ABSTRACT
Our research in teacher education and our practice as teachers has led us to wonder how teacher identity develops. Here, we explore contextual factors which elicit differing and possibly contradictory teacher identities. We explore the multidimensional, multilayered and dynamic nature of teacher identity by interweaving theories with stories of our own and other people’s experience. We illuminate historical, sociological, psychological and cultural influences which shape teacher identity and endeavor to understand factors which influence the continuous process of teacher identity. We also describe some of the common tensions within individuals as well as between individual and group identities as teachers.
