Teachers Identity

To elucidate traditional understanding of teachers’ identity, some studies are illuminative. The study was conducted (Moore &Hofman in 1998). They theorized professional identity (PI) as “the extent to which someone thinks of his or her professional role as being significant (centrality), interesting (valence) and in conformity with other roles (consonance)” (Moore &Hofmann, 1998, p. 70). Such static and one-dimensional categorizations are rather problematic, because they impose on the research participants (here the teachers) a positive professional self or identity. If participants conceived of their different roles as teachers of slight importance, as phenomena in conflict with other roles they had to accomplish, such as being a colleague,

It also studies diverse aspects of psycho-social variables in relation to teachers’ identity and performance. Variables such as self- concept, self-efficacy, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, social intelligence and a wide array of other variables have been investigated in relation to teacher identity and performance. In this regard, human action is the focal point in most of these studies. The modern studies of identity also probe the resources that empower, constrain, or transform teachers’ action within the educational context. Based on Gee (2001) Discursive identities become as important as, or even more critical than, institutional and static identities. For this reason, the procedure of data collection encompasses in-depth, semi-structured or unstructured interviews, life histories, auto-biographies, portfolios, reflexive and retrospective journals, non-participant observations and ethnographic investigations in addition to those adopted by traditional investigators. These sorts of analysis enable participants to formulate their teacher selves more freely and this is why it turns to be an amalgamated identity that is composed of the diverse roles that participants take, not only in their professional life but also in their personal lives. Modern Professional Identity research

The adopted data collection methods in such research bestows voice to the teachers( Kanno, 2008;Lentolf, 2000; Pelletier, Séguin-Lévesque, &Legault; 2002) and do not restrict what teachers as participants can relate; of course, the researcher’s presence during this procedure will always be a factor that impacts (positively or negatively) what participants are supposed to assert with respect to the issue being discussed. Considering the essence of most modern research (in-depth and small scale) any action that is taken as a result of the research outcomes is more likely to be optimal since it will foster the teachers’ context-specific needs. In addition to the above-mentioned points, there is a growing consciousness of the convolution of teachers’ lives from different stand points. Critically speaking, the results of such socio-cultural studies are highly precious in humanizing and individualizing the profession. In this regard, teacher educators and school principals have sorted out that teachers’ personal lives and socio-cultural context have an overriding impact on their professional identity construction and vice versa. In contrast, notions that are not taken into account in modern research are those of politics and power