Conclusion on Understanding Teacher Identity: A Tripartite Framework

This chapter concludes with a tripartite framework for understanding teacher identityTeacher identity, which encompasses identity-in-practice, discourse, and activity. The framework is used to examine how teachers in China engaged in identityIdentity construction under higher education reformHigher education reform. The cases demonstrated how teacher identitiesTeacher identity were shaped and transformed through engagement in communities of practiceCommunities of practice and activity systems, language use in reflective practice, and the broader sociocultural and historical context. The proposed framework represents a cyclical pattern involving practice, discourse, and activity that acts upon each participant's interplay between identity construction and individual agency. Language use reflects the enactment of teacher identity, while the institutional and interpersonal levels reveal how the teachers mobilized societal discourse and engaged in cross-boundary practices to resist marginalization. The analysis highlights the complexities of teacher identityTeacher identity construction and the influence of the higher education system and its embedded culture, norms, and rules.