Supporting K-12 CS Teacher Identity Development through Peer Mentoring

Teaching practice is an essential component of any teacher training programme. It is a great opportunity for preservice teachers to work in the actual school context, experience how theories merge with actual practices, and develop identity as professional teachers. To this end, they require peer mentorship. This study explored the relationship between peer mentoring and teacher professional identity among 438 third-year preservice teachers who filled the questionnaire shortly after completing their second round of teaching practice. Findings indicate non-significant differences across gender. The Pearson product-moment correlation coefficients indicate all variables correlated significantly with the strongest correlation between personal and professional teacher identity and least with instrumental peer support and personal teacher identity. The structural equation modeling shows that social and academic peer support predicted significantly both professional and personal teacher identity. Discussion and recommendations for further studies are provided.

IntroductionA research and mentoring program was developed to provide local first-generation students, students returning to school after a professional experience, and underrepresented minority students resources and relationships to guide them toward a STEM degree from a four-year university.MethodsA multi-tiered mentoring community was formed including direct mentoring from graduate students and faculty advisors, peer mentoring among undergraduate students from different colleges and universities, and high school students to increase the accessibility of research opportunities for this demographic. Local students were recruited from Northwest Arkansas Community College and Upward Bound to combine community college and high school students in a novel manner. The programs were integrated whenever possible to emphasize peer mentoring, including mentoring lunches, research meetings, presentation sessions, conference presentations, and professional development mentoring sessions.ResultsOn the post-program survey, students indicated the community formed in the program supported their STEM identity development, provided them with quality relationships, and developed skills valuable to completion of a STEM degree. This identity development was further evidenced by the students presenting their work at a conference and obtaining additional research positions after the summer program ended.ConclusionThe post-program scores and continued efforts of different demographics of students to pursue STEM highlight the versatility of the multi-tiered mentoring community model to serve students from different ages, backgrounds, and demographics.

This study examined the YouTurn mentoring initiative—the only program of its kind in Israel’s northern periphery, specifically designed for individuals released after serving full prison sentences. As a community-based, volunteer-driven initiative, the program offers crucial support to facilitate and promote the reintegration of this marginalized rehabilitative population. Drawing on qualitative interviews, the study explored mentees’ perceptions of the program’s impact on their post-release journey. Findings underscore the deep emotional bonds formed with mentors, marked by trust, empathy, and respect, qualities often absent in formal support systems. The program’s flexible, individualized approach enabled mentors to respond to mentees’ evolving needs, providing both emotional support and practical assistance. Notably, several participants expressed a desire to become peer mentors themselves, reflecting the development of prosocial and generative identities. Framed within the theoretical perspectives of desistance, positive criminology, and social capital, the findings position YouTurn’s mentorship as a promising, strengths-based intervention that helps bridge systemic gaps in rehabilitation services. The study also identifies key challenges and concludes with recommendations to expand and strengthen the program’s impact.

This qualitative case study explores a Peer Mentor Circle (PMC) initiative as a catalyst for transformative learning for international graduate students entering graduate school in the United States. Utilizing Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory (TLT), the study takes into consideration disorientation, critical thinking, learning, and reintegration. Fourteen international students (mentors/mentees) participated in a 5-week PMC focused on supporting their transition, cultivating a sense of connection, increasing self-awareness, and providing peer networking. Interviews, focus groups, and observation uncovered students were significantly transformed in personal, academic, and cultural domains. Themes included identity development, belonging, emotional resilience, and adaptation. In a low-stakes, culturally appropriate environment, the PMC created a forum for students to share experiences, normalize difficulties, and fortify confidence. Peer mentoring initiatives hold the potential for student advancement and engagement. Institutional policies for international student success must focus on incorporating community-based, relational support structures, as noted in this inquiry.

Historically, the field of middle-level education has taken it as a given that teachers of young adolescents should be specially prepared to teach in the middle grades, developing a teacher identity that centers around responding to and advocating for the age group above an identity as a subject area teacher. Defined broadly as teachers’ dynamic conceptualizations of themselves as educators and their related roles, decisions, and actions, teacher professional identity has garnered considerable attention in the research literature as a potential source of leverage in multiple dimensions of schooling, preservice teacher education and in-service teachers’ professional learning, and teachers’ professional lives. Teacher identity at the middle level is ideally grounded in a deep commitment to helping young adolescents realize their power and possibilities. While the literature on teacher identity development is well-established in some educational contexts, studies specifically examining the potentially unique developmental trajectory of teacher identity among middle-level educators remain limited. To address this gap, we conducted a review of the literature to address the question: what does the research say about middle-level teacher development and identity? Our review identified 26 relevant sources on middle-level teacher development and identity, published from 2015 through the first half of 2024, and yielded key ideas within three themes: (a) the development of teacher identity, (b) the intersectionality of teacher identity, and (c) critical consciousness, agency, and teacher identity. This review identifies both progress and gaps in the current literature, recognizes potential future directions for research on middle-level teacher identity, and offers possible implications for preservice and in-service middle-level teacher education.

Purpose This study examines the impact of educational action research (EAR) practice on the development of teacher identity (TI) of early-career STEM faculty, highlighting EAR’s role in fostering pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) to counterbalance STEM faculty’s tendency to overemphasize researcher identity in teaching. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative narrative inquiry approach involves semi-structured interviews with eight early-career STEM faculty participants engaged in institution-based EAR projects at a Chinese transnational university. Findings Results demonstrate that EAR significantly enhances the development of early-career STEM faculty in PCK and TI. EAR creates opportunity for reflective self-dialogue and enables iterative integration of discipline-specific expertise with teaching strategies. Participants reported greater ownership of TI, which led to effectiveness in their teaching roles and reduced internal conflicts between the researcher and the teacher. Research limitations/implications Conducted at a single institution that provides robust institutional support for teaching, the study’s findings may have limited applicability in contexts that lack EAR support. Future research should examine EAR’s practices and impact in institutions with less emphasis on teaching and a greater focus on research. Practical implications Higher education institutions should provide structured EAR-based professional development to support early-career STEM faculty, enhancing their PCK to develop their TI. This is crucial for improving STEM teaching outcomes. Originality/value This study uniquely highlights EAR as a catalyst in the holistic formation of TI among early-career STEM faculty. EAR extends beyond general pedagogical knowledge to drive out the value of PCK in context-specific, reflective and adaptive teaching practices.

Physical Education (PE) teachers have previous experiences that both shape their particular beliefs about the role and purpose of this school subject as well as their pedagogical practice. The present study aims to examine and deepen our knowledge of future Spanish PE teachers’ previous experiences of and beliefs about PE that condition their pedagogical practice and intentionality within this school subject. The data reported on in this paper were generated through questionnaires, life-history stories and semi-structured interviews with 24 initial teacher education students in the second year of a degree specialising in PE at a Spanish university. The data was analysed using content and narrative (thematic) analysis. The students, far from being tabula rasa, in their responses show how their previous socialisation period, their subjectivities and identities constitute particular beliefs about PE teaching. More specifically, the results reveal four key themes in the student teachers’ experiences and beliefs that represent four different factors influencing future PE teacher identities: (1) ‘Sport’; (2) ‘PE for health’; (3) ‘A focus on pedagogy’; and (4) ‘A critical orientation’. In conclusion, the study reaffirms the need for further reflection on how previous experiences and beliefs influence the development of professional teacher identities as part of initial teacher education in PE.

The purpose of this narrative study is to explore the identity and agency negotiations of three adult ESL instructors who teach at a two-year community college in the southeastern United States. Drawing on an ecological view of teacher identity (Edwards & Burns, TESOL Quarterly 50:735–745, 2016) and teacher agency (Priestley et al. Teacher agency: An ecological approach. Bloomsbury, 2015), we explore teacher participants’ accounts of their cultural backgrounds, life histories, teaching experiences, and institutional contexts. The narrative analysis revealed that the participants constructed differing identities that changed over time. We found that they all actively sought out new experiences and desired to learn about different cultures and traditions, including those of their students. We trace several ecological influences that contributed to the development of their teacher identities by examining participants’ accounts of their complex teaching journeys. In analyzing how teachers worked to address the diverse linguistic and cultural needs of their adult ESL students, while still contending with numerous institutional and personal constraints, the chapter provides insights into important ecological influences on the development of language teacher identity and their differing capacities to exercise agency in their role as language teacher.KeywordsAgencyEcological perspectiveCritical reflectionNarrative inquiryIdentity

There is and continues to be growing research in language teacher identity; however, relatively limited empirical evidence exists on the development of pre-service teacher identity in the teachers experiences in teacher education programs. Taking on a qualitative case study approach, the current study explores a small group of pre-service ESL teachers in a 12-month TESOL Master’s Education program in a U.S. university in the mid-west. Data include document analysis, semi-structured interviews, and class observations. By focusing on the contested, discursive and positionality of identity formation, the current study conceives identity formation as an essential feature in teacher development and practice. Results of the study suggest that through their experiences in the teacher education courses, pre-service teachers (PTs) negotiate their identities as 1) they situate the self as an ESL teacher by means of interactions online and in person in class activities, tasks, and class discussions; 2) they interact with other educators and PTs; 3) they negotiate their teacher identities as the program instructors and other PTs make use of their experiences in the local schools as important resources in the community of teacher learners. The implications of the results show that teacher education programs for language teachers need to incorporate identity as a specific interest in teacher practices.

Teacher identity and practice have been characterized as being inextricably linked, highlighting the need for L2 teacher educators to support the development of novice teacher identity and the practices that align with it. Informed by a sociocultural perspective on teacher learning (Johnson, 2009), this study traces the development of the identity of a novice teacher as he grapples with a tension while teaching an advanced grammar class. By conducting a narrative inquiry (Johnson & Golombek, 2002), he identiied a contradiction between his identity-in-activity (Cross, 2006), expressed through the image of the ‘grammar inquisitor’ teaching to the test and the communication-focused instructor he aspired to be. His narrative inquiry created a mediational space in which he could ‘play’ with images, as well as academic concepts that had been introduced in a graduate course on genrebased instruction, and ‘imagine’ a more satisfying identity-in-activity, expressed as ‘synergy’ in a curriculum unit he designed for his grammar class.

Despite the accumulating body of research on teacher cognition and teacher learning in the field of second language (L2) teacher education over the past 2 decades, few studies have followed novice L2 teachers’ development over time, and still fewer have focused specifically on teacher identity development. This study begins to fill this gap by examining how novice English-as-a-second-language (ESL) teachers learn to teach and how this learning-in-practice experience shapes their identities as teachers. For 1 academic year, we followed 2 graduate students in a Master of Arts for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages program at a U.S. university as they taught their own ESL classes for the first time. In analyzing the 2 case studies from a situated learning perspective, we show an intertwined relationship between novice teachers’ identity development and their changing classroom practice. Based on our findings, we argue for the need to include a deeper understanding of teacher identity development in the knowledge base of L2 teacher education.

Language teacher identity has evolved into a predominant theme in teacher education in the last two decades. There is a consensus that teacher identity development is fraught with tensions. When teachers experience identity tensions, they should navigate them by capitalizing on various strategies such as resolving, reducing, or avoiding them. How teachers navigate these tensions hinges on the interplay of teacher personal variables, ecological affordances, and the source, weight, and consequence of tensions. This entry provides insights into the sources of teacher identity tensions, the constructive and disruptive impacts of these tensions, and teachers' strategies for dealing with conflicting positions and negotiating their professional identity. In view of these insights, the entry suggests implications for teachers and teacher education and underlines the urgency to heighten teachers' awareness of identity tensions and equip them with skills to deal with the resulting impacts.

English pre-service teachers find teaching English abroad to be a memorable experience. It influences the type of teacher they will become in the future. Through the perspective of teacher identity, this study aims to describe how two Indonesian pre-service teachers in the English education department, during a teaching practicum in the Philippines, developed their teacher identity and how they overcome the challenges. This research focused on two fourth-year students from the English Education department of a private university in Yogyakarta who completed a one-month international teaching practicum in the Philippines. The data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and subsequently investigated thematically from the perspective of the teachers' identities, and then presneted narratively. It was discovered that the biographies of the pre-service teachers served as the starting point for their teachers' identity development. Throughout the international teaching practicum, the development of their teacher identity was influenced by their emotional reactions, their teaching methods, and their symbolic representation. In the international teaching setting, the student teacher received psychological and technical assistance to overcome the challenges of their practice. This support played a crucial role in the successful completion of the program and contributed to the development of their professional identity as teachers. The findings demonstrate the importance of international teaching experience, prompting universities to prioritize the teaching practicum. Additionally, the university should expand its international exchange programs, focusing on teaching practicum programs.

PurposeThis paper was written in response to the tendency for the international education literature to position the international teacher in essentialist and western-centric terms. The international school landscape has changed significantly in the last 20 years, leading to the rise of type C non-traditional international schools, which requires a reconceptualisation of the international teacher. The purpose of this paper is to explore how a Chinese English teacher (Daisy) in an internationalised school in Shanghai constructed her identity as an international teacher.Design/methodology/approachThis paper drew upon concepts from the teacher identity literature in order to construct a comparative conceptual framework comprised of personal, professional and cross-cultural domains of experience. Commensurate with this framework, in-depth phenomenological interviewing and member-checking were utilised in order to gain access to the participant’s lived experiences. Member-checking and data analysis became a dialogic and recursive process in which rapport was continually maintained and strengthened through the sharing of raw and analysed data, with additional comments and suggestions being fed back into an emerging interpretation in order to generate more data and enhance validity.FindingsThe findings highlighted how Daisy was active in not only constructing her identity as an international educator but also mobilising this identity to challenge the western-centric nature of international education. The findings also revealed moments of discursive dissonance. Daisy simultaneously constructed an identity as an “internationalising” teacher, but was also constructed as an international teacher through a discourse that presented international education as constructivist, and therefore western-centric, in nature. Implications and recommendations are made for practice and research based on these findings.Originality/valueThis paper offers an alternative perspective on the international teacher experience, which continues to be western-centric in focus, by exploring the development of an international teacher identity from a Chinese perspective.

This chapter examines language teacher identity development in the ELT profession through the twin lenses of authenticity and alienation. Such disruptions can lead to inauthentic living, resulting in disconnection, indifference, isolation, or a sense of meaninglessness. In this chapter, the concepts of authenticity and alienation are applied to the development of language teacher identity. Drawing on examples from literature on native-speakerism, we will explore how various elements within the profession can impede teachers from developing authentic professional identities, contributing to feelings of alienation.