scholarly journals Pathways of Professional Identity Development: A Grounded Theory of Female School Principals

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 44
Author(s):  
Lina Baira

This paper examines a female school principal’s perceptions of professional identity development. Recently education management has undergone the process of managerial transformation whereas new requirements and standards have been raised for school principals. Managerial transformations have been influenced by political, economic and cultural factors that (re)shaped school principals’ professional identities. These social identity changes are especially important in the shift of managerial paradigms that evoke challenges in social identification processes. Two major approaches to professional identity include a feminist standpoint and a social construction approach. The former claims that females are underrepresented as leaders in most facets of work life due to gender role stereotypes, prejudices and unequal power distribution. The latter subscribes to the notion that person’s identities are multiple and fluid due to their cultural, historic, and social situatedness. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the pathways of female school principals’ professional identity development. The main research question of this study was how professional identity development is described by female school principals. The study focuses on two in-depth interviews with experienced school principals. The constructivist grounded theory methodology has been applied for the research. Comparative analysis allowed to generate analytic units ranging from small to large and from micro (individual), and meso (organizational) to macro (regional, national or worldwide) levels in disclosing professional identity development process. Fifteen themes comprised the results of the interview research unfolding the essential phenomenon of professional identity development.

2020 ◽  
Vol 45 ◽  
pp. 110-126
Author(s):  
Lina Bairašauskienė

The research takes on a transdisciplinary approach, focusing on paths of how female school principals construct and develop professional identity. Two major approaches to professional identity include a feminist standpoint and a social constructionist approach. The former claims are that females are underrepresented as leaders in most facets of work life due to gender role stereotypes, prejudices, and unequal power distribution. The latter subscribes to the notion that a person’s identities are multiple and fluid due to their cultural, historic, and social situatedness. According to a feminist standpoint, female identities are developed very differently from their male counterparts as a systemic hierarchy of inequity above the principalship is recognized. Despite the fact that the number of female school principals has been growing in the field of education management, a masculine approach is still being applied in this sphere due to the prevailing dominance of power culture in the society. The study is framed as an ethnographic case study. It aims to understand, investigate, and discover the patterns of how professional identity, as a cultural construct, is acquired in the context of concepts of agency, power relations, subjectivities within gender, and social analysis, encompassing multiple interactions in institutionalized processes and systems by which they are formed, shaped, and reshaped over time.


2015 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 252-259
Author(s):  
Tracey L. Gendron ◽  
E. Ayn Welleford ◽  
Christine Jensen ◽  
Barbara J. Myers

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Udayan Dhar

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate professional identity development among management professionals through the lens of the ideal self and personal values.Design/methodology/approachDetailed career vision essays based on the ideal self and personal values of 48 participants ranging in age from 22 to 54 were analyzed using an inductive thematic analysis. A theory-based classification of their personal values, collected through a survey, was also conducted as a supplemental analysis.FindingsThe visions of older management professionals were less career-oriented, more holistic, involved in a greater multiplicity of career roles, had more clarity and placed higher emphasis on work–life balance and on developing others. The older participants also reported having fewer self-enhancement values.Originality/valueThe findings demonstrate the relevance of the ideal self as a lens to study identity development and advance our understanding of professional identity development in the context of modern careers.


Curationis ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
S.E. Duma ◽  
J.N. Mekwa ◽  
L.D. Denny

The purpose of the study was to explore and analyse the journey of recovery which is undertaken by women who have been sexually assaulted, with the aim of discovering the grounded theory of recovery from sexual assault within the first six months following the event of rape. The main research question was: ‘What is the journey o f recovery that is undertaken by women within the first six months following sexual assault?’ Another question that developed during data collection and data analysis was ‘What is the meaning that women attach to recovery?’ The findings are discussed under the eight concepts or categories and the context and the intervening conditions that influence the journey of recovery from sexual assault trauma. Refer to part 1 article. These are complemented with abstracts of data from the participants’ voices and the related discussions. The developed theory highlights the process and the interconnectedness of the different stages of what the women experience in their journey of recovery from sexual assault trauma.


2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 457-462 ◽  
Author(s):  
Julie Aultman ◽  
Rachel Wurzel

Abstract Background Obstetrics and gynecology residents face difficult clinical situations and decisions that challenge their moral concepts. Objective We examined how moral and nonmoral judgments about patients are formulated, confirmed, or modified and how moral distress may be alleviated among obstetrics-gynecology residents. Methods Three focus groups, guided by open-ended interview questions, were conducted with 31 obstetrics-gynecology residents from 3 academic medical institutions in northeast Ohio. Each focus group contained 7 to 14 participants and was recorded. Two investigators independently coded and thematically analyzed the transcribed data. Results Our participants struggled with 3 types of patients perceived as difficult: (1) patients with chronic pain, including patients who abuse narcotics; (2) demanding and entitled patients; and (3) irresponsible patients. Difficult clinical encounters with such patients contribute to unalleviated moral distress for residents and negative, and often inaccurate, judgment made about patients. The residents reported that they were able to prevent stigmatizing judgments about patients by keeping an open mind or recognizing the particular needs of patients, but they still felt unresolved moral distress. Conclusions Moral distress that is not addressed in residency education may contribute to career dissatisfaction and ineffective patient care. We recommend education and research on pedagogical approaches in residency education in a model that emphasizes ethics and professional identity development as well as the recognition and alleviation of moral distress.


Author(s):  
Janis Davis

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine what processes facilitate, temper, or impede occupational therapy identity development in a community of practice. Methods: A multiple case design organized data collected from five in-depth interviews with occupational therapy students on level II fieldwork. A cross-case analysis was used to arrive at multiple case themes. Results: Themes emerged as responses to participation in a community of practice: a) professional relationships; b) supervision types; and c) responsibility for professional identity development. Results suggest that communities of practice have unique characteristics that either inhibit students from adopting professional identity or draw them closer to the center of the profession. Conclusions: Responsibility for professional identity development lies with both student and community of practice. These findings suggest attention must be paid to the quality of the community of practice if students are to experience a successful trajectory into the profession of occupational therapy.


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