Developing a Teacher Identity in the Tertiary Education Space
Mia Tarau
Ever since I moved from Romania to New Zealand and resumed my tertiary education journey, I have been involved in teaching in some form of tertiary or tertiary-related space. My post-graduate diploma in second language teaching was the beginning of my identity formation as an educator in an English-speaking country. My initial TESOL training and teaching practice quickly then merged with tutoring at university. Lately, I have been reflecting on how I have been navigating the development of my tertiary education teacher identity: this post will summarise my top three tips for anyone new to teaching at university, based on my own journey.
The complexities involved in developing a teacher identity in the university context cannot be overstated: the journey will not be an easy one. This was confirmed by van Lankveld et al.’s (2017) study looking at literature on this topic: your tertiary educator identity development journey will depend on a multitude of factors - the workplace itself, and the implicit messages sent by the institution to the staff; the quality of social relationships with fellow staff; the classroom dynamics; your own emotional investment in the job; and your professional competence (Pishghadam et al., 2022; van Lankveld et al., 2017). This list is far from exhaustive, so how did I do it in my own context, and what have I learned from it?
1. Bring your prior expertise and professional identity into your tertiary teaching - and then tweak it as needed
None of us step into a profession without already being someone and already knowing something (Van Lankveld et al., 2017). It doesn’t matter if you are still a student yourself, and you are just starting tutoring at university: you are still bringing the experience of having been a student, which will help you relate to the university cohorts that you are teaching. This can be your strength: it will help you understand their struggles and explain things in ways that people who are less close to the experience of studying would be able to. If you are coming into tertiary teaching from an industry or a different profession, you will also inevitably bring that professional experience and expertise into this new space. Regardless of where you are in your journey, use that prior expertise and integrate your existing professional identity into your teaching: it may need tweaking and reshaping to fit into this new space, but you can still draw on it in your journey as an educator in academia.
2. Reflect as you learn how to be a teacher, and reflect as you do being a teacher – and then act on both
When it comes to tweaking your prior professional identities to fit into teaching in the tertiary space, the best way to do this is to reflect. This should be a continued reflection on both your learning journey towards being a teacher, and on your teaching practice (or how you do teaching) (Graham and Phelps, 2003; Ó Gallchóir et al., 2018; Walkington, 2005). You can do this in any way that suits you – for example, keeping reflective journals or talking to colleagues about how you are navigating both these dimensions – but remember: in order to grow, you must identify how you are growing. As you do being a teacher in the tertiary education system, find areas that you excel at, because it is important to identify your strengths and build on them. At the same time, reflect on areas that need nurturing. These could be interpersonal or communication skills, or areas that would require professional development. Once you have pinned them down, identify ways to address them – this could involve formal professional development for skill- or knowledge-building, or any other form that would suit your needs. The most crucial thing is to reflect and then act on this reflection: this rule has had the strongest impact on my own tertiary teacher identity development.
3. Find a mentor – and actively learn from them
Building on reflection, the next crucial step in developing a teacher identity for me has been finding mentors throughout my journey. Walkington (2005) confirms that there is a need for this, while also remarking on how little resources are allocated to mentoring new teachers as part of a formal framework. My experience has confirmed this – there is no formal mentoring of new teachers in universities. However, you must not let this discourage you. In your daily practice you will meet experienced academics who will inevitably show you how to be a teacher through their practice. If you start as a tutor, the most obvious source of knowledge is the course coordinator or lecturer that you work with. You do not need formal mentoring frameworks to learn from their experience and practice – simply notice, reflect, and add anything that could be useful to your own development into your professional repertoire. If upon reflection you identify something lacking in their approach to teaching, it is OK for you to learn from that too, and to try to fill that gap with practices or strategies from your own prior experience, or from any resources that you come across when reflecting on this. If you are coming from industry directly into lecturing, networking is the solution: connect with academics from your field or from your school and build professional relationships that will help you grow.
In short, developing a teacher identity in the tertiary education space is an ongoing and very complex process, and there may be very little formal institutional support to help you step into a career in academia. However, you already have access to some of the tools that will help you on this journey. Based on my own experience, I would recommend drawing on your existing professional expertise, reflecting on how your identity is developing, and learning from others in that tertiary space.
What else would you add to this list?
References
Graham, A., & Phelps, R. (2003). 'Being a teacher': Developing teacher identity and enhancing practice through metacognitive and reflective learning processes.. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 27(2), 1-14. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2002v27n2.2
Ó Gallchóir, C., O’Flaherty, J., & Hinchion C. (2018). Identity development: What I notice about myself as a teacher. European Journal of Teacher Education, 41(2), 138-156. DOI: 10.1080/02619768.2017.1416087
Pishghadam, R., Golzar, J. & and Miri, M. A. (2022). A new conceptual framework for teacher identity development. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 876395. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.876395
van Lankveld, T., Schoonenboom, J., Volman, M., Croiset, G., & Beishuizen, J. (2017). Developing a teacher identity in the university context: A systematic review of the literature. Higher Education Research & Development, 36(2), 325-342. DOI: 10.1080/07294360.2016.1208154
Walkington, J. (2005). Becoming a teacher: encouraging development of teacher identity through reflective practice. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 33(1), 53–64.