Studying science teacher identity: current insights and future research directions
Abstract
Over the past 10 years an increasing number of articles have been published in leading science education journals that report on research about teacher identity and describe interventions that support teacher identity development. My purpose in this review paper is to examine how the construct of science teacher identity has been conceptualised and studied in science education. In doing so, I synthesise the findings of 29 empirical studies on teacher identity within the field of science education in an attempt to respond to the following questions: (a) In what ways have researchers used the construct of teacher identity to examine science teacher learning and development? (b) What approaches to supporting science teacher identity development have been documented in the literature? Following that, I identify gaps and limitations in the existing literature and I offer recommendations for future research in the area of science teacher identity and identity development: (a) studying teacher identity as a process; (b) connecting science teacher identity research and reform recommendations; (c) conducting large-scale, longitudinal and life-history studies; and (d) examining teacher identity enactment in school classrooms.
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Science teacher identity should be viewed as a process instead of a product, focusing attention on examining the pathways through which teachers form their identities.
“The author suggested that science teacher identity should be viewed 'as a process instead of a product and focus our attention on examining the pathways through which teachers form their identities - the processes of identity development' (166).”
From The change in pre-service primary teachers’ possible selves in relation to science teaching (2022) · cites this paper as Avraamidou (2014)
Cites
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Avraamidou, L. (2020) · Cultural Studies of Science Education · doi:10.1007/s11422-019-09954-7 · Cited by 267 · see citing works
“As described elsewhere (Avraamidou 2014), these programs range from participation in co-generative dialogues (Siry and Lara 2012), informal science experiences (Adams, Miele, and Powell 2016), the use of technology applications (Luehmann 2016), the use of specially designed curriculum materials…”
BackgroundInfluentialSelf-citationRushton, E. A. C., Rawlings Smith, E., Steadman, S., & Towers, E. (2023) · Review of Education · doi:10.1002/rev3.3417 · Cited by 156 · see citing works
Avraamidou, L. (2019) · Cultural Studies of Science Education · doi:10.1007/s11422-017-9855-8 · Cited by 71 · see citing works
Self-citationRushton, E. A. C., & Reiss, M. J. (2021) · Studies in Science Education · doi:10.1080/03057267.2020.1799621 · Cited by 68 · see citing works
Naidoo, K. (2017) · Research in Science Education · doi:10.1007/s11165-016-9550-x · Cited by 17 · see citing works
The change in pre-service primary teachers’ possible selves in relation to science teaching
Pellikka, A., Lutovac, S., & Kaasila, R. (2022) · European Journal of Teacher Education · doi:10.1080/02619768.2020.1803270 · Cited by 14 · see citing works
- Authors
- Avraamidou, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Nicosia (CY)
- Corresponding author
- Avraamidou, Lucy
- ORCID
- Avraamidou, Lucy
- Venue
- Studies in Science Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2014-07-03
- Volume
- 50
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 145-179
- ISSN
- 0305-7267 (ISSN-L)
- 1940-8412
- OpenAlex
- W2129716690
- Cited by
- 243
- References
- 6
- Citations by year
- 2026: 23 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 27 · 2022: 23 · 2021: 21 · 2020: 22 · 2019: 22 · 2018: 12 · 2017: 11 · 2016: 16 · 2015: 8 · 2014: 2
- FWCI
- 63.37
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Studies in Science Education (publishedVersion)
- University of Groningen research database (University of Groningen / Centre for Information Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Science Education and Pedagogy
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Mathematics Education and Teaching Techniques
- Keywords
- science teacher identity, teacher identity formation, science education reform, longitudinal study
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