Abstract
Scientific literature has repeatedly demonstrated the difficulty of implementing relevant and sustained educational innovations. In this article, we defend that a deep and permanent change can only be achieved if the professional identity of the teachers participating in the innovation is changed. From the perspective of the Dialogical Self Theory, this change of identity implies a change in the I-positions of the individual participants, but also of their identity as a team or We-position.
Highlights
Changing the practices of an education practitioner, such as a teacher, an advisor or the head of an educational centre, is not easy
While promoting changes based in constructivist principles through cooperative work, problem-solving or educational projects might help, consequences on changing practices are reduced or worse can result in a professional identity crisis unless such efforts are accompanied by measures affecting a participant’s personal, professional and group identity (Collet-Sabe, 2017; Sadovnikova, & Mirzaahmedov, 2019; Twyford, Fevre, & Timperley, 2017)
The implementation of educational innovation has become a common practice when it seeks to improve the quality of education in a specific educational system
Summary
Changing the practices of an education practitioner, such as a teacher, an advisor or the head of an educational centre, is not easy. Deep and sufficient changes in professional practices alter an individual’s sense of self, his/her identity, and the identity of the group from which he or she is part (Gaete Vergara, 2018) These modifications apply to intended changes designed to embrace the introduction of new educational methods and techniques. Strategies, and feelings related to repeated practices over the years are deeply rooted and difficult to modify through sheer will (Westaway & Graven, 2019) This is true for both teachers and the entire educational community, students, parents, and administrators (for the Hispanic context, we recommend reviewing Rivas, 2017, and for the Anglo-Saxon context, the excellent reflections of Heick, 2019). We defend the crucial importance of educational innovations for promoting identity changes, and third, we provide an example of how to use a dialogical analysis to evaluate the effects of a case, both realistic and plausible, of educational innovation
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