Teacher identity: developing a positive professional identity in your teaching career.

Abstract

Introduction: We teach who we are and, over time, who we are and who, what and where we teach shapes us as professionals. It is this interaction between self, subject and school community that forms and reforms our teacher identity. In this chapter we argue that identity work, and learning and reflective thinking about our professional selves, should be a key part of teacher education and professional development programmes. Having opportunities to explore and understand your teacher identity should happen at every stage of a teacher’s career. Drawing on evidence from research focused on teacher education and professional development, this chapter provides a starting point to explore and reflect on some of the teacher identity literature. We hope this will be useful in providing insights for all teachers, particularly for beginning teachers, and those who support and mentor them.