Teacher`s Identity Essay

Teacher identity: a way of concerning to society

For Chilean society, teachers do not have the importance that they really deserve in depth because they are seen as instruments that only deliver information to their students. Taking that into consideration, it is really difficult to establish the boundaries in which teacher identity is set. Because of that, it is an entire society who defines teachers, not them indeed.

In theory, teacher identity can be represented as an agent of change, empowered, and committed . However, these intentions are repressed by the society that does not allow teacher identity to flourish properly. In practice, those social responsibilities are not consistent with the reality teachers and students are living in. For that reason, I agree with what is said in the text “The Educators Manifesto” that, education is thought as a factory like process of production, educator suppressed pedagogical self awareness, particularly among students(Mc Clintock). In addition to this, it is clear and noticeable that if our education is thought like that, this teacher identity that some people try to defend is vague and flawed. I believe that teacher identity turns unreasonable in an education which does not support not even justify what is inside of the schools. Furthermore, education became a minor profession consisting of well-defined functionaries whose controlling norms and standards were set, not from within, but by groups external to the profession's practice. (Mc Clintock) With all this, I am not trying to be pessimistic but critic about how identity is represent  in this country and how education is thought. If teachers do not define their identity and do not understand the real power they have in their hands, the school will be passing through them without any regret and they will do it with their students, as a vicious circle that is never going to end.

Teachers should understand their roles in school so that they can assimilate how empowered they are. For example, when a teacher assimilates his/her role inside of the school he/she can promotes a better sense of citizenship. However, when his/her role is authoritative, he/she tends to abuse of the power inside of the classroom. That is what happen in my current working experience, my host teacher undervalue and distrust the students` capacities and abilities. That is why, I believe that having an unfriendly atmosphere creates those situations that the majority of the teachers complain about. When teachers do not believe in themselves or nobody else does, reproduce this situation into the students`realities. For that reason, it is quite important to have a clear identity that represents who we are as human beings, then as citizens and finally as teachers. There are some many situations in which is noticeable that teachers do not have a consolidate identity, reaffirming their duty in the society that teachers do not realize the power they have, having at the end teachers who help to reproduce unconscious students. Identity is not an easy aspect to develop because there are many social,cultural and political factors that help in its building that sometimes is very ambigous and undefined for some people.

Finally, I would say that having in mind what identity means, we can understand and reflect upon the reality we have today. In some schools, there are still teachers who believe that they do not have the power to create their own identity instead of being themselves, others manipulate who they are. It is sad but true, that is quite difficult to set teachers`identity when chilean identity is not even set yet.

Essay created based on the notions and theory that shape teacher`s identity in Chile
Works cited: Thinking Power and Pedagogy (Adam Lefstein) & The Educators Manifesto (Robbie Mc Clintock)