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This paper investigates the prospects and difficulties of multi-professional teamwork in human services from a professional identity perspective. The purpose of this paper is to explore the mutual interplay between professional identity formation and team activities.

This is a process study of two cases of multi-professional teamwork in family care. Data were collected through in-depth interviews with team members and managers. The analysis follows a stepwise approach alternating between the individual and team levels.

In showing the mutual interplay between teamwork processes and individual identity formation, the study contributes knowledge on professional identity formation of mature professionals; in particular showing how unique individual identification processes have different consequences for multi-professional team activities. Further, alternative shapes of interplay between individual identity formation and team-level processes are identified.

Despite the fact that the sample is small and that collaboration intensity was relatively low, the paper succeeds in conceptualising the links between professional identity formation and multi-professional teamwork.

In managing multi-professional teams, team composition and the team’s early developments seem determining for whether the team will reach its collaborative intentions.

This paper is original in its exploration of the ongoing interplay between individual identity formation and multi-professional team endeavours. Further, the paper contributes knowledge on mature professionals’ identity formation, particularly concerning individual variation within and between professional groups.

The studies considered in this review of research on teachers’ professional identity until 2004 can be divided into three categories: (a) studies in which the focus was on teachers’ professional identity formation; (b) studies in which the focus was on the identification of characteristics of teachers’ professional identity; and (c) studies in which professional identity was (re)presented by teachers’ stories. Four essential features of teachers’ professional identity could be derived from the studies. Many of the reviewed studies appeared to be studies on teachers’ personal practical knowledge. However, in only a few studies was the relationship between this knowledge and professional identity made explicit. It is argued that, in future research on teachers’ professional identity, more attention needs to be paid to the relationship between relevant concepts like “self” and “identity,” the role of the context in professional identity formation, what counts as “professional” in professional identity, and research perspectives other than the cognitive one that may also play a role in designing research on teachers’ professional identity.

Peer-to-peer (P2P) mentorship has been identified as an important component of professional identity formation in higher education (HE). This may be especially true for education-focused or teaching stream (TS) faculty to thrive in times of changing organizational structures and work environments. The purpose of this paper is to present a critical reflection on the experiences in a faculty P2P mentoring for teaching program and considers the ways in which such programs can influence professional identity formation among TS academics.

In this paper, a matched faculty mentorship pair from Nursing and Chemistry disciplines uses critical reflection as a process of inquiry to interpret their experiences of building and sustaining an effective mentoring relationship as part of the P2P program, and to consider implications for professional identity formation and the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Through the P2P program, the authors discovered that establishment of clear goals, a commitment to teaching and mentoring processes, and a mutual desire to build a relationship based on authenticity and reciprocity resulted in positive short- and long-term impacts on instructional practices. Professional identity was strengthened through intentional engagement and the opportunity to connect with like-minded peers, contributing to a renewed sense of confidence and commitment.

Interest in examining professional identity formation in HE has been growing over the past decade. This paper is novel in the critical reflection on a structured peer mentorship initiative through the lens of professional identity formation, with implications for planning and executing mentoring programs for TS faculty.

Professional Identity Formation is the dynamic evolution to “think, act and feel” to become part of a professional community. This document presents the development and the study that aimed to assess the usability of a m-Learning Identity App (MLIA) focused on the formation of professional identity among undergraduate medical students.

MLIA development included four phases: Conceptual, prototype, pilot and implementation, before further deployment. The conceptual model was designed by eight faculty members from three Latin American universities. The prototype was developed and tested with stakeholders. The pilot was performed during 5 weeks before the implementation. Cross-sectional data collected during implementation from 138 medical students who completed a survey to assess the usability of MLIA are presented. During deployment, 977 posts were made on Professional Identity Formation, and examples of these posts are presented.

The prototype and pilot phases demanded improvements. The survey explored (1) Familiarity, (2) Perceived ease of use, (3) Perceived usefulness for Professional Identity Formation, (4) Satisfaction, (5) Intention to reuse (6) Digital aesthetics and (7) Safety. Results from the usability assessment suggest that students perceived MLIA as a secure space with positive aesthetics and ease of use.

Important limitations of the present study include, firstly, that it does not provide information on the effectiveness of the MLIA in shaping professional identity in medical students, it focuses exclusively on its development (conceptual model, prototype, pilot and implementation) and usability. Secondly, the study design did not consider a control group and, therefore, does not provide information on how the App compares with other strategies addressing self-reflection and sharing of meaningful experiences related to professional identity.

MLIA introduces a different approach to education, simulating a secure, easy-to-use, social media with a friendly interface in a safe environment to share academic and motivational moments, transitioning from being to becoming a professional.

“Becoming” a doctor involves the acquisition of medical knowledge, skills and professional identity. Medical professional identity formation (MPIF) is complex, multi-factorial and closely linked to societal expectations, personal and social identity. Increasingly, doctors are required to engage in leadership/management involving significant identity shift. This paper aims to explore medical professional identity (MPI) and MPIF in relation to doctors as leaders. Selected identity theories are used to enrich the understanding of challenges facing doctors in leadership situations and two concepts are introduced: medical leader identity (MLI) and medical leader identity formation (MLIF) and consideration given to how they can be nurtured within medical practice.

A rapid conceptual review of relevant literature was carried out to identify a set of relevant concepts and theories that could be used to develop a new conceptual framework for MLI and MLIF.

MLIF is crucial for doctors to develop as medical leaders, and, like MPIF, the process begins before medical school with both identities influenced, shaped and challenged throughout doctors’ careers. Individuals require support in developing awareness that their identities are multiple, nested, interconnected and change over time.

This paper draws on concepts from wider literature on professional identity, in relation to how doctors might develop their MLI alongside their MPI. It offers a new perspective on MPI in the light of calls on doctors to “become and be healthcare leaders” and introduces the new concepts of MLI and MLIF.

Despite the breadth of knowledge on self and identity formation across the study of organizations, the field of organizational development and change has limited research on the construction of professional identity. Much has been written to describe the “self-concepts” of those practicing and researching in the field, but there have been no investigations that have explored how these “self-concepts” form. In addition, although women have contributed to defining the “self” in the field, men have held the dominant perspective on the subject. Thus, in this chapter, we address a disparity in the research by exploring the construction of professional identity in the field of organizational development and change, and we give voice to the renowned women who helped to build the field. Using the profiles of 17 American women included in The Palgrave Handbook of Organizational Change Thinkers, we perform a narrative analysis based upon the concepts and models prevalent in the literature on identity formation. By disentangling professional identity formation of the notable women in the field, we can begin to see the nuance and particularities involved in its construction and gain deeper understandings about effective ways to prepare individuals to work in and advance the field.

The purpose of this paper is to review literature on librarian professional identity to develop a more integrated understanding of this topic.

Literature was retrieved and analysed with no date or geographic limit from nine databases on the subject of librarian professional identity. A combination of keywords and database specific controlled language was utilized to increase retrieval, as well as inspection of reference lists. Exclusion criteria were applied.

The review found 14 characteristics or themes relevant to librarian professional identity formation and development, understood as process over time. This process is in part defined by benchmark events, such as critical incidents, as well as highly personal aspects, such as perception of these incidents. This review also introduces an original conceptual model of librarian professional identity formation and development.

A limitation of this review was that only English-language literature was considered. A further limitation is the omission of works that have not been formally published. Additionally, the model introduced is untested.

By reviewing librarian professional identity literature, this paper offers an integrated understanding of this topic and introduces a new, original model to understand the process of librarian professional identity and development. It further offers an examination based on a sociological lens to examine this identity.

To explore how student teachers (re)construct their professional identities, this chapter contextualizes two student teachers’ practicum experiences in China. The overarching question is how the student teachers (re)construct their professional identities in the practicums, especially where their teacher knowledge and subject matter knowledge meet. By analyzing a flexible matrix of paired stories, the research highlights the collective influences of the multiple instructional contexts: nation-wide Free Teacher Education program policy, recent national curriculum reform in China, and the characteristics of the placement schools. The chapter finds that the student teachers’ professional identities are dynamic and evolving on the professional knowledge landscape. The (re)construction of professional identities involves developing practical knowledge and metaphors by negotiating the tensions the student teachers encountered in the practicums. Meanwhile, the student teachers experienced reflective turns (Schön, 1991) in the practicums, which caused the tension between teacher knowledge and subject matter knowledge and contributed to the formation of their professional identities.

The purpose of this paper is to explore if and how a professional identity can be formed in the wake of the foundation of a new public service. In the article, the authors focus on how different forces, regulative and emergent, interact and contribute to a development of a coherent understanding of a professional identity in a decentralised service. The case of local authority energy and climate consultancy is an illustrative example of a nascent service occupation in Sweden where the individuals holding the job title are geographically dispersed.

This paper has a qualitative approach and relies on three different data sources: participatory observations, written documents, and in‐depth interviews with energy and climate advisers working in a particular region in Sweden. The study covers the years 2005 to 2010.

The findings suggest that identity formation among geographically dispersed individuals in a nascent service occupation is possible. The development of collective understanding of the professional identity is influenced both by regulative and emergent forces, which interact.

This paper is limited to one particular service occupation in Sweden, from which generalisations are limited.

The findings may serve as useful input for management in order to understand facilitation of identity building among professionals in decentralised functions.

The value of this study lies in the comprehensive approach to how different pertinent forces interact with each other in order for a cohesive understanding of a work‐related identity to develop in newly‐established service occupations.

The paper aims to show how professional identity is constructed at a very early stage of initial management education. In so doing, it questions the notion of le métier in management.

The paper is based on a study of the experiences of six French management apprentices (or apprentis) who participated in a management apprentice programme in 2005. The research methodology is qualitative and illuminates the process of professional identity building. The central question of the study concerns the manager as an individual, an actor, and the link between the individual and his or her métier.

The findings suggest that from their very first immersion into the real world of corporate employment at junior management level, students construct different types of professional identity which can be shown as a 2×2 matrix whose independent axes are the type of acting displayed by the apprentis; and the degree to which the apprentis enacted their roles. This can be interpreted using the coupling system metaphor. Some of these types of professional identity are born of cynicism and disillusion engendered by their experiences.

The research is based on a small number of students drawn from one business school and concentrated in one job function – marketing.

The paper draws attention to the implications of the findings for those in business schools and organisations concerned with the formation of professional identity in young graduates.

The article proposes a new model for the formation of professional identity; and is the first study that deals with the French Apprenti manager programme.