Teachers’ identity continues to be a focus for education researchers and yet, despite education being a collaborative process that involves groups of people, ideas around group membership and the social construction of identities have been less frequently considered. This presentation will explore how the Social Identity Approach (SIA) might provide a useful lens through which to consider secondary school teacher identity.

Dr Elizabeth Rushton will argue that the SIA provides education researchers with a greater understanding of how and why some secondary teachers are able to form positive professional identities, whilst others are not. She suggests that this understanding of both the importance of group membership in the social construction of identities, and the processes through which memberships form, could helpfully inform teacher education and professional development programmes.

The presentation will be online in Microsoft Teams. Please email Dr Richard Brock for the link to the event.

About the speaker

Dr Elizabeth Rushton is Lecturer in Geography at King’s College London. Her research interests are focused in geography and science education, specifically the professional development of teachers, student participation in research, and environmental education.