The central aim of this dissertation is to increase our understanding of changes in identifications and in the professional identity of employees, by investigating the prominent foci of identification, their mix in higher-order social identities and the personal and organisational factors (HRM and supervisory behaviour) that are involved in the change of these professional self definitions. Building upon the assumption that institutions for Higher Education and their workforce are being continually challenged to keep up and adapt to changing societal demands and that it is the quality and flexibility of the workforce which is the key factor to address this turmoil, this dissertation specifically focuses on the understanding of changes in teachers’ professional identity in higher vocational education. For this purpose four related empirical studies have been conducted. Together these studies illustrate the considerable professional diversity in the workforce and shed light on the relationships between foci of identification and professional identities, performance appraisal, leadership, career competencies, customization strategies, professional development and changes in teachers’ identifications over time.
This article discusses how professional identity, conceptualised as 'stories professionals tell about themselves at a specific moment in a specific context', can be portrayed to address its complexity as a dynamic, constructed, cognitive-emotional, multi-voiced, and dialogical concept. In order to construct a narrative-biographical method, eight teacher educators reflected on their professional development, using the self-confrontation method, resulting in self-narratives. The findings of the study indicate teacher educators' meaningful experiences can be portrayed in a systematic way using identity components such as job motivation, task perception, task-feeling, self-image and selffeeling. This method can reveal a personal or professional theme to further educators' development, focusing both on a content level as well as an emotional level. These results were illustrated by one teacher educator's story. Finally, suitability of this method was discussed for reflection purposes in teacher education and research goals.
This study focuses on the complexity and uniqueness of 45 beginning teachers’ professional identity, an important perspective that is usually not an explicit part of induction programmes. Data were collected in four workshops designed to support beginning teachers in reflecting on personal and contextual aspects that influence (the development of) their professional identity. Based on these reflections, portraits of each teacher were constructed. Five overarching identity themes emerged from these portraits: Classroom management, Students learning, Workload, Collaboration and Standing up for oneself. All themes were visualised into a configuration consisting of personal and contextual aspects, arranged according to three foci: focus on oneself, on students, and on team/organisation. The configurations differ in their magnitude but do justice to the unique and complex nature of each teacher. Constructing configurations is a promising way for understanding what really matters in beginning teachers’ professional identity development and helping them deepen their reflection.
LINK
