Teacher identity today and tomorrow: A rich picture study exploring how health professionals who teach see themselves

INTRODUCTION: Faculty development initiatives designed to strengthen the teacher identity of health professionals engaged in patient care, research, and teaching are being increasingly reported in the literature. As the combination of these different roles remains a challenge, an alternative approach might be to support the development of synergistic or merged identities, in which each role is perceived valuable and can strengthen others. However, in-depth insight into what such identities look like is limited. In addition, as faculty development supports health professionals not only in their current teaching roles but also in their ongoing professional growth, questions can be asked about how health professionals envision their future identities - including the degree of synergy. Therefore, this study addresses the question: How do health professionals with teaching responsibilities conceptualise their current and future teacher identities in relation to their other professional identities? METHODS: Using Landscape of Practice and the Possible Selves theories as lenses, we performed a qualitative interpretative study with rich pictures and semi-structured interviews. The nineteen dialogues were analysed thematically. RESULTS: Findings highlighted that teacher identity depends on the teaching context as well as the ability to see the connections between one's different roles. Findings also reveal that the envisioned future identities tend to be similar to the current conceptualisation of identities - partly since contextual factors seem to hinder imagination of a different future situation. Additionally, the educational culture in participants' working contexts influences how they see themselves as teachers. DISCUSSION: These findings hold various implications for faculty development, as they foreground the importance of truly understanding the contexts in which health professionals operate.