Role Identity Interactions and Triggers for Change: A Multiple-Case Study of Teachers' Responses to Professional Development

• In Event: Teacher Identity and Motivation: Concepts, Research Designs, and Empirical Examples

Abstract

Objectives
Although science teachers regularly participate in professional development (PD) experiences that emphasize reform-based practices, even the best teachers struggle to adopt and maintain such teaching practices (Capps & Crawford, 2013). The current study aimed to employ the Dynamic Systems Model of Role Identity (DSMRI, Kaplan et al., 2014) in order to investigate the processes that undergird teachers’ professional identity (PI) and decisions about their instructional practice within the context of a reform-based PD. We sought to investigate: (1) the changes that took place in the teachers' PI in the context of the PD; and (2) the aspects of the PD that were perceived to serve as triggers for change in teachers’ PI.

Theoretical Perspective
The theoretical framework guiding this study was based on the premise that meaningful PD experiences promote teachers’ explorations of their PI (Borko et al., 2010), and that teachers’ PI is a complex dynamic system as reflected in the assumptions and structure of the DSMRI.

Methods and Data Sources
This research is a multiple case study of five high school science teachers from different science disciplines who participated in an eight-day PD summer institute led by science and education faculty from the local university and community college. The PD involved teachers in interdisciplinary field-based science projects and in exploring the connections between their PD experiences and their choice of instructional strategies in the classroom. Data were collected from the teachers through pre-, mid-, and post-institute narrative interviews, daily written reflections, and written “identity” statements reflecting their exploration and commitment building. Analysis involved the construction of case summaries of the PI system for each individual teacher at each stage of the institute. These case summaries were then integrated into a longitudinal case summary for each teacher that depicted the role-identity change along the PD. Each case was also analyzed to identify experiences perceived as meaningful that seemed to facilitate change in the identity system. Finally, longitudinal case summaries of individuals were compared to identify themes in the content, structure, and process of the identity systems as well as the environmental aspects related to their change.

Findings
The analysis suggested that a variety of change patterns in the participants’ PI could be captured according to two overarching processes and nine themes. The two overarching processes concerned the extent of the interaction between the roles of PD participant and teacher, and the dynamic nature of change. For example, participants who made more connections between the various model components across their PD participant and science teacher roles experienced more meaningful change in their teacher PI and expressed more commitment to change in their instructional practice. The analysis also identified internal (participant-generated) and external (PD experience) triggers that were perceived to instigate reflection and reconsideration of model components and their interrelations.

Scholarly Significance
Teachers’ professional identities and the roles they construct during PD may serve as a gateway to understanding their subsequent decisions in the classroom. In particular, our findings reveal the potential importance of role identity to PD interactions.

Author

• Stephanie J. Hathcock, Oklahoma State University