Teacher professional identity as multidimensional: mapping its components and examining their associations with general pedagogical beliefs
Research on teachers’ professional identity integrates many constructs that are treated independently in most cases. This study described the associations between components of teacher professional identity and their association with teachers’ general pedagogical beliefs.
Secondary teachers (n = 236) completed a survey about several components of their identity (self-efficacy beliefs, motivation to become a teacher, affective commitment and perceived type of expertise) and general pedagogical beliefs (constructivist and direct transmission).
Multidimensional scaling revealed that the components could be mapped on two dimensions: form of motivation and degree of subject specificity. The resulting map revealed four meaningful groups of components. Furthermore, whereas direct transmission general pedagogical beliefs were found to
be strongly tied to an identity grounded in the subject taught, constructivist beliefs were independent of identity components. This study provides new insight into the structure of teacher professional identity and its relevance for teaching.
Keywords: Identity; sense of responsibility; teacher beliefs; teacher commitment; teacher motivation; teacher self-efficacy beliefs
Document Type: Research Article
Affiliations: Swiss Federal Institute for Vocational Education and Training, Renens, Switzerland
Publication date: 04 March 2019
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