A systematic review of school teachers’ professional identity tensions - types and coping strategies

Aug 28, 2026

Uploaded by Maeve

Teachers’ professional identity tension (PIT) captures teachers’ struggles in relation to professional identity across personal and professional self, external role expectations, and relational ideologies. Using the PRISMA 2020 approach, the study synthesizes types and coping strategies reported in 65 English-language articles from 2005–2025. Findings identify three tension categories—identity transition, ideologies, and multiple roles—along with coping strategies including self-solutions, interpersonal negotiation, support seeking, and self-authenticity preservation.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages24

Reading Time1 h 0 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Conceptualising teacher professional identity and PIT

Method

PRISMA 2020-based review design

Findings

Types of professional identity tensions

Coping strategies and subtypes

Discussion

European Journal of Teacher Education ISSN: 0261-9768 (Print) 1469-5928 (Online) Journal [homepage: ](homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/cete20)[www.tandfonline.com/journals/cete20](homepage: www.tandfonline.com/journals/cete20) A systematic review of school teachers’professional identity tensions: types and coping strategies Zhijie Zhang , Na Zhou & Yujin Mu To cite this article: Zhijie Zhang , Na Zhou & Yujin Mu (30 Jun 2026): A systematic review of school teachers’ professional identity tensions: types and coping strategies, European Journal of Teacher Education, DOI: 10. 1080/02619768 .2026.2693698 To link to this article: [https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2026.2693698](https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2026.2693698) View supplementary material | Published online: 30 Jun 2026. | | | --- | --- | | | Submit your article to this journal | | | Article views: 122 | | | View related articles | | View Crossmark data | | Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at [https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cete20](https://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=cete20) A systematic review of school teachers’ professional identity tensions: types and coping strategies Zhijie Zhanga, Na Zhoub and Yujin Mua aCDIBB Institute of Vocational and Technical Education, Tongji University, Shanghai, China; bSchool of Marxism, China University of Mining and Technology, Xuzhou, China ABSTRACT Teachers’ professional identity tension (PIT) is a concept that describes teachers’ struggles related to their professional identity in terms of their personal and professional self, external role expectations, and relational ideologies. This study follows the PRISMA 2020 statement to synthesise the types and coping strategies of primary and secondary school teachers’ PIT, based on an analysis of 65 selected English-language articles published from 2005 to 2025. The results indicate that teachers were confronted with three main categories of professional identity tensions: tensions of identity transition, tensions of ideologies, and tensions of multiple roles. Teachers’ coping strategies include self-solutions, interpersonal negotiation, support seeking, and self-authenticity preservation. Self-solutions can be further classified as constructive or non-constructive strategies. Constructive strategies, including metacognition, psychological regulation, cognitive and practical adjustments, and agency enactment, can help teachers reconcile these tensionsand form their teacher identity. ARTICLE HISTORY Received 13 March 2025 Accepted 11 June 2026 KEYWORDS Teacher; professional identity tension; systematic review Introduction Teacher professional identity refers to an ongoing process by which teachers understand themselves as teachers within multiple educational contexts and interpersonal relationships (Beijaard, Meijer, and Verloop 2004; Gümüşok 2021) . Early research before the 21st century frequently used the term ‘role’ to present this concept, which focuses on what they’re expected to do from a structural functional perspective (Lynch 2007) . Later, as scholars began to emphasise teachers’‘psychological processes’ from a more individualoriented perspective, teacher professional identity was then conceptualised as an ongoing process of integrating the personal and professional self (Beijaard, Meijer, and Verloop 2004) . More recent studies, however, have increasingly shifted towards a sociocultural perspective, conceptualising teacher professional identity as socially situated and relationally constructed across multiple contexts and interactions, which further highlights the socially embedded and dynamic nature of teacher professional identity (Gümüşok 2021) . CONTACT Na Zhou [zhoun@tongji.edu.cn](zhoun@tongji.edu.cn) School of Marxism, China University of Mining and Technology, Daxue Road 1, Xuzhou 221116, China Supplemental data for this articl

FAQs

What does teachers’ professional identity tension (PIT) refer to?

PIT describes teachers’ struggles related to professional identity, involving emotional discomfort, internal challenges, external role expectations, and relational ideologies.

How did the systematic review synthesize the evidence?

The review follows the PRISMA 2020 statement and synthesizes types and coping strategies from 65 selected English-language articles published between 2005 and 2025.

What main categories of PIT were identified in the results?

The review reports three main categories: tensions of identity transition, tensions of ideologies, and tensions of multiple roles.

Aug 28, 2026

Uploaded by Maeve