Primary student teachers’ professional identity tensions: The construction and psychometric quality of the professional identity tensions scale

Abstract

This research aims to develop and validate an instrument for measuring primary student teachers' professional identity tensions. Based on dissonance theory, we transformed existing vignettes (Pillen, Den Brok, & Beijaard, 2013) into to a quantitative Professional Identity Tensions Scale (PITS) and added tensions regarding teaching in urban contexts. We examined the psychometric quality of the PITS by administering this scale to primary student teachers from teacher education institutions in urban areas across the Netherlands. Two studies were conducted in the process of validating the PITS. First, items were tested among a sample of 211 students to explore whether they measure underlying constructs of professional identity tensions. Second, retained items were administered to a new sample of 271 students. Confirmatory factor analysis demonstrated a similar factor structure. The final instrument includes 34 items rated on a 5-point Likert scale measuring nine different professional identity tensions. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

Parent–Child Conflict During Homeschooling in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A key Role for Mothers’ Self-Efficacy in Teaching

“…Because parents, to some extent, can be considered novice teachers during the COVID-19 pandemic and may have to resolve uncomfortable tensions about how their role has shifted from a caring parent to a sometimes more strict teacher, support from schools seems especially relevant (cf. Hanna et al, 2019). Together, these findings show that established antecedents of parental selfefficacy (e.g., stress and social support; Crnic & Ross, 2017;Razurel et al, 2017) hold in extreme circumstances, such as homeschooling children during a pandemic.…”

Ser educadora de párvulos en tiempos de incertidumbre: desafíos para su desarrollo profesional en contexto COVID-19

“…De esta forma, en el contexto de la COVID-19 las educadoras han experimentado tensiones identitarias (Hanna et al, 2019), al resituar su práctica docente en un contexto adverso, que contraviene principios claves en la educación infantil: la presencia del cuerpo y el afecto ("estar ahí"), el bienestar, el juego, la autonomía progresiva y el acompañamiento mediador como claves de la praxis. En este sentido, las zonas de incertidumbre (Sardí, 2013) experimentadas por las educadoras fueron abordadas con actuaciones que reafirman la relevancia que tiene la educación infantil para las trayectorias de niños y niñas.…”

“…En este sentido, la presente investigación busca conocer de qué forma un grupo de educadoras de párvulos han asumido en su praxis la perturbación de su quehacer cotidiano (Sardí, 2013) en el contexto de pandemia. Lo anterior, de acuerdo con Hanna et al (2019), implica tensiones, desequilibrios, crisis o nuevas elaboraciones, que dan cuenta de conflictos entre la situación percibida y la identidad profesional estándar, promovida por la formación docente y la política pública. Esto entendiendo que la identidad profesional implica un proceso que evoluciona, que se construye y se reconstruye en interacción con otros: personas, instituciones y contextos culturales (Rodgers & Scott, 2008), y que para Beijaard et al (2004) supone una constante interpretación y reinterpretación contextualizada de sus experiencias.…”

Professional Identity of Novice Teachers: Analysis of International Studies

“…In the Netherlands there has been an attempt to assess the difficulties that young elementary school teachers experience in their first years and to create a special assessment tool, the quantitative Professional Identity Scale (PITS). Its first tests were very successful and made it possible to clearly see the degree of tension and stress of teachers at the beginning of their professional journey (Hanna et al, 2019).…”