Schools can play an important role in adolescents’ identity development.

To date, research on the

role of school in adolescents’ identity development is scattered across research fields that employ
different theoretical perspectives on identity. The aim of this literature review was to integrate the
findings on the role of school in adolescents’ identity development from different research fields and
to provide schools and teachers with insights into how adolescents’ identity development can be
supported. Using constant comparative analysis, 111 studies were analyzed. We included articles on
personal and social identity and on school-related identity dimensions. Three groups of studies
emerged. First, studies on how schools and teachers unintentionally impact adolescents’ identity
showed that, at school, messages may unintentionally be communicated to adolescents concerning
who they should or can be through differentiation and selection, teaching strategies, teacher
expectations, and peer norms. Second, studies on how schools and teachers can intentionally
support adolescents’ identity development showed that different types of explorative learning
experiences can be organized to support adolescents’ identity development: experiences aimed at
exploring new identity positions (in-breadth exploration), further specifying already existing self-
understandings (in-depth exploration), and reflecting on self-understandings (reflective exploration).
The third group suggests that explorative learning experiences must be meaningful and situated in a
supportive classroom climate in order to foster adolescents’ identity development. Together, the
existing studies suggest that schools and teachers are often unaware of the many different ways in
which they may significantly impact adolescents’ identity development.