Abstract:

Reflective discourse on teachers’ professional identity has become a cornerstone of both preservice teacher education and in-service professional development. Yet despite the growing body of research, the field remains conceptually fragmented and methodologically constrained. This conceptual paper critically maps the obstacles that hinder coherent reflection and scholarship on teacher identity and proposes an integrative framework for advancing research and practice.

Drawing on a critical synthesis of recent literature, five interrelated obstacles are identified. First, conceptual overload results from the multiplicity of disciplinary lenses—psychological, socio-cultural, philosophical, and epistemological—that produce competing definitions and partial understandings (Warren & Webb, 2022). Second, the “illusion of familiarity” reduces identity to an individual’s sense of self, neglecting its relational, collective, and professional dimensions (Beauchamp & Thomas, 2009; Ruohotie-Lyhty & Moate, 2021). Third, terminological ambiguity persists, with terms such as role, self-concept, and identity often used interchangeably (Schaefer & Clandinin, 2019). Fourth, identity is frequently treated as a stable trait rather than a dynamic process evolving across contexts and career stages (Alsup, 2019; van der Wal et al., 2019). Finally, methodological challenges complicate the study of teachers’ narratives, which are contextually situated, emotionally charged, and often internally contradictory (Castañeda-Trujillo & Aguirre-Hernández, 2024; Olsen, 2020).

In response, the paper advances an integrative conceptual framework that foregrounds relationality, temporality, and multi-level enactment (individual–interpersonal–institutional). The framework calls for methodological pluralism and theoretical precision to support coherent, context-sensitive, and reflexive approaches to studying and fostering teachers’ professional identity development.

Keywords:

Teacher professional identity, reflective discourse, conceptual framework, methodological innovation, teacher education.