Role Identity and Professional Identity: Educators' Experiences During Wartime

ABSTRACT The study explores role identity and professional identity of educators as manifested in a crisis zone of war. The concept of identity is debated with researchers and theorists challenging the notion of a fixed, unchanging identity. Instead, identity is seen as fluid, constantly being formed and transformed. It is argued that role identities of educational leaders at times of crisis are different from those generally required at ‘normal’ times. It requires educators to possess crisis management skills to enable them to assess the situation accurately and make effective decisions. The relationship between role identity and professional identity is dialectical. War circumstances simultaneously destabilise teachers' role identity and professional identity. Role identity is disrupted as teachers assume shifting responsibilities beyond their original role definitions, while professional identity is undermined by tensions with these new roles and by the disruption of professional values, pedagogical purpose, and the community‐social‐national context of teaching. The study is part of a comprehensive voluntary project conducted at the crisis region of the Israel October 7, 2023 War. It employs a qualitative approach of interviewing 20 educators working at the crisis regions. The study yielded a conceptual framework of a ‘short‐term professional identity’, which encompasses the attributes and qualities that manifest from three different role identities. We contend that these attributes could serve as foundations for enhancing educators' training and leadership initiatives, to overcome challenges during wartime barriers rather than being constrained by them.