“Organizational Psychology Theoretical Presentation of Ethical principles for...
Janetlord seminar
1. The development of professional
identity in early career teachers
Janet Lord
University of Manchester
Manchester 2012
2. What is professional identity (PI)?
• It concerns how we see ourselves as professionals – our
‘beings and doings’ as teachers.
One thinks of identity whenever one is not sure of where one
belongs…Identity is a name given to the escape sought from that
uncertainty. (Bauman 1996, p19)
• Recent discursive explosion. Simultaneously - and
paradoxically - a searching critique about identity
• PI is constantly in flux – more of a process than a single fixed
outcome.
• Identity as a verb – and a verb in the future.
Janet Lord November 2012 Identity 1
3. Background
• Our ‘beings and doings’ as teachers
• Links to agency, action, self-concept and self-
efficacy
• Symbiotic relationship between professional
identity and agency.
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4. The interactive and dynamic relationship
between professional identity and agency
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5. And of course….
• Teachers have situated experiences- which
impact on the development of identity- in a
dynamic social, cultural and political context
• Figured worlds – Holland et al. (1998)
‘‘socially produced, culturally constituted
activities’’ (see Urietta 2007)
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6. WHY IS PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY IN
TEACHERS IMPORTANT?
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7. Context
• Which means…….
– Schools will undertake
initial teacher education
themselves, with support
from existing providers
– They will therefore have a
key role in facilitating the
development of teacher
identity.
– Article in last week’s TES
with comments from Andy
Jones, Dean of Education at
MMU
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8. So what?
• Why does it matter that we understand the
factors mediating the development of
professional development?
It matters for the schools and for teacher educators,
for policy makers and those involved in enacting
these policies
……and it matters for the early career teachers.
An understanding of the factors which affect their
sense of identity and agency is likely to be
empowering.
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9. Aim for today
To discuss the work of Masha
Izadinia, recently published in BERJ, and to
compare it to my own conceptual framework
which is derived from a literature review on
the development of identity in early career
teachers.
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10. Izadinia (2012)
• Review of 29 empirical studies to identify the
main foci of research on student teachers’ (ST)
identity
• Four main factors were the foci of research –
– reflective activities STs undertake;
– learning communities STs are involved in;
– their (prior) experiences and
– contextual factors.
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11. What were her findings?
• Identity is neither stable nor predetermined
• A range of internal and external factors have an
influence and leave identity in flux
• Only ‘positive’ findings reported in studies.
• Interconnected components of identity are discussed in
most research, rather than one construct of identity.
• (A shaped) understanding of self is key to identity
development
• ‘Educational contexts, prior experiences and learning
communities’ are the contextual factors which shape
this self understanding.
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12. And…
• Large number of interacting factors
• Development of PI clearly situated
• Notes the ‘bewildering complexities on the
horizon’ (p16).
• Some work possibly suggests that identity
formation is the key component of learning to
teach (n.b. misrepresented Nguyen 2008).
• Acknowledgement of exploratory nature
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13. So……
Izadinia (2012) defines student teacher (ST)
identity as
student teachers’ perceptions of their cognitive
knowledge, sense of agency, self
awareness, voice, confidence and relationship with
colleagues, pupils and parents as shaped by their
educational contexts, prior experiences and learning
communities. (p.15)
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15. And
• She makes the valid point that most of the
studies she reviews are oversimplistic, with
the consequence that teacher educators and
policy makers are likely to fail to recognise the
challenges and complexities involved in PI
formation.
• Then she falls into the same trap.
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16. BUT
• The model does not represent the foci which she
identified in the review as being key
• No sense of nested intersectionality of
factors/clusters of factors
• The term ‘context’ (conceptualised as a single
factor) is not analysed
• Changes in PI – not really discussed how these
are identified or measured
• Talks about ‘positive’ and ‘negative’ effects on PI
• Main focus of her work on methodology rather
than a framework for understanding the research
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17. What is missing?
• Theoretical basis for her work
• Analysis of context, which is overgeneralised.
• Understanding of the complex
intersectionality between factors
• Understanding – or even describing- the
processes involved
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18. My work
• Literature reviewed was that surrounding the
emergence of professional identity in
teachers.
• The work of Urie Bronfenbrenner (1979) on
ecological systems theory and of James Gee
(2001) on identity as a critically analytic lens in
education, are used as bases for the
development of a conceptual framework.
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22. My work
• My framework encapsulates a fluid
intersectionality between a number of
interacting factors which influence the
development of professional identity in early
career teachers.
• Three clusters of factors are aligned along two
dimensions – a distal/proximal axis and a
continuum relating to structure and agency.
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23. Conceptual framework
The large oval represents the
time – based context/milieu Context and
and fluctuations in this Time factors
context
Distal
MACRO cluster-
macrosystemic,
political and socio-
cultural influences
Closeness of factors
to the individual Context,
and the discourses MEDIAL cluster - Person and
exosystemic and Process
with which they
engage situational influences factors
PROXIMAL cluster -
micro and
mesosystemic
influences;
psychological factors
Proximal
Structure Agency
Continuum showing factors
related to agency/structure
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24. Key features of the conceptual
framework
• Dynamic intersectionality The large oval represents the
time – based context/milieu
and fluctuations in this
Context and
Time factors
context
of factors which mediate
the development of PI in
Distal
early career teachers. MACRO cluster-
macrosystemic,
political and socio-
• Two axes – distal/proximal Closeness of factors
to the individual
cultural influences
Context,
and the discourses MEDIAL cluster - Person and
and structure/agency with which they
engage
exosystemic and
situational influences
Process
factors
• Contextual and time- PROXIMAL cluster -
micro and
mesosystemic
based factors influences;
psychological factors
Proximal
Structure Agency
Continuum showing factors
related to agency/structure
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25. Advantages of this approach
• Sound theoretical basis, rooted in theory and
literature
• Can be investigated using a number of
different methods that can be triangulated for
validity and synergy
• Value on process and fluidity
• Factors, interactions between factors and
effects on individual acknowledged.
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26. So what?
• I argue that this complex intersectionality may
inform early career teachers’ agency in the
teaching contexts with which they engage.
• This model has the potential to facilitate
beginning teachers to frame their personal
narratives about the development of their
professional identity in a critically reflective
way.
• This may lead to a powerful sense of agency.
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27. References
• Bauman, Z (1996). From Pilgrim to Tourist – or a short history
of identity. Chapter 2 in Hall, S. and du Gay,P. (Eds.), Questions
of Cultural Identity. London: Sage
• Bronfenbrenner, U. (1979). The ecology of human
development. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press.
• Gee, J.P (2001) Identity as an analytic lens in education. Review
of Research in Education, 25, 99-125.
• Holland D., Lachicotte W. Jr., Skinner D., & Cain C. (1998).
Identity and agency in cultural worlds. Cambridge: Harvard
University Press.
• Izadinia, M. (2012). A review of research on student teachers’
professional identity. British Educational Research Journal,
iFirst article, 1-20.
• Urrieta, L. (2007). Figured Worlds and Education: An
Introduction to the Special Issue. The Urban Review, 39 (2), 107-
116.
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28. Discussion
Contact:
janet.lord@postgrad.manchester.ac.uk
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Editor's Notes
Figured worlds – Holland et al. (1998) ‘‘socially produced, culturally constituted activities’’ (pp. 40–41) where people come to conceptually (cognitively) and materially/procedurally produce (perform) new self- understandings (identities). (Urietta 2007)
Pronounce like ‘when”.
Nurture identityA state developed from forces in nature Institution identityA position authorized by authorities within institutions Discourse identityAn individual trait recognized in the discourse/dialogue of/with rational individualsAffinity identityExperiences shared in the practice of affinity groups
Bronfenbrenner sets out the nested systems of relations that impact on development, starting with microsystems (like the family or the classroom) and the mesosystem – the interaction between these microsystems. The exosystem also influences development, but less directly –in the case of a child, this could be parental employment status, for instance. The macrosystem- which involves aspects of the environment that may connect many members of a culture or subculture (such as cultural values, customs, and laws)- also impacts on an individual’s development. According to Bronfenbrenner, the effects of larger principles defined by the macrosystem have a cascading influence throughout the interactions of all other layers. For example, if it is a strongly held cultural belief that schools are responsible for children’s behaviour, then there may be significant impacts on (say) inspection frameworks and the availability of resources available to support parents. The macrosystem therefore takes a much more anthropological view of the factors which may impact on development. Within Bronfennbrenner’s model the influence of the chronosystem is also taken as read; the patterning of environmental events and transitions over time as well as socio-historical contextualization are key in patterning development.
