary:Previous work on new teacher professional identity has focused on identity as a process of negotiation between individual and contextual factors. These negotiations are often filled with a struggle between personal agency and structures that prevent the enactment of an ideal professional self. This study introduces and discusses three teacher professional identity orientations (self, classroom, and dialogic) and the implications of each orientation on a teacher's professional identity and classroom practice. While each focal teacher featured in the study drew from similar sources of professional identity (experiences as students, classroom practical experience, and theory/research), the teachers varied in the degree of importance accorded to each identity source. This variation led to differences in approach to their roles as teachers as well as differences in their work with students. Using a qualitative, comparative case study methodology to highlight features of each professional identity orientation, this study provides evidence of discourse related to each orientation and discusses implications of identity orientation in each case study teacher's classroom practice. After the discussion and analysis of the data, the author offers recommendations for teacher educators (pre-service and in-service) and researchers related to understandings of professional identity development and implications for the work of pre-service teacher education and continuing professional development.
ISSN:1354-0602
1470-1278
DOI:10.1080/13540602.2014.928133