Identity Theory, Teacher Education, and Diversity

Within the philosophy of mind, identity theory refers to the thesis that mental events experienced by humans are identical to neurochemical events in the brain. That is different from how identity is typically used in education; this entry limits itself to identity theory as connected to the social sciences and social practice theories.

What is the “self” ? How are boundaries between nature and nurture, person and context, individuals and their experiences (or between mind/body, self/other, I/we) drawn? Identity studies—a term for the collection of various disciplinary inquiries into human identity development—seeks to answer such questions. Identity studies examine how a “self” continually develops inside various social contexts.

Applying identity studies to teachers and teacher development specifically, teacher identity is a conceptual tool used in both the ...

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