Constructing New Professional Identities

This book provides a unique insight into the learning experiences of career change professionals in teacher education. Many studies have provided a brief glimpse into the experiences of people making a career change into teaching, but this book offers an in-depth analysis of the day to day struggles and triumphs of a small group of career change students studying teacher education in Australia. This study locates teacher professional learning within a sociocultural research paradigm, highlighting the importance of social, cultural and institutional contexts in learning. Learning to become a teacher is not merely the acquisition of a set of technical skills and propositional knowledge, but a far more complex personal struggle to construct a new professional identity. This book uncovers some of the trials, tribulations and joys of becoming a teacher for those who have already worked in other careers. It examines the impact of previous career experiences on the construction of a new professional identity as a teacher. This process is discussed using the conceptual framework of learning within communities of practice. Firstly, a broad-brush picture is presented through analysis and discussion of extensive quantitative data obtained via an on-line survey, after which a small group of survey respondents provide a more nuanced exploration of their experiences as student teachers. This is followed by three case studies that delve more deeply into the experiences, frustrations and joys of being an ‘expert novice’ in teacher education. These case studies examine the stories of three career changers who provide personal insights into what it is like to be an experienced professional embarking on a new journey as a novice student teacher.

While distance education is solidly entrenched in the American educational scene, clinical training using distance learning technology is not yet so clearly accepted. A review of the literature found very few studies of the use of Internet technology for clinical training. This study used semi-structured interviews combined with Giorgi's method of phenomenological analysis of experiences of students and site supervisors involved in the Amridge University clinical training program. The purpose of the study was to examine the process by which master's degree students are able to construct their professional identity in a virtual environment. Both supervisors and students reported phenomenological evidence that professional identity can in fact be constructed through group interactions based in an Internet class experience.

The library profession has changed rapidly in the wake of advanced technologies. Once regarded as the gatekeepers of information found in books, today's library professionals are shifting from a traditional center of attention to a new focus on all areas of information studies. Technology and Professional Identify of Librarians: The Making of the Cybrarian brings into focus both the positive and negative aspects that technology places on the professional identity of librarians. Highlighting the new methods involved in data management, communication, and Library Information education and research; this book is a necessary means for librarians, students, and researchers to obtain an up to date understanding of what it means to maintain relevancy in the information age.

In this book, first-hand accounts from academics and practitioners explore the concept of "professional identity development" in the context of higher education and provide guidance to develop and enhance professionalism. The Development of Professional Identity in Higher Education presents a new understanding of identity development. Highlighting the importance of building positive identities in the development of a professional career, it argues for a reframing of the way academics think of themselves, suggesting the role of "practitioner" as one in which there is a continuous need to develop their professionalism as it connects to their daily practices and different identities. With contributions from a range of international authors, it demonstrates how professional development can change our beliefs and perceptions of the profession itself, whether it be through on-the-job instruction aimed at making teachers/researchers better, or through "self-learning" whereby teachers and researchers learn to develop and enhance their teaching and research competency through daily activities and self-analysis. This book will be of great interest to researchers and graduate and postgraduate students in teacher education and professional development.

Cover -- Title -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Acknowledgements -- Notes on contributors -- 1 Matters of professional identity and social work -- Part I Key concepts and perspectives -- 2 Perspectives on professional identity: the changing world of the social worker -- 3 What is professional identity and how do social workers acquire it? -- 4 Materiality, performance and the making of professional identity -- 5 Constructing the social, constructing social work -- Part II Location, context and workplace culture -- 6 Vocation and professional identity: social workers at home and abroad -- 7 Risk work in the formation of the 'professional' in child protection social work -- 8 Identity formation, scientific rationality and embodied knowledge in child welfare -- 9 Field, capital and professional identity: social work in health care -- 10 Inter-professional collaboration: strengthening or weakening social work identity? -- 11 Commitment in the making of professional identity -- 12 Professional identity in the care and upbringing of children: towards a praxis of residential childcare -- Part III Professional education, socialisation and readiness for practice -- 13 Shaping identity? The professional socialisation of social work students -- 14 Credible performances: affect and professional identity -- 15 Making professional identity: narrative work and fateful moments -- 16 Professional identity as a matter of concern -- Index

In both professional and academic fields, there is increasing interest in the way in which white-collar workers engage with institutions and networks which are complex social constructions. Covering a wide variety of countries and types of organization, this volume examines the diverse ways in which individuals’ ethnic, gender, corporate and professional identities interact. This book brings together fields often viewed in isolation: ethnographies of groups traditionally studied by anthropologists in new organisational contexts, and examinations of the role of identity in corporate life, opening up new perspectives on central areas of contemporary human activity. It will be of great interest to those concerned with practical management of institutions, as well as those of us who find ourselves working within them.

This book addresses the nature of current shifts in professional and managerial knowledge and practice, particularly in relation to power and accountability. Connecting with current debates concerned with work and identity, the book will present a range of theoretical and empirical accounts of the dilemmas and issues facing specialists in various organizational arenas as they seek to adapt to the challenges of organizational and cultural transformation. Contributions offer innovative and sophisticated theoretical engagements which draw upon various perspectives, including those of post-structuralism, feminism, post-marxism and post-modernism.

Cultivating Professional Identity in Design is a nuanced, comprehensive companion for designers across disciplines honing their identities, self-perception, personal strengths, and essential attributes. Designers’ identities, whether rooted in education, workforce training, digital technology, arts and graphics, built environment, or other fields, are always evolving, influenced by any combination of current mindset, concrete responsibilities, team dynamics, and more. Applicable to designers of all contexts, this inspiring yet rigorous book guides practitioners and students to progress with ten key traits: empathy, uncertainty, creativity, ethics, diversity/equity/inclusion, reflection, learning, communication, collaboration, and decision-making. Though it details a complete journey from start to finish, this book acknowledges the varying paths of designers’ roles and is structured for a flexible, highly iterative reading experience. Segments can be read individually or out of order and revisited for new insights. Current and future stages of development – education experience, early-career opportunities, mid-career accomplishments, and/or career transitions – are factored in without hierarchy. Specific takeaways, activities, and reflection exercises are intended to work across settings and levels of experience. Design hopefuls and experts alike will find a new way to participate in and persevere through their work.