Learning: Research and Practice

ISSN: (Print) (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rlrp20

The role of agency in the construction and

development of professional identity

Jorge Chávez, Jaime Fauré & Juan Barril Madrid

To cite this article: Jorge Chávez, Jaime Fauré & Juan Barril Madrid (2022): The role of agency in
the construction and development of professional identity, Learning: Research and Practice, DOI:
10.1080/23735082.2022.2134575

To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2022.2134575

Published online: 25 Oct 2022.

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LEARNING: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE
https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2022.2134575

The role of agency in the construction and development of

professional identity
a
Jorge Chávez , Jaime Fauréa and Juan Barril Madridb
a
Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universidad Andrés Bello, Santiago, Chile; bFaculty of Social
Science, University Autónoma of Chile. Chile

ABSTRACT ARTICLE HISTORY

The aim of this article is to achieve greater understanding of the Received 12 May 2022
relationship between professional teacher identity and agency. Accepted 23 September 2022
From our perspective, agency is a necessary consequence of the KEYWORDS
process of construction and development of professional teacher Professional agency; teacher
identity. On this basis, we conducted a qualitative study involving education; identity;
analysis of the subjective learning experiences of three future tea­ sociocultural perspective;
chers engaged in their final year of training. We analysed these subjective learning
experiences using a previously published analytical model based on experiences
the positional changes that occur as a consequence of the evalua­
tion of certain objects that are key to professional identity. Our
results allow us to confirm that in the case of subjective learning
experiences involving positional changes, agency is key to the
consolidation of an enabling professional identity.

Introduction
Professional teacher identity is one of the central elements of teacher education. Studies
have suggested that identity is the most important indicator of teacher behaviour in the
classroom (Akkerman & Meijer, 2012; Beijaard et al., 2004; Hökkä et al., 2019). More
specifically, it has been proposed that identity plays a key role in the way teachers act in
response to a wide variety of educational situations (Kayi-Aydar, 2015; Vähäsantanen
et al., 2020). In other words, professional teacher identity is of crucial relevance, as it
constitutes a combination of knowledge, skills and abilities that shape teachers’ under­
standing of their role and influence their capacity for agency during teaching.
A number of authors have proposed the existence of a relationship between identity
and agency, considering it a key aspect in promoting teachers’ professional development,
commitment to school teaching and support for student learning (Bronkhorst et al.,
2011; Eteläpelto et al., 2015; Hökkä et al., 2019). We interpret professional agency as
a teacher’s capacity to consciously and actively manage their learning (Pyhältö et al.,
2012) in a wide range of educational situations. However, we know very little about the
link between the two processes and its implications in terms of teacher training (Darling-
Hammond, 2008).

CONTACT Jorge Chávez jorge.chavez@unab.cl Faculty of Education and Social Sciences, Universidad Andrés
Bello, Santiago, Chile
© 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group
2 J. CHÁVEZ ET AL.

The present work offers the reader an insight into the process of identity construction
and development that teachers-in-training undergo. We begin with a brief overview of
existing literature considered to be of particular relevance to the study of teacher identity.
We then illustrate the study of these processes by analysing three cases, concluding with
a discussion of how this proposal may serve to improve our understanding of the
relationship between identity and agency.

Literature review
Various studies have suggested that professional teacher identity is associated with
teachers’ self-image, self-knowledge and even beliefs (e.g., Chong & Low, 2009;
Gaudelli & Ousley, 2009; Lim, 2011). Other studies have conceptualised identity in
terms of the interpretation, reinterpretation and negotiation of personal, individual,
professional and educational relationships (e.g., Mahmoudi-Gahrouei et al., 2016;
Schepens et al., 2009). Finally, there are those studies that share the view of the present
work, namely that identity is a constructive process influenced by past, present and future
experiences, historical and cultural factors, and personal and psychological characteris­
tics (e.g., Beauchamp & Thomas, 2011; Dang, 2013; Lamote & Engels, 2010; Lim, 2011).
From our historical and cultural perspective (Veresov & Fleer, 2016; Vygotsky, 1978),
teacher learning always involves processes of identity construction and development. As
such, teachers-in-training not only need to acquire knowledge, skills and abilities, but
must also progressively construct meanings about themselves and the world around
them, interweaving these meanings to form their professional identity (Heath & Heath,
1983; Wortham, 2006). Professional identity can thus be defined not only as a “resource
that people use to explain, justify and make sense of themselves as teachers in relation to
others, and to the world at large” (MacLure, 1993, p. 311), but also as a cultural artefact
that defines how a teacher should be and act (Sachs, 2005, p. 15).
The notion of cultural artefacts alludes to an idea that is common within the histor­
ical-cultural perspective, which is the existence of units of the material world – objects,
people, events, etc. – to which people assign one or more meanings that can then change
over time (e.g., Cole, 1996; Cubero, 2005; Rosa & Valsiner, 2018). To put it another way,
cultural artefacts are objects – in the broad sense of the term – that enable people to
negotiate and construct meanings by which to participate in society. As such, identity is
a cultural artefact that mediates a person’s relationship with their surroundings and with
themself. At the same time, it facilitates interaction between the person and the culture,
such that knowledge and values are integrated into practices, and actors interpret and
respond to the demands of the latter (Heikkilä et al., 2020).
From this perspective, identity can be understood as a constructive process that
depends to a large extent on future teachers’ multiple and varied experiences obtained
in their communities of practice (Korthagen et al., 2006; Meijer et al., 2011; Wenger,
2009). These subjective experiences are representations of complex and interconnected
social situations (Erstad et al., 2013; Ligorio & Ritella, 2010; Roth & Erstad, 2016) that in
turn are tied to the objective situations that people constantly construct and reconstruct
in order to develop meanings regarding themselves and aspects of the profession.
In order to construct these subjective experiences, people use voices that allow them to
define their position within a certain story (Bruner, 1990; Hall et al., 2010; Kozulin, 2003;
 LEARNING: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 3

Li et al., 2009; Wortham, 2004a). When a person speaks about something, they do so in
a voice that reflects their own position, that of the world, and that of objects in the world
(MacLure, 1993, p. 331). In conceptual terms, the voice shapes discursive stances through
the process of reconstruction of subjective experiences. Importantly, these voices define
a set of space-time locations or frames (Chavez, 2020) that make the construction and
development of professional identity possible.
Appreciation of the relevance of the voices within the account means acknowledging
the importance of the mediation of language and its symbolic forms, which constitute
ever-present resources for self-creation (Bajtin & Voloshinov, 1998; Holland &
Lachicotte, 2007; Holland & Leander, 2004). When we talk about self-creation, we refer
to an active internalisation of various forms of dialogue with the self and other versions
thereof (Valsiner & Van der Veer, 1988), and this dialogic construction is crucial to
identity formation. In turn, identities can be considered to constitute higher psycholo­
gical functions (Vygotski et al., 1996) and thus to influence behaviour and everyday life,
and, furthermore, to permit a modest form of agency (Norton, 2006). Thus, identity and
agency are two interlinked processes that imply the capacity both to make sense of
a situation and to act in that situation.
Harré (1983) and Luckmann (1982) propose that identity operates as a principle that
shapes action, in that it permits people to intentionally direct their motives towards
projects of which they believe themselves to be capable. Hökkä (2012), working along
similar lines, suggests that even resistance to change can be considered a form of agency,
arising when external norms come into conflict with professional commitments
(Edwards & Mackenzie, 2008).
In this context, the notion of agency reinforces the need to consider not only the
meanings that point to recognition of self and of the various aspects of the profession, but
also the actions – articulated by professional identity – of future teachers in relation to the
school context that they join (Chavez, 2020). From this perspective, professional agency
alludes to the attitudes of future teachers and the potential mediated action that they can
exercise within the framework of the socio-material conditions of teaching (Ahern, 1999;
Eteläpelto, 2017) and, at the same time, invokes the transformation that such action
generates in both the agent and their social surroundings (Giddens, 1993). To put it
another way, professional agency is the way in which subjects tackle a situation through
a confrontation and negotiation between their identity and the external norms of practice
(Buchanan, 2015; Hökkä, 2012; Pantić, 2017).
However, two elements can be identified within the concept of agency. First, it is
considered an ability to imagine future action (Clark, 2020) or, in other words, to
recognise the option to act in a particular way in a given situation. As such, it can be
identified as the step prior to a deliberative action (Hökkä et al., 2017). The second
element, which occurs in a second step, is the attitude of agency. This is not limited to the
recognition of a possible – or imagined – action, but includes an intervention in the
situation (Ursin et al., 2020).
From our perspective, both elements are relevant in the context of the process of
professional teacher identity construction and development. Effectively, as teachers begin
their identity construction process, their ability to imagine future actions within profes­
sional practice increases (Chavez et al.,, 2021). However, it is not only these imagined
actions that are needed, but also participation in contexts that permit the subject to act
4 J. CHÁVEZ ET AL.

effectively within that practice. As such, these elements cannot be understood separately,
and the identity construct must be considered as an explanatory tool that enables both
meanings to be addressed.
For example, future teachers, who are not always exposed to practical situations
during the training process, require the support of a guide who can help them to position
themselves in an imagined future teaching situation. In other words, a future teacher’s
ability to construct and develop an enabling professional identity depends to a large
extent on the opportunities available to them to act competently in tackling practical
challenges. However, such an intervention requires detailed analysis of the positions that
subjects express in response to a given experience, of the positional changes that occur,
and of the professional resources employed as part of that intervention.
In summary, teachers reconstruct subjective learning experiences that may be
meaningful or transformative in regard to their identity, and which relate not only
to aspects of practice and the specific situation faced, but also to the possibilities of
agency over that situation. In simple terms, construction of a professional teacher
identity requires not only the attribution of meaning to a given situation, but also the
progressive and systematic development of a capacity to act in a variety of situations on
the basis of conceptual and practical principles of the profession. In light of this, we
will now focus on certain analytical aspects relevant to incorporation of the notion of
agency into our specific frame of study of professional teacher identity construction
and development.

Theoretical framework
So far, we have covered the importance of identity and its relationship with agency. We
have said that, as identity defines how to be and act, it necessarily involves the participa­
tion of the subject in their surroundings. From a historical-cultural point of view
(Zavershneva & van der Veer, 2018), the individual’s relationship with their surround­
ings is always mediated by an ongoing process of socially, culturally and historically
situated social signification. In practice, this signification process takes place by means of
narratives that people elaborate through a series of discursive stances that enable them to
localise their position within a subjectively interpreted space-time frame (De Fina, 2019;
Wortham, 2004b). In other words, these narratives are autobiographical stories that
enable us to explore how, where, when and why people transform the activities in
which they participate into subjective experiences mediated by language.
According to this proposal, the meaning that an experience has for a person cannot be
understood without consideration of its social, cultural and historical nature. As such, in
order to study experiences, we must take into account the central role played by social,
cultural and relational contexts in the production of the meanings that articulate them
(Zavershneva & van der Veer, 2018, pp. 374–376). In our particular case, we must
highlight that the model we propose for the analysis of subjective experiences (Chavez
et al.,, 2021) assumes a (re)construction of one or several events that occur within the
frame of an extensive and complex network of psychological processes. Figure 1 provides
an illustration of this proposal, which seeks to identify and understand the positional
movements that teachers experience as they participate in situations that they consider
key to the construction and development of their own identity.
 LEARNING: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 5

Positional object (PO) / Evaluation of positional object (EPO)

Subjective

learning experience

Initial identity position (IIP) New or reconstructed identity position (NIP)

Who is speaking initially? Who is speaking at the end?

Figure 1. Positional object (PO)/Evaluation of positional object (EPO).

More specifically, our proposal considers that in an initial step, the person’s initial
identity position (IIP) – those discursive stances that permit the identification of the role
assumed by the subject within the experience – must be identified (Holland & Leander,
2004; Salen, 2008). These discursive stances are defined by the positions reported by
subjects (Clark & Holquist, 1984; Wortham, 2004a). The positions are always situated, as
it is these that motivate each person to negotiate language and knowledge from
a particular point of view (Bakhtin, 2010). The narrator always positions themself within
their account of the experience and different positions can even emerge in the process of
recounting. These positions emerge according to cultural rules, imagined restrictions,
situational characteristics, and the perspectives of the different participants (Gillespie,
2012; Gillespie & Martin, 2014; Harré & Moghaddam, 2003). In the majority of cases,
these positions enable visualisation of the role of the subject in a situation, and this in
turn explains the nature of that situation. In other words, during the reconstruction of an
experience, one or more positions are always assumed and permit both the construction
of a situation and the characterisation of that situation (Norton, 2006). The initial
position is established by means of the question “who is speaking?”
The second step is the identification of the positional object (PO). The initial position
always operates on a positional object, and this illustrates the cultural mediation between
the material and non-material objects present in each situation, along with the cultural
meanings involved in the contexts and roles played (Holland & Lachicotte, 2007). As
such, the positional object always involves a certain meaning in itself that reflects the
value ascribed by the person who is positioning themself. The positional object is always
obtained by means of the question “what is being discussed?”
Following this logic, the third step in the analysis model involves identification of
the evaluation of the positional object (EPO). In essence, from the point of view of the
subject, the objects or motives of human activity always have certain characteristics,
and objects have a particular value that depends on a multiplicity of interlinked
psychological events (Ricoeur, 1995). The characteristics of this evaluation depend on
both the initial position and the positional object. The evaluation is always obtained by
means of the question “what is the subject’s evaluation of that which is being
discussed?”
6 J. CHÁVEZ ET AL.

Positional object (OP) / Evaluation of positional object (EPO)

agency

Subjective

learning experience

Initial identity position (IIP) Enabling professional identity (EPI)

Figure 2. Positional object (OP)/Evaluation of positional object (EPO).

This leads us to establish whether or not the evaluation of a given positional object
(EPO) permits a modification of the initial identity position (IIP) of the person who is
reconstructing their subjective learning experience. If a change occurs, we propose that
the process has yielded a new position or a reconstruction of identity. It is this recon­
struction that we refer to as professional teacher identity (PTI). In the case of future
teachers, it involves a constructive process of evaluation of a given object that is relevant
to the teaching role. As we understand it, this new or reconstructed position represents
the acquisition of certain meanings that support professional performance.
The notion of agency is of particular relevance here as an instrument of identity
development. Effectively, it permits the incorporation of a key element into subjective
experiences, enabling us to distinguish between those changes in initial position (IP) that
allow the construction of a professional teacher identity that does not promote a particular
action and those that allow the construction of an identity that does promote one.
Following this logic, in order for professional teacher identity to promote teachers’ parti­
cipation in their reference communities, it is not enough for them simply to interpret
a given situation; an ability to act accordingly in that situation is also required. We consider
that it is this action that permits the emergence of an enabling professional identity (EPI).
Figure 2 shows our interpretation of the position of agency within the subjective experience.
In summary, the construction and development of professional teacher identity is
affected by the way in which people use a given set of discursive and semantic mechanisms
to articulate the various meanings that they have developed about themselves and about
objects in the world around them (Rosa & Valsiner, 2018). However, of particular relevance
is how teachers use the meanings that they establish to act in a given situation using tools of
the profession. To put it another way, construction and development of professional teacher
identity is a process by which a person organises, hierarchises and, most importantly, acts in
a space-time frame defined in accordance with the principles of the profession. In
Vygotskian terms, it is a mediating artefact that adds colour and direction to the experience.

Methodology
The present work is part of a broader study whose objective is to explore the processes of
the construction and development of the professional teacher identity of a group of future
 LEARNING: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 7

teachers in the final year of their professional training. Individual narratives constitute our
analysis unit (Byrne & Callaghan, 2014; Eisenhardt, 1989), and these have been recon­
structed by means of recounting subjective learning experiences. More specifically, our
work addresses the positional movements observed in these accounts and, in particular,
how identity is reconstructed through these movements. As people use certain objects (in
the broad sense of the term) and evaluate them from an initial position, this may lead to
a reconstruction of that position and, thus, the development of their professional identity.
We use voices as a starting point, as they allow us to identify meaning within subjective
experiences, analysing them using the model presented in Figure 1. For the purposes of
this article, we have selected the subjective experiences of three future teachers with their
students and classroom teachers, which reveal different connections between identity and
agency. Specifically, we seek to highlight agency as a key component of the subjective
learning experiences of future teachers during their practicum – experiences that con­
tribute to the construction and development of an enabling professional identity.

Study context
Within the context of the present study, namely the Chilean education system, each
university is free to establish its own format for the school-based practicums undertaken
by future teachers, and to specify the range of activities and duration thereof in which these
trainees must participate (Ávalos, 2014; Cisternas, 2013; Hirmas & Cortés, 2015; Turra-
Díaz & Flores-Lueg, 2019). However, despite the resulting differences between institutions,
there is general consensus as to the importance of such activities, regardless of their specific
characteristics. For this reason, we selected a group of 12 final-year teachers-in-training
engaged in systematic interventions in school classrooms and asked them to narrate
relevant or significant experiences that would be of use from a professional perspective.

Participants and data production

The present research involved 12 final-year teachers-in-training from an undergraduate
degree programme in pedagogy at a Chilean university. Of these 12 participants, 6 identified
themselves as women and 6 as men. Mean participant age was 21.8 years (SD = 0.53). In
order to provide an insight into our analysis, we have selected three of these participants to
present here. The first is 22 years old and studying at a public university to become a teacher
of physics and mathematics. The second is a 27-year-old student of English teaching, again
at a public university. The third is 25 years old and studies primary teaching with a focus on
Spanish language at a private university. For data production, we used a semi-structured
interview script (Benwell & Stokoe, 2006; McAdams, 1993). This technique encourages the
reconstruction of people’s past experiences, of those which they are living in the present, or
of those which they foresee in the future. Each interviewee was asked to recall pertinent
experiences during their practicum and to describe the space-time frame involved, including
how, where and when they occurred, and why the subject acted as they did. Topics
addressed to stimulate recollection were as follows: a) experiences with university teaching
staff, b) experiences with classroom teachers during the practicum, and c) experiences with
students in the classroom. Our aim was for participants to narrate subjective learning
experiences which point to changes in identity positions.
8 J. CHÁVEZ ET AL.

Data analysis
The data used in the research are subjective learning experiences. These experiences were
transcribed and entered into a database for qualitative analysis. Once the interviews had been
transcribed, the statements made were codified. This process was based on the questions:
Who is speaking? What is being discussed? What evaluations are made of the latter? These
guide questions allow us to identify the positions of the subject within the account (see,
Figure 1). Once these discursive elements had been identified we selected those interviews
that best illustrate different points within the professional teacher identity construction and
development process and their link to agency. Of the interviews conducted, three were
selected for the explicit evidence they provided of an initial identity position (IIP),
a positional object (PO), an evaluation of that positional object (EPO) and, in particular,
the agency exercised during the experience. Three researchers independently read through
all of the material and codified it according to IIP, PO, EPO and agency exercised. Once
these stances had been identified, two researchers independently analysed and codified the
complete corpus of collected data and discussed any contentious cases with a third (a judge)
until a consensus was reached. The role of the judge was to measure the percentage reliability
or consistency of the two main researchers using Cohen’s kappa coefficient.

Results
The following results are examples of three types of subjective learning experience that
illustrate different points within the process of construction and development of profes­
sional teacher identity. Each of these steps represents how the future teacher tackles an
educational situation, beginning with the initial identity position, proceeding to an
imagined action, coping with potential resistance to change and, finally, acting upon
the situation. Our first case is Catalina, a physics and mathematics teacher-in-training
currently conducting her professional practicum at a private school. She recounts
a subjective learning experience in which identity development does not occur, despite
her feeling challenged by the situation.

Type-(i) fragment: “The snub”

1 The other day something. . . really sad, to be honest. . . happened to me. The teacher
2 asked for one of my classes. “Miss,” he said, “they’re doing the SIMCE* and I’m
3 going to do a recap with them today.” And I answered, “oh, OK, you take the lesson
4 then. I had something else prepared but don’t worry, I’ll leave it for another day.”
5 We went into the classroom and the teacher says, “right, today I’m going to lead the
6 lesson, your teacher has lent me a period.” And a boy says, like, “great!” And I
7 heard him, but I pretended not to. . . and I was sad all day, questioning myself, asking
8 myself “what’s wrong with me?” Thing is, he’s a boy who. . . it’s not like we don’t
9 get on, but I’m always asking him to pay attention because his work is really good,
10 but he distracts his classmates. I started to ask myself, “what should I do?” Perhaps
11 but he distracts his classmates. I started to ask myself, “what should I do?” Perhaps
12 he doesn’t like me, or maybe he thinks I don’t like him. Perhaps I need to do
13 something about it, call him out more, I don’t know. . . maybe tell him off a bit.”
(Catalina, trainee physics and mathematics teacher).
*SIMCE: Chilean National Learning Outcome Assessment System. A set of examinations to measure
students’ command of subjects on the school curriculum.
 LEARNING: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 9

In this account, Catalina positions herself initially as a teacher-in-training who is in

charge of a teaching group during her practicum (IIP) (lines 2–5). From her perspective,
her role in the context of her practicum is to give lessons. As such, the positional object
(PO) in this experience is her own practicum, which is disrupted by a comment from
a student who expresses his satisfaction at her replacement by another teacher (lines 6–8).
Catalina’s evaluation of the positional object (EPO), that is, her practicum, is to do with
her own perception of her performance as a future teacher (lines 11–13). However, her
evaluation does not indicate positions regarding how she should resolve the situation. In
other words, in her account (lines 11–13), Catalina demonstrates the impossibility of
tackling an educational situation using professional resources. As a consequence, she
poses questions that lead her to maintain her initial position, unable to progress in the
construction of a professional identity, and certainly not an enabling one.
We consider that this type of experience shows that teachers-in-training are continually
faced with practical dilemmas that they do not know how to resolve and which require the
support of reflection on how to tackle certain situations. If future teachers do not receive help
from their own teachers regarding how to act in certain situations, it is difficult for them to
construct and develop an enabling professional identity that would permit them to intervene
in future situations, given their inability to confront challenging educational situations.
In our second case, Ignacia, a trainee English teacher who is currently undertaking her
professional practicum at a public school, recounts an initial step in the construction of
her professional identity as a result of a situation that enabled her to imagine new
positions within the experience.

Type-(ii) fragment: “Just like my mother”

1 One day when my English supervisor was giving me an evaluation, I was going
2 around the classroom checking work and suddenly a boy takes out a photo ID,
3 shows it to his classmates and says to me, “Miss, you look just like my mother!”
4 And they show me the photo and, yes, we did look similar. I looked at it, and I was
5 being evaluated by my supervisor and somebody else, but they didn’t notice . . . I
6 took a deep breath, three seconds, and said to myself, “what do I do? Should I stop
7 the class and hug the boy to, like, comfort him?” He wasn’t upset; it was actually
8 almost a joke, like, “oh, you look like my mother,” but for me, emotionally, it was
9 really intense, and I had to carry on with the lesson (. . .) and as I was stressed
10 because I was being evaluated, when I left I forgot about the situation; I felt really
11 bad and I said to myself, “this can’t happen once I’m a teacher.” I think that, during
12 my training, I’ve become increasingly concerned about the emotions of my pupils,
13 more so than the material I’m teaching. In that particular case I couldn’t do
14 anything about it because it would have affected my grade, but when I’m teaching
15 for real, I’m going to take the day-to-day mood of my pupils just as seriously as
16 the educational curriculum”
(Ignacia, trainee English teacher).

At the beginning of her account, Ignacia positions herself as a teacher-in-training who

is being evaluated, which we interpret as the initial position (IIP) (lines 1–2). The
positional object (PO) of this experience is the tension between her principles as
a teacher and her duties as a trainee (lines 8–11) in the face of the spontaneous situation
sparked by a pupil during her professional assessment (lines 2–3). Ignacia’s evaluation of
the positional object (EPO) in this situation is negative as, although she believes that she
should have reacted in a particular way, she was hindered by the context, and this made
10 J. CHÁVEZ ET AL.

her uncomfortable (lines 10–12). In this account, we see how Ignacia’s need to change her
identity position is configured, given that within her subjective experience she manages
to position herself as a teacher who values aspects other than the school curriculum (lines
11–16).
This example shows that, although there is no agency, as the activity context is one
of professional evaluation, there is an intention on the part of the subject to carry out
a certain action. We conclude from this that, unlike in the previous case, Ignacia’s
evaluation of the situation reveals a potential new position as a teacher (lines 11–16).
We find this type of experience particularly interesting, as it shows how the position
changes as a result of the evaluation of a positional object using professional resources
that, although they do not intervene in the situation, are of value and enable an
identity position. Our third case is Rayen, a student of primary teaching with
a focus on Spanish language. She is currently doing her practicum at a public school
and, in her account, demonstrates the construction of an enabling professional
identity.

Type-(iii) fragment: “The reading circle”

1 At the school where I did my practicum, we had an activity that we called the
2 reading circle – an individual space for silent reading. It was a regular thing. But I
3 found it a bit boring, so I suggested that anybody who wanted to should read
4 together. We would begin by reading in silence before forming groups to share our
5 impressions. I remember one really intense reading of a booked called La Isla [The
6 Island]. While I was reading, I observed how the children would break down and
7 empathise strongly with the story. They felt the need to talk about a lot of things,
8 such as death, sex, love, anger, discrimination . . . they need it. So, I said to myself,
9 “we need to drop that taboo in the classroom; we need to talk about what needs to
10 be talked about,” you know? The reading list set out by the Ministry of Education
11 is very rigid; however, Dani (associate teacher) uses complimentary texts that lead
12 to a lot of discussion. For example, she gave them De amor no se muere [You
13 can’t die of love], which, well, it’s questionable in terms of discipline, but in terms
14 of the subjects discussed and the reading enjoyment it gives the girls, I think it’s
15 priceless. They really enjoyed the book . . . and it talks about homosexuality. And
16 after they’d finished it, they were like, “yeah, love is love and it actually doesn’t
17 matter whether it’s between a man and a man or whatever.” So, I think that it’s
18 been a significant experience for me, because it’s about the things that boys and
19 girls need . . . to talk, to learn, things that are meaningful for them and should be
20 covered in the classroom.
(Rayen, trainee Spanish language and literature teacher).

At the beginning of her account, Rayen positions herself as a teacher with a degree of
experience in her initial position (IIP) (lines 1–4). The positional object (PO) of this
experience is a teaching practice and its pedagogical and formative value (lines 3–8), linked
to ways of tackling reading in schools and the content of reading materials (lines 7–10.
Rayen’s evaluation (EPO) of this practice is linked to the formative possibilities offered by
a particular learning space, namely silent reading (lines 2–5), which she considers impor­
tant for the students. However, she considers that it could be made more effective by
encouraging discussion between peers and with the teacher (lines 3–6). This account shows
how the teacher-in-training develops not only an identity position as a teacher, but also
agency within the situation (lines 10–12 that facilitates an enabling professional identity.
 LEARNING: RESEARCH AND PRACTICE 11

In this case, we are particularly interested in how Rayen exercises a significant degree
of agency over the situation. For her, broadening the range of texts “is about the things
that boys and girls need . . . to talk, to learn, things that are meaningful for them and
should be covered in the classroom” (lines 18–20). In sum, this example shows how
future teachers can achieve agency in their educational practices through meaningful
experiences involving the exercise of effective control over their work, thus developing an
enabling professional identity.

Discussion
In the present study, we have explored how teachers-in-training construct and develop
their professional identity, along with the role of agency in this process. A number of
works have addressed identity and agency (Hökkä et al., 2019; Vähäsantanen et al., 2020)
but it remains unclear how the two are related and how they can be addressed as part of
teacher training. Recent research has shown that the development of teachers’ profes­
sional agency in the classroom does not always occur in line with experience (Liyuan
et al., 2022), and we are thus convinced that construction and development of an
enabling identity are necessary to the exercise of true professional agency (Chavez et
al.,, 2021; Day, 2021).
Our findings describe subjective learning experiences involving varying degrees of
identity development – no identity development, an initial step in the construction of
identity, and the construction of an enabling identity – as well as the external conditions
and considerations that influenced the development of professional identity (Chavez,
2020; Heikonen et al., 2020). As such, we are convinced that subjective learning experi­
ences serve as semiotic material not only for the construction and development of
identity but also in defining the role that the teacher may eventually play in different
educational situations (Heikkilä et al., 2020).
Furthermore, our research suggests that the process of identity development is closely
linked to agency in a situation, which in turn appears to facilitate the development of an
enabling professional identity (Ursin et al., 2020). This enabling professional identity
operates as an identity-based competency that allows future teachers to intervene in
educational situations using resources from the profession. One key implication of this
result is that in order for professional identity to develop, a favourable activity context is
needed that facilitates professional action. Relevant here is the requirement within
practical contexts to provide opportunities for decision-making and action on the part
of teachers-in-training.
In summary, our findings permit us to conclude that, based on the empirical data,
there is a relationship between professional teacher identity and the agency of future
teachers. In our opinion, the integration of agency into our analysis model of subjective
learning experiences allows us to orient our work towards the search for dialogic tools
that facilitate the construction and development of enabling professional identity on the
part of teachers. In other words, future teachers should receive dialogic support from
mentors in identifying positions assumed in regard to the situations they face during the
course of their professional activity.
12 J. CHÁVEZ ET AL.

Acknowledgments
We thank the teachers who have told us their different stories and the time dedicated to these
conversations. We are convinced that life trajectories are especially useful for educational research
and for understanding the construction and development of professional identity.

Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Funding
This work was supported by the The National Fund for Scientific and Technological Development,
FONDECYT, Chile, N°1220081, Title: “The construction and development of professional teacher
identity through subjective learning experiences” [1220081];The National Fund for Scientific and
Technological Development, FONDECYT, Chile, N°1220081, Title: ”The construction and devel­
opment of professional teacher identity through subjective learning experiences” [1220081];

ORCID
Jorge Chávez http://orcid.org/0000-0001-7603-4766

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