Exploring Teacher’s Professional Identity in Relationship to Leadership: A Latent Profile Analysis

Abstract

As a result of the COVID-19 outbreak, which has affected the whole world, teacher leadership has gained more significance. Teacher leadership is a multidimensional concept. While some teachers exercise leadership only at the classroom level, others exercise leadership at a macro level. This level of leadership enactment is directly related to how teachers construct their professional identity in relation to leadership. This study aims to explore the leadership-related professional identities of teachers who came to the fore, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic period by using latent profile analysis. The data were collected from a sample of 710 teachers. Teachers completed the Teacher Leadership Behavior Scale, which measures teacher leadership behaviors at four levels: classroom, parental, micro-level, and macro-level. Participants also completed the Rosenberg self-esteem scale, the teacher self-efficacy scale, the openness to authority scale, and the job satisfaction scale. As a result of latent profile analysis, three distinct profiles of teacher leadership identity emerged: those who exercise leadership at a minimum level, an intermediate level, and a maximum level across all four levels of teacher leadership. These profiles were labeled as “restricted professionality”, “intermediate professionality”, and “extended professionality”, drawing upon Hoyle’s conceptualization of teacher professional identity. These findings suggest that teachers construct their identities differently regarding teacher leadership. It is essential for school leaders to first explore the different levels of professional identity and tailor their professional development activities accordingly.