Humanizing school psychologists. The construction of a novice school psychologist’s model of professional identity / Humanizando a los orientadores educativos. El proceso de construcción del modelo de identidad profesional de una orientadora novel

Abstract

This paper proposes a sociocultural approach to the study of professional identity, highlighting its dialogic, relational, dynamic, discursive and sociohistorically situated nature. From this conceptualization, we analysed the transformation of a novice school psychologist's model of identity during her professional induction, that is, the progressive reconstruction of the meanings with which she characterized her profession. A qualitative and longitudinal case study was designed with this objective in mind. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analysed through discourse analysis strategies. We concluded that the novice school psychologist progressively de-idealized educational psychologists. This process was facilitated by certain mechanisms such as the explicitation of the psychologists' ontology, embodiment, ventriloquation or acts of recognition. The main limitations of the study were identified and some implications proposed to contribute to the construction of school psychologists' professional identities during their initial training and professional induction.

Characterisation of the professional identity of school principals (Caracterización de la identidad profesional de los directores de escuela)

“…Estos estudios de naturaleza cualitativa y situada resultan necesarios no sólo para contrastar o complementar los incipientes resultados empíricos y caracterizar con mayor detalle la naturaleza y dimensiones de la identidad de los directores en el contexto profesional, sino también para aumentar nuestra comprensión teórica de la identidad, que se ha revelado altamente elusivo a pesar de su creciente popularización (Castelló et al, 2021; Prados et al, 2014; Solari et al, 2013). Indagar la identidad profesional de los directores mientras se participa en los diferentes contextos de actividad profesional puede contribuir no solo a clarificar el rol de liderazgo y sus expectativas, sino que puede influir en cómo ejercen sus funciones y responsabilidades, en especial su gestión de los aprendizajes (Solari, 2017; Ventura, 2017).…”

“…These qualitative and situated studies are essential not only to compare or complement the incipient empirical results and describe the nature and dimension of principals’ identities in the professional context with greater detail, but also to increase our theoretical understanding of identity, which has been shown to be a highly elusive concept despite its burgeoning popularity (Castelló et al, 2021; Prados et al, 2014; Solari et al, 2013). Inquiring into the professional identity of principals as they participate in different contexts within their professional activity can not only contribute to clarifying the leadership role and its expectations but also influence how they exercise their functions and responsibilities, and especially how they manage learning (Solari, 2017; Ventura, 2017).…”

Constructions of the self in education: positioning and agency of learners and teachers (Construcciones del sí mismo en educación: posicionamiento y agencia de aprendices y enseñantes)

“…Sin embargo, a pesar de los recientes intentos teóricos y empíricos de integrar la construcción del sí mismo y la agencia de aprendices y enseñantes en la investigación educativa, la problemática de hasta qué punto ambos conceptos interactúan entre sí rara vez se ha abordado explícitamente. En este sentido, este número especial pretende ampliar los estudios previos publicados en JSED (Monereo et al, 2013;Prados et al, 2014;Solari, 2017;Ventura, 2017) abordando las relativamente poco investigadas construcciones del sí mismo de aprendices y enseñantes así como de su agencia en una diversidad de contextos educativos. Los manuscritos podrían tratar de responder (sin limitarse a) alguno de los siguientes interrogantes:…”

“…However, despite recent theoretical and empirical attempts to integrate the construction of the self as learners and teachers and their agency in educational research, the question of to what extent the two concepts interact with each other has seldom been explicitly addressed. In this regard, this special issue aims to extend the studies previously published in JSED (Monereo et al, 2013;Prados et al, 2014;Solari, 2017;Ventura, 2017) by addressing these relatively under-researched aspects of the self as learner and teacher in a variety of educational contexts.…”