Defining Professional Identity: The Definitions Of A Teacher Professional Identity

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2.1 Defining Teacher professional identity In the research of professional identity, there exist numerous notions of how professional identity should be defined. As mentioned by Beauchamp & Thomas (2009), acquiring greater insights of what a professional identity is a challenging task as it is associated with multiple external factors such as contexts and relationships in which they function (Rodgers & Scott, 2008) and, internal factors such as beliefs, values and attitudes (Day, Kington, Stobart, & Pam, 2006). Thus, having an all-inclusive definition is problematic. Generally, it is agreed to the perception that the teacher professional identity serves as a guide for teachers to build their own form of “‘how to be’, ‘how to act’ and ‘how to understand’ their work and their place in society” (Sachs, 2005, p. 15). Understanding what identity is essential in order to get a clear definition of teacher professional identity. In recent literatures, it is observed a recurring depiction of identity as fluid, which changes moment to moment and context to context (Akkerman & Meijer, 2011). In their literature review, Flores & Day (2006) concludes identity as ‘an ongoing and dynamic process’ which leads to ‘(re)interpreting one’s own values and experiences’ (p. 220). From the comprehensive literature analysis of 22 studies related to teacher identity, from the period of 1988 to 2000, Beijaard, Meijer, and Verloop (2004) comprehended that identity is found as ever changing. These findings agrees that identity as an active, constantly shifting

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