ABSTRACT
This chapter explores two key strands of conceptualising teacher identity; first, through the fundamental values that shape teachers’ world view and influence how they create a self-image of themselves as a teacher and, second, through the ‘modes of professionalism’ that have been used to relate teachers’ thinking about their work in relation to regulatory policy contexts. The chapter focuses in particular on the role of initial teacher education (ITE) in England has played in shaping professional values. It discusses the ways in which successive governments have sought to influence these values through the demands it makes on ITE providers in respect of both the core content of their programmes and the Ofsted inspection framework used to ‘police’ provision. However, although the specific policy context in this chapter is the English ITE system, the wider discussion of concepts of teacher identity and teacher professionalism draws on international perspectives.
