[[alternative]]A narrative inquiry to teacher's identity from a lifelong learning perspective

[[abstract]]A narrative inquiry to teacher’s identity from a lifelong learning perspective Wu, Shen Shen Abstract Teacher’s professional identity is the teacher’s conception of herself as a teacher. The teaching self plays an important part in the way this teacher perceives specific job situations, gives meaning to her. What happens to teachers’ professional identity in the globalizing risk society and what can a researcher learn from what is uncovered about teachers’ construct of their professional identity? To answer these questions, a narrative inquiry was conducted by making intensive interviews with four primary school teachers, listening to their life stories of being a teacher. Emphasis was put on the evolving selves and the reflexive learning processes in which identity was shaped, changed and reshaped. At the end of the data collection, case studies of each of the four primary school teachers were constructed and analyses were performed. Abundant data collected from the narratives described teachers’ selves as a teacher, showed what sources identity came from, and interpreted the developing and evolving of professional identity in a reflexive way of lifelong learning process. The inquiry also validated the relationship between personal and professional identity. Accordingly, this research argued that issues of teaching self and professional identity be legitimated in the discourses of educational area and educational reform. And the development of teaching self and the importance of reflexivity should be more focused in supporting teachers’ lifelong learning.