Middle-Level Teacher Development and Identity: A Review of the Literature

Abstract

Historically, the field of middle-level education has taken it as a given that teachers of young adolescents should be specially prepared to teach in the middle grades, developing a teacher identity that centers around responding to and advocating for the age group above an identity as a subject area teacher. Defined broadly as teachers’ dynamic conceptualizations of themselves as educators and their related roles, decisions, and actions, teacher professional identity has garnered considerable attention in the research literature as a potential source of leverage in multiple dimensions of schooling, preservice teacher education and in-service teachers’ professional learning, and teachers’ professional lives. Teacher identity at the middle level is ideally grounded in a deep commitment to helping young adolescents realize their power and possibilities. While the literature on teacher identity development is well-established in some educational contexts, studies specifically examining the potentially unique developmental trajectory of teacher identity among middle-level educators remain limited. To address this gap, we conducted a review of the literature to address the question: what does the research say about middle-level teacher development and identity? Our review identified 26 relevant sources on middle-level teacher development and identity, published from 2015 through the first half of 2024, and yielded key ideas within three themes: (a) the development of teacher identity, (b) the intersectionality of teacher identity, and (c) critical consciousness, agency, and teacher identity. This review identifies both progress and gaps in the current literature, recognizes potential future directions for research on middle-level teacher identity, and offers possible implications for preservice and in-service middle-level teacher education.