A longitudinal study on the development of professional teaching identity in initial training

Abstract

Reflecting on the construction of teachers' professional identity is essential to understand that training processes, whether in initial or continued training, represent crucial moments for the construction and consolidation of the identity foundations inherent to the teaching profession. In this context, the objective of this research was to investigate the elements of the imagination of Physics graduates regarding scientific knowledge, the development of knowledge for teaching and, consequently, the formation of their professional identities. It is a longitudinal study, which followed participants from the beginning of the degree course until two years after its completion, covering a period of six years. The research was based on principles of Pecheutian Discourse Analysis, with concepts related to professional teaching identity from the area of teacher training. From the analysis of the discursive productions, it became evident that the course's pedagogical project and its curricular structure, through the pedagogical practices developed, play a fundamental role in modifying the participants' imaginaries, during the process of building knowledge for teaching and in the formation of their professional identities. Furthermore, it was observed that students' imaginaries about the teaching profession are aligned with the perspective of the reflective teacher. This approach reinforces the constitution of a professional teaching identity based on principles that naturalize a self-formative training model and oriented towards the instrumentalization of practical reflection.