Publication Date

2025

Document Type

Dissertation/Thesis

First Advisor

Dugas, Daryl M.

Second Advisor

Thepboriruk, Kanjana H.

Degree Name

Ph.D. (Doctor of Philosophy)

Legacy Department

Department of Leadership, Educational Psychology and Foundations (LEPF)

Abstract

Beginning teachers, including pre-service (PSTs) and early-career teachers (ECTs), face various types of challenges such as classroom management, instructional planning, building relationships with school stakeholders, adjusting to school culture, and limited resources (Kozikoglu, 2017). Many studies focus on these challenges as technical issues, neglecting the role of teacher identity in how educators experience and address these difficulties (e.g., Burden, 2020; Doyle, 1990; Hoy & Weinstein, 2013). Moreover, most teacher identity studies are predominantly conducted in Western contexts where sociocultural values and systemic constraints shape teachers’ professional roles differently from those in Eastern contexts. This three-manuscript dissertation investigates the identity formation of Thai PSTs and ECTs. These teachers navigate challenges and negotiate identity tensions within Thai educational contexts, where sociocultural values significantly influence their professional identity processes.

The first paper is a comprehensive review of 19 studies on Thai teacher identity. Two categories of research on teachers’ professional identity—the studies on teacher professional identity formation and the studies on the characteristics of teachers’ professional identity—were identified in this review. Studies about teachers’ professional identity employed other concepts, such as personalities, traits, proficiencies, work ethics, and skills, as stand-ins for teachers’ professional identity. These concepts prescribed by the Thai educational bureaucracy showed the dominant characteristics of the Thai educational system: hierarchical and top-down. Instead, adopting narrative identity approaches would allow researchers to delve into teachers’ narratives of their lived experiences and examine the complex interplay between personal beliefs, professional practices, and cultural influences that shape their identities (Day et al., 2006; Watson, 2009).

The second paper explores Thai PSTs and ECTs’ perceived classroom management challenges and selection of their classroom management strategies. In narrative based interviews, participants invoked three themes related to their identity work: (1) teachers’ perceptions of being seen as a certain kind of teacher by their students (e.g., kind/ not mean and trustworthy/ approachable), (2) desired identities, including aspirational (e.g., caring and peer) and actualized identity (e.g., role model and well-rounded/ innovative), and (3) effective intervention vs. “The real me” (e.g., kind vs. strict and serious vs. funny). The findings reveal that Thai novice teachers often constructed their teacher identities around the specific skills they sought to develop in order to align with the educational goals and policies of the educational bureaucracy. This study underscores the need for research on teacher identity to move beyond uniform cultural assumptions and instead consider the fast-paced societal change and the nuanced, subjective experiences of individual teachers as they navigate their evolving roles.

The third paper investigates how power distance in the Thai educational system invoke in Thai PSTs and ECTs’ identity development. A thematic analysis of these interviews revealed three key themes that influenced PSTs and ECTs’ identity development: (1) relational identity tensions with teachers/ school stakeholders, including experience as students (e.g., “Just do what I said” and arbitrary punishment) and experience as teachers (e.g., “Just do what I said” and negative perceptions from the authority), (2) desired relational identity with students (e.g., desire to have equal power distribution with students and no power distance in my classes), and (3) responses to relational identity tensions (e.g., considering leaving the profession and resignation to power distance). This study highlights how power distance shapes interactions between Thai pre-service (PSTs) and early-career teachers (ECTs) and other school stakeholders, significantly influencing identity development. While traditional hierarchies still dominate, a new generation of teachers is pushing for social and educational reform, seeking more egalitarian, student-centered approaches. These findings point to a shifting educational landscape where teacher identity is shaped by both institutional norms and evolving generational values. To support this transition, teacher education programs and policy makers should foster critical reflection and reconsider hierarchical structures that may limit teacher autonomy and innovation.

Extent

152 pages

Language

en

Publisher

Northern Illinois University

Rights Statement

In Copyright

Rights Statement 2

NIU theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from Huskie Commons for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without the written permission of the authors.

Media Type

Text

Download

Share

COinS