engleski

Challenges and opportunities of strengthening teacher identity in the context of professional development

This paper aims to investigate some major issues and challenges of strengthening teachers’ identity in the context of their professional development. Questions of teacher identity and professional development have received considerable attention in the scientific literature and their great importance for the quality of teachers’ work is unquestionable. Nevertheless, there remains a large gap between teachers’ needs, conditions, and opportunities and the actual educational practice. The paper provides a brief overview of different issues covered in the literature on the development of teacher identity and discusses the challenges teachers face on individual and contextual levels along with opportunities for strengthening their identity in the context of their professional development. The paper further focuses on the development of a supportive environment for strengthening teacher identity and professional learning. Such an environment would facilitate and support the development of constructivist learning, i.e., a reflective culture of learning and dialogue. The author identifies important factors that contribute to the development of an appropriate culture for professional learning and the strengthening of teacher identity.

(Teacher identity ; Teachers' professional development ; Professional learning ; Reflective learning culture)

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