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Initial teacher education (ITE) courses need to facilitate an understanding of teacher identity – that of teachers who are not just effective deliverers of curriculum, but as professional practitioners able to balance the scales of three significant domains: social, professional and personal influences (SPP). These three influential themes emerged from a study undertaken with 48 year 3 primary ITE undergraduates examining their emerging and changing teacher identity throughout the course and as they enter the profession as qualified teachers.

This blog post focuses on an exploration of the three influences we have identified from our study, which we advocate should be considered in the design and delivery of ITE courses.

Social influences

Social influences have been little researched in the context of teacher identity, but we propose have an equal influence (and at times, a greater one) to the other two. There are strong links with the notion of ‘social capital’ referring to the groups, networks, relationships and shared ideas individuals form. These relationships can enhance productivity and cohesion but can also have detrimental effects, as well as having an impact on an individual’s wellbeing and retention in the profession. We must also include here the social pressures from outside that have an impact on the profession – including those negative messages from social media and people not involved in education. Figure 1 synthesises the responses from student teachers in our study when asked to identify the social influences.

Figure 1: Perceptions of teaching: Key themes

Personal influences

Mockler (2005) suggests teacher identity begins with the student’s personal experience of school as a learner combined with their subsequent understanding of pedagogy as a classroom practitioner, all underpinned by their growing understanding and application of a range of theoretical perspectives. Our research shows that 100 per cent of participants feel personal identity influences their teacher identity and 88 per cent of students feel supported when expressing their personal identity during ITE provision. However, 81 per cent of participants understand they may need to adapt their personality to meet SPP expectations.

Professional influences

School placement has an important influence on developing and ongoing teacher identity: the mentor, colleagues, school practices and policies. Sachs (2005, p. 21) argues that ‘contemporary, rigorous and intellectually demanding’ teacher education programmes are needed to ensure there is a strong teaching profession in the future: a teacher education system where teacher education and teacher educators have a central role in the development of teacher professionalism and professional identity. Figure 2 shows the factors that influenced the students in the study.

Figure 2: Factors influencing professional identity development

Steadman (2023) argues that reflective practice and professional identity are intrinsically linked. We support this argument and extend it further to include reflection around social, personal and professional identity, as we claim they cannot be examined in isolation of each other.

Therefore, a significant role of ITE institutions as part of the teacher education programmes is to establish meaningful reflective practice so that this good practice continues into the students’ professional lives. A report by Education Support (2023) shows an additional role of teachers is to support the emotional wellbeing of colleagues due to increased challenges in the profession. Reflective practice directly influences key aspects of identity, such as self-efficacy, autonomy and accountability as well as supporting practitioners’ interactions with others (Sachs, 2005; Korthagen & Nuijten, 2022), thereby combining the three pillars of SPP, and further strengthening our findings.

Conclusions

‘Initial teacher education should support students to understand the interplay of the three pillars of social, professional and personal influences in the context of their own experiences and lives.’

The exploration of teacher identity in ITE is an exciting one but also faces challenges around the SPP influences. Teacher education differs from the terminology of ‘teacher training’ – especially those programmes promoting fast-tracked careers. We argue that initial teacher education should support students to understand the interplay of the three pillars of SPP in the context of their own experiences and lives.

With these elements built into teacher education from the start, future teachers can develop the conditions where the profession and its individuals thrive. This encourages a culture going forward of a profession which is respected and valued by practitioners and others.

References

Education Support. (2023). Teaching: The new reality.

Korthagen, F., & Nuijten, E. (2022). The power of reflection in teacher education and professional development: Strategies for in-depth teacher learning. Routledge.

Mockler, N. (2005). Transforming teachers: New professional learning and transformative teacher professionalism. Journal of In-Service Education, 31(4).

Sachs, J. (2005). Teacher education and the development of professional identity: Learning to be a teacher. In M. Kompf & P. Denicolo (Eds.), Connecting policy and practice: Challenges for teaching and learning in schools and universities. Routledge.

Steadman, S. (2023). Identity. Bloomsbury.