Perceptions of identity among Finnish university-based subject teacher educators

Abstract

The aim of the present study was to explore how Finnish university-based subject teacher educators perceived their professional identity. Several factors related to professional identity were analysed. Subject teacher educators are initially subject teachers who have proceeded to the doctorate level. They form a small academic group within a larger faculty milieu with only partial responsibility for a teacher education programme. The study is based on focus group interviews with 15 subject teacher educators at four of the eight universities that offer teacher education in Finland. The results reveal that these teacher educators have a strong and persistent self-ascribed identity of an educational nature. The close social interplay with other subject teacher educators within the faculty seems to contribute to a confident collective identity. However, the self-identity is not congruent with the other-ascribed identity, which varies depending on the other party’s institutional context. The subject teacher educators examined in this study wished to have research included to a higher extent in their identity as subject teacher educators.