Integrating the teaching role into one’s identity: a qualitative study of beginning undergraduate medical teachers

Abstract

Beginning medical teachers often see themselves as doctors or researchers rather than as teachers. Using both figured worlds theory and dialogical self theory, this study explores how beginning teachers in the field of undergraduate medical education integrate the teacher role into their identity. A qualitative study was performed, involving 18 beginning medical teachers at a Dutch medical school. The teachers were interviewed twice and kept a logbook over a period of 7 months. The study shows that the integration of the teacher role into the teachers’ identity was hampered by the idea that teaching is perceived by others as a low status occupation. Some teachers experienced significant tension because of this, while others showed resilience in resisting the negative associations that were thought to exist regarding teaching. The teachers used five different identity narratives in order to integrate the teacher role into their identity, in which the positions of teacher and doctor or researcher were found to be combined, adopted or rejected in diverse ways. The five identity narratives were: (1) coalition between the I-position of teacher and other I-positions; (2) no integration of the I-position of teacher: holding on to other I-positions; (3) construction of the I-position of teacher and other I-positions as opposites; (4) coalition between the I-position of teacher and a third position of coordinator; and (5) meta-position: trivialising the importance of status. These identity narratives offer starting points for supporting undergraduate teachers during their early professional years.

Developing and rewarding teachers as educators and scholars: remarkable progress and daunting challenges

“…Teachers undergo changes in their personal and professional identities, as they co‐construct their identities as educators within their organisational environments. Integrating educator roles into their identities occurs over time, influencing their choices about whether to engage in more teaching and in faculty development . Acknowledging these more expansive roles of educators offers greater opportunities to recognise the various contributions of educators to the educational mission.…”

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Possibility and agency in Figured Worlds: becoming a ‘good doctor’

“…applied Figured Worlds to illuminate the relationship between medical students’ emotions and their identity development in the cultural world of medicine, and Vagan studied junior medical students’ identity development through early clinical contacts in general practice and hospital settings. A further study by van Lankveld, which takes a Figured Worlds approach to clinician educator identity, was recently published, and research into cross‐cultural aspects of identity formation is ongoing. The application of Figured Worlds to this breadth of topics suggests that it may offer important affordances to the field of medical education.…”

Who are you and who do you want to be? Key considerations in developing professional identities in medicine

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