Navigating Towards an Understanding of My Complex Professional Identity in a Spanish Context

Abstract

Joseph Xhuxhi*

This reflective essay examines the evolving notion of teacher professionalism against the backdrop of neoliberal educational reforms, using the author's personal experiences in Spain as a lens. It integrates scholarly theories of professionalism, teacher identity, and agency with introspective analysis of critical incidents in the author’s career. The narrative highlights how neoliberal policies, characterised by standardisation, accountability, and market-driven approaches, have challenged traditional conceptions of teaching as a profession, often eroding teacher autonomy and moral authority. Through dialogues with students, observations of colleagues, and the author's own journey navigating multiple roles, school teacher, teacher educator, and researcher, this manuscript illustrates how professional identity is continually negotiated and reshaped. A key argument is that true teacher professionalism emerges when educators achieve agency, the capacity to critically interpret and respond to policy in the best interests of their students. The essay concludes by proposing a reorientation towards virtue-based education and teacher empowerment as means to reclaim the core values of teaching and revitalise professionalism in the field.

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