The Reform Logics of Teaching: How Institutionalized Conceptions of Teaching Shape Teacher Professional Identity

Teachers’ professional identities are the foundation of their practice. Previous scholarship has largely overlooked the extent to which the broader institutional environment shapes teachers’ professional identities. In this study, I bridge institutional logics with theory on teacher professional identity to empirically examine the deeply institutionalized, taken-for-granted ways American society has come to think of teaching (e.g., as a moral calling, as a profession, as labor) are internalized by K-12 teachers. I draw on survey data from 950 teachers across four US states (California, New York, Florida, and Texas), and develop an original survey measure to capture what I term teachers’ “institutionalized conceptions of teaching.” Across diverse state policy contexts, I find that teachers’ conceptions of teaching are guided by three underling logics: (1) an accountability logic, (2) a democratic logic, and (3) a moral calling logic. I then surface a typology of teacher professional and examine the relationship between these logics and teachers’ professional identities. I find that the taken-for-granted ways society frames teaching may be associated with dimensions of teachers’ professional identity, such as self-efficacy and professional commitment. Together, the findings suggest that supporting the professional well-being of K-12 teaching may demand shifting the deeply institutionalized norms of the profession to be more aligned with teachers’ democratic and moral aims—rather than our system's deep norms around external accountability. The study offers methodological contributions to the study of logics, as well as practical implications for the field of teaching.