A Dialogical Approach to Conceptualizing Teacher Identity
This article was published in Teaching and Teacher Education, Vol 27 number 2,
Author(s): Sanne F. Akkerman and Paulien C. Meijer, " A Dialogical Approach to Conceptualizing Teacher Identity", Pages 308-319, Copyright Elsevier (February 2011).
Scholars have stressed how identity is dynamically evolving, intrinsically related to others, and consists of multiple identities.
This article offers a theoretical confirmation to the multiple, discontinuous and social nature of teacher identity claimed by others. This paper simultaneously nuances this view by emphasizing the unitary, continuous and individual nature of teacher identity.
The emerging theory of dialogical self in psychology offers a more elaborate approach to teacher identity, conceived of as both unitary and multiple, both continuous and discontinuous, and both individual and social.
The article suggests that teachers should not be labeled by single terms.
The paper stresses that teacher development takes place in the form of self-dialogues between different parts of self.