Professional Identity of Kindergarten Teachers

This paper presents the results of research investigating the development of kindergarten teachers’ professional identity during their teacher-training program. Most of the relevant literature addresses the development of school teachers’ professional identity, but very little research has examined this process in kindergarten teachers. Kindergarten teachers have unique roles since they teach young children at a critical time in their general development (Copple & Bredekamp, 2009). Research shows that teachers’ professional development affects the quality of teaching and is a central factor in bringing about changes in classroom teaching practice that improve the students’ learning outcomes (Guskey,2002).The aim of this research was to investigate the development of trainee kindergarten teachers’ professional development, comparing the processes that they undergo with the processes that school teachers experience and attempting to identify factors that affect this process. In addition, the research aimed to investigate the trainee kindergarten teachers’ level of satisfaction regarding their choice of profession.

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Not applicable

The datasets used in this study are openly available at [repository link] and the source code is available on GitHub at [GitHub link].

This work did not receive any external funding.