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External Contextual Factors

Decent Essays

Introduction:
A person can have multiple identities for when they are in different social situations (Stets & Burke, 2000; Akkerman et al., 2011). This is true for teachers as they often reconstruct their identities to fit the workplace (Woods & Jeffery, 2002; Akkerman et al., 2011). The factors which influence a teacher’s identity has been extensively discussed by academics, as the dynamic is important to understand for developing effective professional learning programs, and what causes career changes into and out of teaching careers (). These influences this paper is discussing includes external pressures set from governments and schools, internal values discussed as people’s emotions and beliefs, and contextual factors such as the teaching …show more content…

This paper separates some of these influences into 3 interrelated groups including external, internal and contextual factors. External factors discussed the pressures from policies placed by governments and schools and their negative and positive interactions with a teacher’s morals. Internal aspects looked at a teacher’s emotions and beliefs and how they’re moulded by their personal life and learning experiences. And lastly, contextual portrayed how the culture and leaderships groups within a school setting can impact a teacher’s growing identity. The result is that the process and understanding of what makes up a teacher are tremendously complex, due to every teacher coming from diverse backgrounds and having different values towards teaching. Therefore, those who create the regulations for teachers, design pre-service university training and the school’s leadership teams who interact with teachers daily. Should try to understand these influences and alter their approach accordingly to ensure teachers are given the required support and possibility to teach to the best of their ability without being forced into being someone they are

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