The Impact of Teacher Identity on Curriculum Design

The iterative process of identity building that educators experience in the broader expanse of their lives directly impacts their pedagogical decisions and preferences. In addition, educators\u27 relationship to place can be a significant factor in curriculum design in how they make connections between the classroom and the spaces their lives inhabit. A review of the literature looks at limits to the current educational system, transformative practices being implemented, as well as how natural and human systems function in an educational context. Qualitative research was conducted using phenomenological interviews to better understand the multiple factors that influence teacher identity. Teacher identities extend beyond the role they play in the classroom to encompass the larger breadth of their lives, and include such influences as prior careers, motherhood, mentors, and the places they have inhabited. The concept of a school being an example of a human system is explored. Findings include the existence of intersectional identities, influence of place, both as location and in relation to others, on identity formation, and the significance of human systems towards sustainable educational reform

Impact of Teacher Identity on Curriculum Design

Educators experience an iterative process of identity building that directly impacts the decisions they make about curriculum design because formative and ongoing experiences provide motivation to make specific decisions. Educators\u27 relationship to place can be a significant factor in curriculum design because a teacher\u27s passion for a place has a direct influence on how they approach topics about that place in the classroom. If they themselves are passionate about a place it can influence how they approach topics related to that place in the classroom. This understanding and connection to a place can change over time, and this itself is an important process to teach students. The significance of a physical place for education became clear in the COVID era and caused educators to deeply reflect on their own identity as a teacher as they worked outside of the traditional school system. By removing education from a physical place, and the teacher from a physical proximity to student, both sense of place and sense of self came into question as the systems were disrupted. Teachers also are formed by the influence of the place they are raised in, which establishes lasting identities and beliefs that influence curriculum decisions later in life