You can't just leave your group! Challenged development of professional identity in teacher education

Abstract

Thestudy aimed toinvestigate the challenges that may be faced in teacher education andexperienced by a young student teacher—during the development of a professional identity. In the study, case study research design was utilized. The participants were composed of 32 volunteer student teachers who were selected using convenience sampling method. The study period lasted 18 months, and the data were collected via an observation and in-depth onlineinterview. The data were analyzed using qualitative data analysis method. The results revealed that learning activities wereoften based on groupwork;however,developing an individual professional identity couldbe challenged by the interests of the group, and couldbe experienced as a difficult but potentially successful liberation process that could be influenced by several factors.