Educational Partnerships in Developing Professional Identity

Teaching professional literacy is a difficult endeavor, yet it is extremely important that educators are equipped with the required knowledge, skills, and attributes necessary to be engaged and responsible members of the profession. This chapter addresses the combined efforts of a university faculty of education working in concert with a provincial teacher union and school boards to assist pre-service teacher candidates in developing their own sense of professional identity. It will be demonstrated that this partnership assisted students in conceptualizing a professional identity by solidifying their understanding of ethical, legal, and organizational issues commonly associated with the teaching profession.