Abstract:

In an era of multiple educational initiatives, innovations and reconceptualization of the teacher as a refllective decision-maker, the teacher’s professional identity formation during the preparatory stage of the profession is worth considering. In this paper, I discuss the approach that the University of Education, Winneba has adopted in its student teacher preparation in the light of the teacher’s professional identity formation for an intellectual and leadership orientation in the teaching profession. If a teacher’s professional identity formation is considered to be constructed by the negotiations of its cultural, historical and activity processes, then local ways of teacher preparation by teacher education institutions is worth examining. Further, I examine the student teacher’s professional and task orientation during their school-based teaching experiences (teaching practicuum) in their final year of preparation.

Keywords:

Teacher professional identity, identity formation, cultural, historical activity theory (CHAT).