Teacher’s professional identity as a psychological mechanism for aligning the self with the world

The article addresses the phenomenon of personal identity as a highly functional psychological mechanism for aligning the self with the world, which operates on the principles of relational interaction, understood as a permanent exchange and continuous feedback loops between the individual and the world. The essence of this interaction is analyzed as the individual’s projection of communication requests onto the world, which represent the features of their internal, individual-psychological world and a formed system of identities, that is, a system of representations about the self, the world in its diversity, and ways of effective interaction with it. Attention is drawn to the fact that in response to these requests the world either fulfills them, leading the individual to conclude the correspondence of their representations and identities, or in some way conveys refusal, prompting the individual to adjust existing mechanisms of alignment. It is established that identity, as a mechanism of human interaction with various spheres of the world, is a dynamic psychological construct constantly shaped and refined under the influence of personal and situational factors. From this perspective professional identity of the teacher is considered, which acts as an integral indicator of their personal professional competence. It is noted that professional identity characterizes the teacher both as a representative of the pedagogical profession, with a distinct individual-psychological specificity, and as a subject of pedagogical activity thus giving this identity social meaning. Emphasis is placed on the function of the alignment mechanism between the self and the performed pedagogical activity, including evaluation of its success and satisfaction, which is fulfilled by professional identity. The article highlights that professional identity is a dynamic process realized through interactions between the teacher as a subject of professional engagement, possessing a unique inner world, other participants of pedagogical interaction, including administrators, colleagues and students, and the contextual conditions of professional practice. It is underlined that improvement of existing or formation of new professional identities constitutes a path toward self-development and self-actualization within the profession, whereas denial of this strategy leads to professional burnout, internal conflicts and neuroticism