Professional identity values and tensions for early career teachers

ABSTRACT

This study follows a cohort of early career teachers who graduated from the same teacher education program into their second year of teaching to analyze how their professional identity (hereafter PI) developed after entering the profession. In a previous phase of this research, graduates were interviewed as they completed the degree; those graduates seemed to have a strong sense of PI and were optimistic about their careers (Nickel & Zimmer, 2019). The research literature suggests that entering the teaching profession provokes many tensions for new teachers; while these tensions may foster learning, unresolved tensions may prompt teachers to leave the profession. This study explores how the ideals of these new teachers persisted or changed in the first two years of teaching, strengths and growth areas in meeting those ideals, and tensions and supports that were impactful.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional identity
• teacher education
• early career teachers
• tensions
• student engagement
• well-being

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Innovation Fund, Faculty of Health, Community and Education, Mount Royal University.

Notes on contributors

Jodi Nickel

Jodi Nickel is a professor of teacher education at Mount Royal University. Her research interests include teacher education, teacher leadership, professional identity, and literacy.

Stacy Crosby

Stacy Crosby is a student affairs professional at Mount Royal University. Her research interests include post-secondary student leadership development, and student mental health and wellbeing.