Teacher educators’ identity: a review of literature

Abstract

Research suggests that the development of a teacher educator identity is a central process in becoming a teacher educator. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in the concept of teacher identity. However, teacher educator identity seems to be still under-researched. In this article, a review of literature on teacher educator identity is provided. Fifty-two research papers were analysed to identify challenges and tensions teacher educators experience during their induction, factors which influence the development of their professional identity, and the features that induction programmes should have. The findings suggested that new teacher educators generally develop negative self-views about their abilities and professional identities. Self-support and community support activities were found to facilitate teacher educators’ transition and enhance their identity development. Key features of academic induction were identified as acting as a learning community, cultivating supportive and professional relationships, encouraging self-enquiry and research and involving teacher educators in reflective activities

Looking back, looking forward: fortieth volume of the European Journal of Teacher Education

“…Existing literature points to the complex and ongoing nature of the process of becoming a teacher, which relates not only to issues pertaining to the content and form of teacher education programmes, but also to motivational, contextual and professional aspects (Flores 2006;FeimanNemser 2012). Less is known, however, about the process of be(com)ing a teacher educator, particularly as far as his/her education and opportunities for continuing professional development (CPD) are concerned, as well as his/her professional identities, despite the growing interest in the topic in recent years (Izadinia 2014;Lunenberg, Dengerink, and Korthagen 2014;Vanassche and Kelchtermans 2014).…”

Tensions and possibilities in teacher educators’ roles and professional development

“…As I stressed in my first editorial (Flores 2017) much has been written on teacher education, but less is known about the identity, working contexts and professional learning of teacher educators, despite the growing interest about the topic in the last years. The need to better understand who teacher educators are and what they do, how they understand their roles and their professional development but also how they see themselves as teacher educators has been widely advocated (see, for instance, Izadinia 2014;Livingston 2014;Flores 2016;Czerniawski, MacPhail, and Guberman 2017). Teacher educators' identity, their professional learning needs throughout their careers and their working contexts have been seen as key elements that deserve further attention in order to overcome the idea of teacher educators as hidden or unrecognised professionals (Livingston 2014) and to shed light on the invisibility of their work (Flores 2016).…”

Identidad ocupacional en docentes de carreras de la salud y su relación con las prácticas pedagógicas

“…a investigación en identidad de los docentes se ha incrementado en los últimos años, debiéndose principalmente al vínculo esperado entre la identidad, la calidad de la enseñanza y los métodos de enseñanza utilizados [1][2][3][4] . Sin embargo, el estudio de la identidad docente ha influido escasamente en estudios a nivel de docencia universitaria y aún menos en las prácti-cas de docentes universitarios del área de la salud donde el foco está puesto en la formación de la identidad profesional de los alumnos y el proceso de su desarrollo [5][6][7][8] .…”