2014/05/20 by Vesa Korhonen, Sirpa Törmä
Social Sciences · #Educational Environments and Student Outcomes #Evaluation of Teaching Practices #Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
paper · doi:10.1080/0309877x.2014.895301
openalex publication_date 2014/05/20 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29
The aim of this qualitative study was to identify teachers’ ways of experiencing their identity and development challenges as teachers in the social and professional context of university. Identity and development as a teacher were examined based on interviews and drawings of career paths collected from a group of university teachers representing diverse scientific fields at one research-intensive university in Finland. Based on the findings, a typology of teacher identities and classification of development themes were constructed, illustrating the experiences and drawing on the themes found in the data and comparing them to Huberman’s teachers’ career cycle as well as Åkerlind’s views on university teachers’ changes. The findings showed that those who have reached a goal-reflective and stabilised teacher identity recognise development challenges, especially in the areas of self-development and facilitation of student learning, while those who have a constructive-conflicting or unsolved teacher identity struggle with the many pressures of teaching practice and reaching teacher comfort. The learning trajectories of the studied university teachers were varied and lasted considerably longer than suggested by teachers’ career cycle views.