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Professional Self-Understanding of Teachers inDifferent Career Stages: A PhenomenologicalAnalysisErsin Yağan  ( ersinyagan@gmail.com )

Ministry of National EducationMustafa Özgenel 

Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim UniversityFatih Baydar 

Ministry of National Education

Research Article

Keywords: Self-understanding, professional self-understanding, professional development, career stages

Posted Date: December 15th, 2021

DOI: https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-1079783/v1

License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.  Read Full License

Version of Record: A version of this preprint was published at BMC Psychology on March 7th, 2022. Seethe published version at https://doi.org/10.1186/s40359-022-00769-w.

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AbstractTeachers’ sense of identity plays a central role in understanding their actions as individuals inside andoutside the classroom. Therefore, it is important to determine teachers’ understanding of who they are.Thus, teachers’ opinions about their professional self-understanding in the study were aimed to beanalysed. In line with this purpose, the qualitative research method was used to address teachers’ viewson their professional self-understanding holistically, and the research was carried out according to thephenomenology pattern. The research study group consists of 44 teachers working in primary, secondary,and high schools located in the Pendik district of Istanbul. Research data were obtained as a result of in-depth interviews with teachers through semi-structured interview forms. The �ndings obtained weregrouped under �ve themes: “Image, Respect, Job Motivation, Perception of Duty, and Future Views”,taking into account the relevant literature. The study revealed that professional self-understanding isclosely affected by emotions and teachers’ social status.

IntroductionTeachers’ careers are considered to consist of two parts, pre-service and in-service. Pre-service generallyrefers to the undergraduate program offered by the university. In-service refers to the time between ateacher’s �rst entry into the profession and leaving the profession for different reasons. Teachers’attitudes, perceptions, motivations, expectations, perspectives, and professional knowledge and skillstowards the profession change during this period, in�uenced by various factors. Furthermore, teachers’positive thoughts and feelings towards their profession and their ability to understand and accept theproblems and negative aspects they face in their professional life (in other words, the strong professionalself-understanding of teachers) can support their professional lives. Whether the concept of self-understanding, which seems to be very important for teachers, manifests itself in a certain standard or avariable form during their professional life is a question that needs to be answered. Considering that ateacher continues their professional life for a long time, it can be thought that teachers exhibit verydifferent attitudes and behaviours from the starting point of their careers and their progressiveprofessional life in the developing and ever-changing information age. For this reason, examiningprofessional self-understanding portraits at different stages of the professional career journey thatteachers draw for themselves can support their professional development, increase their performance,contribute to the development of the teaching profession, and improve our understanding in the contextof the quality of education. This article presents and discusses a perspective on the professional self-understanding of teachers in different career cycles/career phases within the service.

Self-understanding and Professional Self-understandingIndividuals experience negative emotions such as pain, sadness, burnout, and failure in certain periods oflife. Individuals self-understanding must be developed to cope with these negative emotions to relax andcalm themselves, and most importantly, to get rid of these negative emotions without harmingthemselves, thereby making their lives more liveable. It is �rst necessary to de�ne the concept of

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understanding, to comprehend self-understanding. Understanding refers to being a part of one’s distressand suffering, being aware of the suffering of others, not being unconnected or avoiding these sufferings,being compassionate to others, the desire to alleviate the suffering of others, and understanding thosewho have failed or made wrong without judging them (Deniz, Cutter, & Sümer, 2008; Germer, 2009).According to Neff (2003a), understanding is de�ned as being open and sensitive to the problems ofothers. Neff’s (2003a, 2003b) self-understanding includes being open to feelings that cause pain anddistress, approaching them with attentive and affectionate behaviours, understanding and being non-judgmental towards their inadequacies and failures, and accepting that negative experiences are a part ofhuman life.

Self-understanding is an important and measurable quality that offers a conceptual alternative to theself-centred understanding of people’s processes and feelings about themselves (Neff, Kirkpatrick & Rude,2006). In Western societies, people feel the need to be understanding and compassionate towards others.However, in the Buddhist tradition, it is emphasised that for individuals emotional resources to showunderstanding towards others, individuals must �rst show understanding towards themselves (Neff,2003b). Furthermore, self-understanding is the awareness that bad situations, failure, andinappropriateness are part of human nature and that all people, including the person themself, deservecompassion (Neff, 2003b). Self-understanding means protecting oneself from painful situations. Self-understanding individuals take effective steps to get away from stress (Neff, Hsieh & Dejitterat, 2005).Individuals with high self-understanding fully see their problems, weaknesses, and shortcomings andapproach themselves with compassion and understanding. Thus, self-understanding enables individualsto develop positive feelings towards themselves when negative situations occur in their life (Leary,Adams, Allen & Hancock, 2007). To make self-understanding more functional and systematic, Neff(2003a) divided the concept of self-understanding into three elements: (a) self-kindness, (b) commonhumanity, and (c) mindfulness (Neff, 2003a; Neff, 2003b; Neff, Hsieh & Dejitterat, 2005).

Studies show that individuals with high self-understanding have high levels of life satisfaction, socialrelations, mood, and happiness; indicating that their depression, anxiety, and failure levels are low(Alibekiroğlu, Akbaş, Ateş & Kırdök, 2018; Deniz & Sümer, 2010; Deniz, Arslan, Özyeşil & İzmirli, 2012).When individuals develop self-understanding, positive thoughts about themselves also develop; theymitigate negative thoughts and gain experiences from the negative situations they encounter.Professionals (teachers, counsellors, psychiatrists) who serve to develop such a useful competence forindividuals (Deniz, Bıçak & Sümer, 2008) should use them in their professional lives.

The concept of professional self-understanding for teachers was de�ned by Kelchtermans (1993a).According to Kelchtermans (1993a, 1993b, 1994, 1996), professional self-understanding is a teachers’professional interpretation of themselves and their understanding of themselves as a teacher.Kelchtermans identi�ed �ve components that constitute professional self-understanding by analysingteachers’ stories about their career. These components are; the self-image of the teacher, the self-esteemof the teacher, the job motivation of the teacher, the task perceptions of the teacher, and the perspectiveof the teacher on the future:

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Teachers’ self-image is a descriptive component and symbolises how teachers de�ne themselves.Self-image is based on self-perception but is largely related to what others re�ect on teachers. Theteacher’s self-image is strongly in�uenced by the way other people perceive them.

Teachers’ self-esteem is closely related to self-image, and it is an evaluative component of self-understanding or self-esteem. It refers to teachers’ evaluation and appreciation of their actual jobperformance. Feedback from others is important in self-esteem. However, these are �ltered andinterpreted. Some of them are considered more valuable or important. This component is theteacher’s evaluation of their performance, and it refers to their appreciation of the actual jobperformance.

Teachers job motivation refers to the motives and drives that cause people to choose to becometeachers, remain in the profession, and leave the profession. In addition to the teacher’s workingconditions, the perception of the task that enables them to act according to a normative program isalso determinant for job motivation.

Teachers’ task perceptions include teachers’ views on what constitutes the professional studyprogram and their duties and responsibilities to do their job well. It forms the normative basis ofteachers’ judgments and decisions. The perception of duty has a normative component; this includesthe teacher’s idea of what constitutes the professional program and their duty to do a good job. Theperception of duty forms the normative basis of teachers’ judgments and decisions that have moralconsequences, as they affect the lives and needs of young people for whom the teacher isresponsible and feels responsible for. Professional self-understanding also includes a futureperspective that reveals a teacher’s expectations from the future.

The teacher’s perspective on the future includes the future perspective that reveals teachers’expectations from the future. This perspective emphasises the dynamic nature of self-understanding. Individuals’ current actions are in�uenced by meaningful past experiences andexpectations from the future (Hargreaves, 1995; Kelchtermans, 1993a, 1993b, 1994, 1996, 2005,2009).

These �ve components of professional self-understanding can be distinguished analytically. However,they are all intertwined and refer to each other. In this way, self-understanding is an inclusive (integrative)and analytical (differentiated) concept. Thus, it provides an insight into the dynamic nature andcontextual embeddedness of teachers’ sense of self. Again, it provides an analytical conceptual tool toreveal how ‘self’ covers all aspects of teaching (Kelchtermans, 2005, 2009).

Teachers Career StagesResearchers who have examined teachers’ professional development processes in pre-service and in-service periods since the early 1970s have noticed that teachers develop differently and proposeddifferent models for their career stages. The main purpose of determining teachers’ professionaldevelopment stages is to identify problems encountered in professional development, guide them toovercome these di�culties, and ultimately increase teachers’ performance in the classroom and thequality of education (Christensen, Burke, Fessler, & Hagstrom, 1983).

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The concept of career is de�ned as “the progress of an individual step by step and continuously in anybusiness �eld throughout their working life, gaining experiences and skills” (Aydın, 2018). Steffy andWolfe (2001) state that as teachers progress through their careers, they critically think about theirprofessional practice, rede�ne their assumptions and beliefs, and enter into transformational processesthrough self-assessment. Burden (1982) determined that teachers’ self-de�nitions regarding their careersand their sources of in�uence are multidimensional and differ according to their career stages. Sinceteachers have different job/professional knowledge, skills, competencies, behaviours and attitudes, andexperience different emotions at different points in their careers in�uenced by personal, organisational,and environmental factors, they go through a continuous cycle throughout their career (Burden, 1982).However, as teachers develop professionally, specialise in their �elds, or gain new perspectives, theytransition between various career stages (Aydın, 2018). A teacher may spend more or less time at eachstage, even if they have similar developmental-mental characteristics as their colleagues (Burden, 1982).In other words, teachers’ career cycles do not “automatically” move forward (White, 2008).

Teachers professional/job skills, knowledge, and behaviours differ at different points in their careersdepending on their attitudes, perspectives, and professional activities (Burden (1982). Therefore, differentmodels varying between 3 and 8 stages have been proposed to explain teachers career stages. Teachers’professional interests and professional development needs were taken into account, and it wasdetermined that each teacher had different needs at one point and the time they spent differed (Bakioğlu,1996; Burden, 1982; Burke et al., 1987; Christensen, Burke, Fessler, & Hagstrom, 1983; DeMoulin andGuyton, 1988; Eberhart, 1990; Fessler and Christensen, 1992; Fuller, 1969; Huberman, 1989; Katz, 1972;Vonk, 1993, 1995). These models differ in terms of the number of stages, how these stages are carriedout, and whether teachers act linearly between stages (Eros, 2011). According to Huberman (1989),teachers’ career development is shaped by in�uencing personal experiences, social environment, andorganisational factors. Thus, Fessler and Christensen (1992) state that teachers’ career cycles are notlinear, they re�ect their reactions to these factors, progress through different stages, and even skip certainstages. In other words, a teacher can transition from one stage to another or even return to the previousstage (Eros, 2011). Therefore a teacher at the end of their career, faced with an entirely new and exoticteaching task, may revert to being a novice teacher, or a teacher may not automatically become aprofessional teacher after serving �ve years as an apprentice teacher (White, 2008).

It is necessary to develop an understanding following teacher’s feelings about the changes experiencedtoday, to understand professional values and norms as internal parts of the ‘self’ and therefore beconceptualised. It should be stated that teachers’ sense of identity as individuals inside and outside theclassroom has a central role in understanding their actions. Therefore, teachers’ self-understanding ofwho and what they are is important. Post-modernism, at a time when an essentialist and monolithicunderstanding of self and identity is criticised radically, teachers’ ways of acquiring, maintaining, anddeveloping their identities and feelings of self in their professional careers are vital in understanding theiractions and commitments (Ball & Goodson, 1985, cited in Kelchtermans, 2005). The determination andunderstanding of professional self-understanding for teachers to cope with the personal problems theyface and respond to the change and innovative expectations of society and the political environment can

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improve the quality of education in general and particularly the development of the teaching profession.Whether the teachers’ self-conceptions differ in their career stages is also important for process-orientedanalysis. From this perspective, the study aims to analyse teachers’ opinions on their professional self-understanding in different career stages.

Methods

Research DesignThe qualitative research method was used to address teachers’ views on their professional self-understanding holistically. The research was carried out according to the phenomenology design.Phenomenology is a qualitative research design in which the researcher tries to understand and explainhow one or more participants experience a phenomenon. Here the answer to the following question issought: “What is the meaning, structure, and essence of a phenomenon for the individual?” (Christensen,Johnson & Turner, 2015, p.370).

ParticipantsThe participants consist of 44 teachers working in primary, secondary, and high schools located in thePendik district of Istanbul. In determining the study group, the maximum diversity sampling type wasemployed. By choosing this sample type, it was aimed to capture a deep understanding of professionalself-understanding by re�ecting the diversity of teachers with different seniority degrees to the maximumsample. According to Patton (2015), when selecting a small sample with a large variety, data collectionand analysis will reveal two �ndings: (i) high quality and detailed explanations useful to clarify theuncertainties and diversity of each case and (ii) presents common patterns at which important issuesintersect and reveal their importance.

Bakioğlu’s (1996) study determined 5 stages following the career stages suggested for teachers toexamine their thoughts on the concept of professional self-understanding (since all participants wereactively working, the 6th phase, known as the ‘retirement phase’ has been removed). Accordingly, between1-5 years (N = 6) professional seniority was "entering the career" phase, 6-10 years (N = 7) "settling"phase, 11-15 years (N = 6) "experimentalism" phase, 16-20 years (N = 11) "expertise" phase, and 21 yearsand above (N = 14) professional seniority was the "calm" phase. 20 of the teachers are males, and 24 ofthem are females. While 32 of the teachers are undergraduates, 12 of them are master’s graduates.

All participants were given in-depth interview codes indicating some of their characteristics, and thesecodes were used in the study. For example, the participants were coded as follows: Order No - Gender -Age - Educational Status - Seniority = 8F43MD21 (8th Rank - Female teacher - 43 years old - Master’sDegree - teacher for 21 years).

Data Collection Tool

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The in-depth interview method was used to reveal teachers’ opinions about their professional self-understanding. In the interview method, a series of questions are asked to the person being interviewed. Asemi-structured interview form was used to collect the data. The purpose of using a semi-structuredinterview form is to enable the participants to answer questions with �xed options and to examine thephenomenon in depth. In line with the main purpose of the research, answers to the following questionswere sought.

1. How do teachers in different career stages describe themselves as a teacher (professional image)?

2. How successful do teachers at different career stages �nd themselves professionally (self-respect)?

3. What are the reasons for teachers in different career stages in choosing the profession (jobmotivation)?

4. What do teachers at different career stages do to be successful/good professionally (sense of duty)?

5. What are the future professional career goals of teachers in different career stages (future vision)?

Data AnalysisDescriptive analysis was performed to reveal the themes obtained from the qualitative data obtainedfrom the interview, and content analysis was performed to determine the sub-themes and codes. Thepurpose of using content analysis is to reach concepts and relationships that can explain the collecteddata. After de�ning the concepts related to the phenomenon and determining the units of analysis, datareduction was performed. Sub-themes and codes (descriptive and interpretative) were determined toexamine and evaluate the data more closely (Ekiz, 2009).

FindingsThere are 5 themes obtained as a result of the analysis. These are “Image, Respect, Job Motivation, TaskPerception, and Future Vision”.

As seen in Figure 1, when the �ndings are examined, the participants’ opinions about how they evaluatethemselves as a teacher affect their professional practices and future planning.

Professional ImageData collected from the participants were evaluated, and �ndings regarding the Image Theme wereanalysed under the subthemes of “De�nition and Weariness”.

De�nition

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Participants were asked what kind of teacher they consider themselves to be. Participants in response tothis question stated to �nd themselves as; Innovative, open to development (f = 14), sel�ess, devoted,loves the profession (f = 7), disciplined (f = 7), researcher, productive, hardworking (f = 6), open tocommunication (f = 6), kind-�rm (f = 4), equitable (f = 3), has self-improvement goals (f = 3), idealistic (f =2), empathetic (f = 2) and achievement-oriented (f = 1).

“I de�ne myself as a teacher who researches, is open to innovations, learns while teaching, enjoys hiswork, is open to communication, loves to produce, and aims to bring his student to a level that is self-su�cient in any environment.” (13F45UD21)

“I am a sel�ess and devoted teacher. I do not come to the lesson unprepared. When I have a student whodoes not understand a topic, I do not hesitate to teach them repeatedly. I worry about the troubles of eachof my students. I �nancially and morally support my students who are in need.” (5M52UD23)

“I am pro�cient, have good risk and classroom management, disciplined, know and apply the regulations,stand at an equal distance to students, look objectively to students, do my job properly and on time,attend class on time, making sure students do not feel inadequate, and I am sincere towards students.”(36F48UD23)

“I like to research and produce. I also force my students to do research. I like working, not intelligence.”(1M56MD25)

“I am a teacher who is open to communication, acts in a planned way, has goals, pays attention tocommunication with parents and students, tries to get students gain good behaviours as well astransferring academic knowledge.” (31M59UD28)

“I am a teacher who tries to behave equally to her students and constantly strives to complete the goals Iset.” (15M44MD18)

“…I am a teacher trying to improve myself.” (18F43UD19)

“I am an idealist teacher. I want to contribute to the success of the country, family, and children.”(3M51UD30)

“I am a kind-�rm teacher. I am compassionate and loving, but when it comes down to it, I also makerules.” (8F49UD27)

“Achievement-oriented teacher that wants to see teachers who love their profession and see morerespectful students and parents.” (24M32MD10)

WearinessInterestingly, teachers express themselves in different ways. However, what was more interesting was theparticipants’ negative expressions in addition to their positive expressions. There have been teachers who

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stated that their professional excitement decreased, they were hopeless, they saw that the value given tothem by society decreased and that this situation negatively affect them.

“I’ve been a teacher for 20 years. My excitement has decreased.” (22F42UD19)

“An idealistic teacher who struggles not to become hopeless as the value given to teachers decreases dayby day.” (32F34MD12)

“I try to do my best but sometimes feel like I am failing and have feelings of futility ...” (18F43UD19)

Self-RespectData collected from the participants were evaluated, and �ndings regarding the Respect Theme wereanalysed under the subthemes of “Self-assessment and Criteria”.

Self-assessmentWhen asked how successful they found themselves as a teacher, the participants responded with thefollowing; successful (f = 28), unsuccessful (f = 7), and mediocre (f = 3). It is seen that the majority ofparticipating teachers consider themselves to be successful. The rate of teachers who see themselves assuccessful corresponds to 64% of the participants, and the rate of teachers who see themselves asunsuccessful corresponds to 16%. One out of every �ve participating teachers did not comment on thisissue.

“I �nd myself quite successful in my profession. I think I am competent in my �eld because of myexperience. For this reason, I work as a visiting lecturer at the university once a week, and I am alsoincluded in various projects by authorities.” (40F49MD28)

“I don’t �nd myself successful at all.” (3M51UD30)

“… I am a mediocre teacher.” (1M56MD25)

In addition, 4 participants stated that there are no concrete indicators of success in educationalinstitutions. They stated that they see this concept as relative and did not evaluate whether they �ndthemselves successful.

“I cannot evaluate myself about success. What I see as success might be different for someone else..”(4F46MD25)

“Success is a variable concept. It depends on what we have achieved.” (38M34UD13)

CriteriaFeedback from students and parents (f = 7), ability to academically teach what is required (f = 6),in�uence students (f = 4), raise individuals who are bene�cial to their country and humanity (f = 3), and to

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ful�l the requirements of the profession (f = 2 ) were the criterion in evaluating the success ofparticipating teachers. One teacher also claimed that the criterion for success was the teacher’s personaldevelopment. Interestingly, only half of the participating teachers listed criteria for success, whereas theother teachers expressed their success without putting forward any criteria.

“… The positive feedback from parents and students makes me say I am good at my profession now.”(13F45UD21)

“I am successful in knowledge transfer and exams. TYT, AYT etc. develops students in the �elds.”(27M44UD20)

“… I try to in�uence my students, I try different methods to make them love my lesson, and direct them toabsorb the content of the lesson.” (2F38UD17)

“To train people who are bene�cial to the country, the nation, and humanity. I think that counts assuccess.” (7M41UD19)

“I �nd myself successful as I complete the requirements of my profession adequately.” (12M49UD28)

“I evaluate my success in the profession not through my colleagues or student success, but by improvingmyself and what I add to my knowledge every year.” (29F32UD11)

Job MotivationData collected from the participants were evaluated, and �ndings regarding the Job Motivation Themewere analysed under the subthemes of “Personal Preferences and External In�uences”.

Personal PreferencesThe teachers were asked, “Why did you choose the teaching profession?”. To the question, they statedthat they act in line with their wishes and dreams by giving the answers: being bene�cial to students byin�uencing them (f = 15), my love for children (f = 7), my childhood dream and my admiration for ateacher (f = 2).

“… When I started my teaching profession, I felt a part of education and thought I would be a successfulteacher in the future. In�uencing students, teaching them something new, and their feedback is whatmotivates me the most. ” (30F25MD4)

“I chose this profession because I love children. I love teaching people.” (9F33UD12)

“It was my childhood dream. There are 4 teachers in my family.” (19F28UD7)

“I decided to be a teacher in primary school. I admired my classroom teacher and imitated him.”(6M49UD28)

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External In�uencesTeachers responded to this question as mandatory/compulsory reasons (f = 8), the guidance of familyelders (f = 6), and job guarantee-economic reasons (f = 4). It is noteworthy that almost half of theparticipating teachers (f = 18) stated that they did not choose the teaching profession as their primarygoal in line with their wishes. They mostly evaluated it �nancially, considering that the main reasonunderlying their families guidance into this profession is based on job guarantee.

“… It was necessary as I was assigned from a different �eld.” (15M44MD18)

“In our time, there were not many options with a job guarantee.” (22F42MD19)

“I chose it because of what my mother said. She said, “If you do not practice this profession, you will notbe able to �nd teachers for your children either. Your profession is very important for the country.”(17F53UD32)

“It was not a planned choice. Let’s say it was fate.” (7M41UD19)

Task PerceptionData collected from the participants were evaluated, and �ndings regarding the Task Perception Themewere analysed under the subthemes of “Development Effort and Use of Technology”.

Development EffortParticipants answered the question about what they do to be a successful/good teacher as follows: doresearch and follow good examples (f = 25), attend training (f = 10), and do self-evaluation (f = 3).

“I research lecture techniques. I am in search of trying to be a better narrator. ” (5M52UD23)

“I follow good examples on social media. I bene�t from the ideas and practices of my experiencedcolleagues.” (6M49UD28)

“I am a teacher open to change and developments. I always keep my communication channels open. Iam trying to bene�t from professional development seminars. I am doing a master’s degree in my �eld toupdate and increase my knowledge.” (7M41UD19)

“I face my shortcomings, I accept change, I try to teach more, not know more.” (14M48MD16)

Use of TechnologySome of the participating teachers (f = 8) stated that technology is now a requirement of their profession,and therefore they do not neglect it. Most teachers state that they share information and good examplesrelated to their �elds with their colleagues, especially through social media, showing that social media isa new and powerful medium in teacher education.

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“I follow good examples on social media. I bene�t from the ideas and practices of my experiencedcolleagues.” (6M49UD28)

“Although I do not like technology, I try to follow all technological developments to establish a close bondwith students.” (41M37MD16)

Future VisionData collected from the participants were evaluated, and �ndings regarding the Future Vision Theme wereanalysed under the subthemes of “Goals and Burnout”.

GoalsWhen asked questions about their career goals, teachers responded by saying, “continuing as a teacher (f= 16), pursuing an academic career (f = 9), working as an administrator/manager (f = 5), writing (f = 3),and going abroad (f = 1)”. Remarkably, less than half of the participating teachers stated that they set acareer goal for themselves, and the number of teachers who would not be considered being old in thisgroup was high.

“I am a teacher. I will always remain a teacher.” (28F41MD17)

“I want to do a master’s degree. I am now participating in continuous pieces of training related to myprofession.” (11K24L3)

“I think I can change the learning environment as a school principal.” (20F31UD5)

“I want to write stories for children in the future. This way, I will continue to be bene�cial to my countryand nation.” (8F49UD27)

“My future career goal is to live abroad for a while to learn teaching practices and to apply them when Ireturn to the country.” (34M33UD10)

BurnoutInterestingly, 8 teachers stated that they had no professional goals; 2 of these teachers are over 50 yearsold, and the other 6 participants are too young.

“I have no career expectations. I would be glad if I could be useful to those around me during this time.”(1M56MD25)

“I have no career expectations.” (10F34UD12)

Discussion And Conclusion

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With the announcement of the absolute dominance of the power of knowledge in today’s conjuncture,which is called the information age, education systems inevitably have undergone radical and rapidchanges. Teacher success is one of the most important criteria for successful education among theexisting alternative education models. For this reason, teachers’ perspectives on education, from whichthe education system expects a lot, should be repeatedly examined. Therefore, in our research, we tried toreveal how teachers evaluate themselves professionally and what behaviours they adopt to increase theirquali�cations.

It was seen that the participant teachers mostly de�ned themselves as “innovative and open toimprovement” in the context of professional image. Besides learning developments in their �elds, theteachers stated that they made an effort to learn different applications that they can use in educationalactivities, especially in the technological �eld. Teachers state that they try to adapt to innovation andprefer to work with school administrators who are open to innovation (Göl & Bülbül, 2012; Kartal, 2020;Kocasaraç & Karataş, 2017; Korkmaz, 2006; Yılmaz & Kocasaraç, 2010), and that they make use of newteaching methods and techniques (Ayra & Kösterelioğlu, 2015; Demir Başaran & Keleş, 2015; Kayabaşı &Özerbaş, 2019). It can be said that teachers are aware of the fact that being open to innovations, their roleas a pioneer in society, and the use of technology, which is a necessity of today’s information society, area part of their profession. Regardless of the extent to which this perception is re�ected in practice, it isimportant that teachers view being open to innovations as an important part of their profession. It wasseen that the teachers who expressed themselves as open to development and technology werepredominantly those who were in the career entry, settling, and experimental stages and those whoreceived postgraduate education. It is noteworthy that teachers at the expertise and calm stage differfrom teachers in other stages. This situation can be interpreted as teachers with advanced professionalseniority start to see themselves as professionally competent and therefore close themselves to learningnew things. However, when the dynamic nature of education is considered, teachers’ attitudes at theexpertise and calm phase harm themselves and the institutions they work in. The positive views of theteachers who received postgraduate education on this subject also reveal that the academic education ofteachers should be supported. Again, it was observed that those in the career entry and calm phasede�ned themselves as disciplined. Based on these �ndings, it can be said that teachers who have juststarted their profession keep their efforts to dominate the classroom at the forefront of professional life.

Considering that the teaching profession is frequently associated with the concept of self-devotion, it isimportant to reveal the emotions teachers have when choosing the profession and the factors affectingthem in their decision-making mechanisms. Under professional self-esteem, half of the teachersindividually made decisions in choosing the teaching profession, and the most effective feeling in thesedecisions was “the desire to be bene�cial to children and humanity”. It is noteworthy that among theparticipant teachers, especially those in the career entry and calm phase, express these feelings. It can bethought that teachers who have just started the profession have started their duty with the desire to beuseful to children. It can be evaluated that teachers in the last period of their profession expressed thesame feelings by taking into account the students they had trained over the years. In other words, whileteachers in the career entry phase express this feeling with the dreams of their future students, the

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teachers in the calm phase express this feeling by evaluating the students they have trained over the pastyears.

Additionally, it was observed that half of the participating teachers were affected by environmentalfactors in their decision-making process, and they mentioned �nancial opportunities as the mostimportant criterion they consider in this process. There are studies stating that the teaching professionloses its external appeal as a result of di�culties in �nding a job (such as the problem of teachers whocannot be appointed over time) (Bursal & Buldur, 2013), other studies overlapping our research indicatethat economic and external factors are among the most determining factors in teachers’ choice ofprofession (Behymer & Cockriel, 2005; Bozdoğan, Aydın & Yıldırım, 2007; Kniveton, 2004; Türkdoğan,2014). Teachers’ common opinion at all career stages that economic reasons and job guarantee are themost important criteria in choosing the teaching profession. In this context, it is seen that the holiness ofteaching, which is frequently mentioned in social platforms, is still the most important criterion for thepreference of the profession. However, the role of economic capital, which directly affects teachers’cultural and symbolic capital, should be considered in choosing a profession. The decline in social status,which is a manifestation of these forms of capital, may cause a decrease in interest in the teachingprofession.

Although the criteria and measurement of success in education is a very di�cult topic, the question ofhow successful teachers see themselves in professional terms is also very important. Because, aftermaking this evaluation, a teacher is expected to make an effort to improve themself and ensure thecontinuity of their professional development. It has been observed that the majority of participatingteachers consider themselves professionally successful in terms of job motivation. Teachers evaluatesuccess mostly with verbal feedback from students and their parents. In the literature, many studies showthat teachers consider themselves professionally competent and have professional self-con�dence(Similar, 2011; Birer & Sonsel, 2013; Doğan, 2013; Kartal & Afacan, 2011; Kurtulmuş & Çiftçi, 2010). It isnoteworthy that few teachers who consider themselves unsuccessful are teachers in the expertise andcalm phase. This situation can be interpreted as teachers putting themselves in clearer professionalaccounting after working for a long time, unlike young teachers who still have much longer working yearsahead of them. One of the methods used to raise awareness about teachers’ professional success andincrease this success is teacher self-assessment. This evaluation process will enable them to bemotivated, increase their creativity, become re�ective-thinking teachers, become aware of theirde�ciencies, and strengthen themselves by looking for ways to overcome de�ciencies.

Certainly, the instructional alternatives of the teachers who strive to improve themselves have increasedconsiderably with the developing technology. Most of the teachers who participated in the study statedthat they looked for good examples to improve themselves professionally. It has been observed thatteachers prefer to use social media channels to reach good examples. There are many studies in theliterature that have reached similar �ndings (Karaman, 2010; Kilis, Christian & Gülbahar, 2014; Kocasaraç& Karataş, 2017; Özgenel, 2019; Tonbuloğlu & İşman, 2014). This situation shows how online educationplatforms such as EBA, which has been put into use by the Ministry of National Education, can play a key

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role in the education of students and the professional development of teachers. It can be said thatthrough the social media platforms that have a large place in students’ lives, teacher-studentcommunication will take on a slightly more informal structure than the formal structure. This situationwill lead to more comfortable communication apart from the school and educational processes byremoving the communication barrier between students and teachers.

In line with all these �ndings we have obtained in the research, it is obvious that the concept of self-understanding is closely related to the emotional context. Self-understanding requires people to becompassionate towards themselves in situations where they feel pain and failure. Studies in the literaturestate that there is a decrease in neurotic behaviours with the increase of self-understanding. Additionally,happiness, optimism, positive thinking, curiosity and discovery, compatibility, extroversion andconscientiousness, and positive psychological capital of individuals are positively affected by self-understanding ( Deniz, Cutter, & Sumer, 2008; Neff, 2003b; Neff, Rude & Kirkpatrick, 2007). As a result ofthe depersonalisation that occurs with emotional weariness, individuals lose their empathy skillsinvolving people and events. For this reason, for teachers to have a high level of self-understanding, �rstof all, their interest in the profession should increase, and they should develop a positive attitude.

However, in our research, it was seen that there was a lot of reluctance at this point. Nearly half of theparticipating teachers stated that their current position/situation seemed su�cient to them and that theyexpect to retire in this way. It is noteworthy that teachers in all phases, except for the career entry phase,do not put forward concrete expectations for the future. Still, it is interesting teachers in the career entryand calm phases plan an academic career. This situation can be interpreted as the decrease of teachers’enthusiasm who started their profession with great individual/academic hopes. Teachers think that theirexpectations about the profession are not met at the desired level, they have anxiety for the future, andthink that the teaching profession is not as respected compared to the past (Karamustafaoğlu & Özmen,2004; Yeşil, 2013).

Similarly, one in �ve teachers participating in our study stated that society’s negative attitudes towardsthe teaching profession caused frustration towards doing this profession. Although they are still young,the teachers had no hope for improvement on this issue. Considering the relationship between socialstatus, acceptance, and individual motivation, it is thought that the negative judgments about teaching insociety make individuals reluctant to choose this profession, and teachers who practice the professionare negatively affected by this situation when creating professional career plans. Therefore, it can beevaluated that the worn reputation of teaching, which is called the profession of a prophet, needs to berestored in the eyes of society, and it should be made more attractive economically. Finally, the researchwas conducted with teachers working in a big city. Conducting similar studies with teachers working inrural areas and comparing the �ndings will be important in terms of revealing whether the teachers’professional self-understanding differs in terms of the quality of the settlements where they work.

Declarations

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Acknowledgements

Not applicable.

Authors’ contributions

EY: Conceptualization, original draft, review and editing, context analysis

MÖ: Methodology, context analysis, conclusion and discussion

FB: Training in methodology, data collection, data curation, context analysis. 

All authors have read and approved the manuscript.

Funding

No funding was obtained for this study.

Availability of data and materials

The authors indeed provided all raw data on which the study is based. 

All data generated or analysed during this study are included in this published article [and itssupplementary information �les].

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Ethical approval was granted by Ethics Committee of the Istanbul Sabahattin Zaim University (Turkey).Registration number 2020/11. Written informed consent in Turkish was obtained from all participants. Allmethods were performed in accordance with the Declarations of Helsinki.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

There are no �nancial and non‐�nancial competing interests.

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Figures

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Figure 1

Relationship between Themes of Teachers Regarding Professional Self-Understanding

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