This book explores the experiences, understandings, and beliefs that guide the professional practices of teacher educators. What are the responsibilities of doing the job and how does it re-shape the professional identity of those who do it, day in, day out?

Understanding Teacher Identity: The Complexities of Forming an Identity as Professional Teacher introduces the reader to a collection of research-based works by authors that represent current research concerning the complexities of teacher identity and the role of teacher preparation programs in shaping the identity of teachers. Important to teacher preparation, as a profession, is a realization that the psychological, philosophical, theoretical, and pedagogical underpinnings of teacher identity have critical importance in shaping who the teacher is, and will continue to become in his/her practice. Teacher identity is an instrumental factor in teachers’ and the students’ success. Chapter One opens the book with a focus on the development of teacher identity, providing an introduction to the book and an understanding of the growing importance of identity in becoming a teacher. Chapters Two–Nine present field-based research that examines the complexities of teacher identity in teacher preparation and the importance of teacher identity in the teaching and learning experiences of the classroom. Finally, Chapter Ten presents an epilogue focusing on teacher identity and the importance, as teacher educators and practitioners, of making sense of who we are and how identity plays a critical role in the preparation and practice of teachers.

This book addressed teachers’ necessity to be able to respond to the new needs and demands caused by an ever-evolving educational system, as recognized in the national and international policy and research literature. The book proposes an analysis of the features that shape the journey of the teacher profession and professionalism, a journey which needs to be collaborative, agentive and dialogical: • Collaborative in changing the personal and professional teacher development from an individual and solitude process toward a joint discovery with mutual enrichment and shared directionality; • Agentive in the ability to activate internal and external resources for an individual, productive and communicative transformation; • Dialogical in the ability to enrich the personal narrative with the voices of others and opening spaces for dialogue and listening. The seven chapters are structured in a way that gives flow and pace to the unfolding story of the developing teacher identity and is informed by a whole range of research and literature. This book serves as a reference point for teacher-students, in-service teachers and teacher educators who are interested in their professional development and looking for new perspectives. It also offers some helpful insights for administrators who need to make ICT decisions on course development in teacher education.

Professional identity is a central topic in all courses of professional training and educators must decide what kind of identity they hope their students will develop, as well as think about how they can recruit for, facilitate and assess this development. This unique book explores professional identity in a group of caring professions, looking at definition, assessment, and teaching and learning. Professional Identity in the Caring Professions includes overviews of professional identity in nursing, medicine, social work, teaching, and lecturing, along with a further chapter on identity in emergent professions in healthcare. Additional chapters look at innovative approaches to selection, competency development, professional values, leadership potential and reflection as a key element in professional and interprofessional identity. The book ends with guidance for curriculum development in professional education and training, and the assessment of professional identity. This international collection is essential reading for those who plan, deliver and evaluate programs of professional training, as well as scholars and advanced students researching identity in the caring professions, including medicine, nursing, allied health, social work and teaching.

Practical, accessible and up-to-date, this book draws directly on the work of teachers and other professional trainers concerned with programs for continuing professional development.

Before today’s teachers are ready to instruct the intellectual leaders of tomorrow, they must first be trained themselves. Every teacher experiences an induction process that can make their early years as an educator nerve-racking. Focusing on this period of time in a teacher’s career can lead to greater teacher retention and success. Examining the Teacher Induction Process in Contemporary Education Systems addresses the construct of teacher induction through theoretical and empirical research. It also provides an in-depth conceptualization of being a novice teacher through micro-political realities of teaching in different geographical and cultural regions. While highlighting topics including adaptation challenges, mentor-mentee interaction, and teacher retention, this book is ideally designed for school administrators, early career teachers, educational researchers, educational professionals, and academicians seeking current research on early career educator adaptation and practices.

Drawing upon data from an Australian study, this book gives voice to beginning teachers navigating their way through their first year of teaching and discovering what it means to be professional learners. The chapters within provide rich insights into the ways in which beginning teachers make sense of the new and challenging experiences they face during the first year of teaching, and how these influence the development of their learner identities at this formative time of their careers. Professional learning, in response to teacher standards and associated accountability measures, often fails to acknowledge the importance of internal motivation and attitude to beginning teachers’ sense of a professional learner identity. This book offers policy makers, teacher educators, school leaders, mentors and teachers a way of thinking about how beginning teachers can be supported to grow professionally and construct their identities as professional learners.