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‘Me, a teacher?!’ – Professional role identification and role activation of psychology PhD students

‘Me, a teacher?!’ – Professional role identification and role activation of psychology PhD students Developing professional identities as both researchers and teachers is core to doctoral students’ growth. Given the primacy of research for the university career, this study aimed at answering the following questions: how much do doctoral students identify with the teacher compared to the researcher role? Can the teacher role identity be purposely activated?Design/methodology/approachIn an experimental study with 167 psychology PhD students, trait role identification was measured using a questionnaire. Afterward, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions differing in the picture material (research vs teaching pictures vs a mixture of both) provided for creating a collage reflecting their roles. Subsequently, answers to open questions were coded and quantified as indicators of state role identity.FindingsAs a trait, doctoral students identified more strongly with their researcher role than with their teacher role. Teacher role identity as a state was successfully activated when doctoral students engaged with teaching pictures compared to the other conditions.Practical implicationsAs the researcher role seems to be the default setting for PhD students, activation of the teacher role has the potential to benefit work satisfaction of PhD students and the quality of their teaching.Originality/valueTaking both long- and short-term identification processes in PhD students into account is a promising new approach. Besides, quantitative data are added to the field of qualitative insights on PhD students’ professional roles. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education Emerald Publishing

‘Me, a teacher?!’ – Professional role identification and role activation of psychology PhD students

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References (47)

Publisher
Emerald Publishing
Copyright
© Emerald Publishing Limited
ISSN
2398-4686
DOI
10.1108/sgpe-03-2019-0031
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Developing professional identities as both researchers and teachers is core to doctoral students’ growth. Given the primacy of research for the university career, this study aimed at answering the following questions: how much do doctoral students identify with the teacher compared to the researcher role? Can the teacher role identity be purposely activated?Design/methodology/approachIn an experimental study with 167 psychology PhD students, trait role identification was measured using a questionnaire. Afterward, participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions differing in the picture material (research vs teaching pictures vs a mixture of both) provided for creating a collage reflecting their roles. Subsequently, answers to open questions were coded and quantified as indicators of state role identity.FindingsAs a trait, doctoral students identified more strongly with their researcher role than with their teacher role. Teacher role identity as a state was successfully activated when doctoral students engaged with teaching pictures compared to the other conditions.Practical implicationsAs the researcher role seems to be the default setting for PhD students, activation of the teacher role has the potential to benefit work satisfaction of PhD students and the quality of their teaching.Originality/valueTaking both long- and short-term identification processes in PhD students into account is a promising new approach. Besides, quantitative data are added to the field of qualitative insights on PhD students’ professional roles.

Journal

Studies in Graduate and Postdoctoral Education – Emerald Publishing

Published: Jun 25, 2019

Keywords: Doctoral students; Experiment; PhD; Professional identity; Teaching; Roles

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