Professional trajectories and identity positioning in technology education: A narrative analysis identifying four teacher profiles

Abstract Technology teachers often work under ambiguous institutional conditions, lacking subject-specific training and access to stable professional communities. While teacher identity has been widely studied as a factor in professional development and instructional agency, less attention has been paid to how technology teachers construct and shift identity positions over time and across contexts. This study explores the professional identity of Swedish compulsory school technology teachers using a qualitative design that combines narrative analysis on an individual level with identity profiling. The analysis is guided by a three-part conceptual model that frames identity as an evolving construct shaped by reflective narration, discursive positioning, and contextual adaptation, linking reflection, identity positioning, and professional trajectories as interrelated dimensions of teachers’ identity work. Based on interviews with ten teachers, four identity profiles were identified: the Evolving Practitioner, the Structured Planner, the Resourceful Improvisor, and the Struggling Defender. These profiles illustrate how teachers navigate subject status, material constraints, institutional expectations, and pedagogical agency, and how these factors are shaped and re-shaped across careers. Several teachers exhibit hybrid or transitional identities, highlighting the relational and dynamic nature of identity development. Findings suggest that identity-sensitive professional development must consider contextual variation and support teachers’ reflective agency, implying that uniform professional development models risk overlooking how teachers learn, adapt, and grow across career stages. By revealing patterned identity profiles and their associated conditions, this research provides actionable insights for designing professional development, policy, and future research in technology education and related STEM fields.