Professional identity tensions of beginning teachers

Abstract

This study reports on interviews with 24 beginning teachers about tensions they experienced regarding their professional identity. The interviewees reported a total of 59 tensions of tension that fell into three themes: (1) the change in role from student to teacher; (2) conflicts between desired and actual support given to students; and (3) conflicting conceptions of learning to teach. Most of the tensions experienced conform with those found in the literature. Tensions were often accompanied by feelings of helplessness, frustration or anger, and the teachers had a strong desire to learn to cope with them. Because of their negative impact on beginning teachers’ professional development, it is important that teacher educators and mentors in schools pay serious attention to tensions like these that relate to beginning teachers’ professional identity.

Keywords:

• tensions
• beginning teachers
• professional identity
• professional identity development

Notes

1. In this study, both student teachers in their final year of teacher education and first-year in-practice teachers will be referred to as ‘beginning teachers’. Student teachers in the Netherlands spend a relatively large amount of time in practice schools during their training, and in their final year, they mostly operate as responsible and independent teachers.