MATHEMATICS AND SCIENCE TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF THE FACTORS INFLUENCING TEACHING AND PROFESSIONAL IDENTITY

Abstract

Professional identity has a significant impact on teachers' interpretation of their different roles and their understanding of how to perform these roles. This study aimed to explore mathematics and science teachers’ perceptions of the factors influencing their teacher professional identity within three dimensions: teaching efficacy, teaching profession, and teaching context. Mathematics and science teachers (N = 395) who were teaching in grades 5 to 12 participated in the study. To address the research aims, we administered a questionnaire to gather information on the factors influencing teacher professional identity. The quantitative data on the teachers’ perceptions of the factors influencing their teacher professional identity showed that the teaching efficacy dimension ranked the highest, the teaching context dimension ranked second and the teaching profession dimension third. The teachers’ perceptions were largely influenced by three main factors: years of teaching experience, gender, and school location. The teachers’ responses to the questionnaire’s open-ended questions highlighted some issues related to the quality of the professional development programs available to teachers. Keywords: teaching professional identity, math teachers & science teachers