The Development of Professional Identities in Czech Schools: Headteachers' Perceptions and Practices

The formation and development of professional identity is a complicated and sophisticated process. It evolves negotiation with professional knowledge, context, various identities and so on. This article presents research undertaken with headteachers in primary and lower secondary schools of the Czech Republic and explores headteachers' perceptions and practices in relation to their professional identity development. It provides an insight into how headteachers engage in shaping their professional identity. It considers various roles and identities reflected upon their professional life and also explores responsibilities and qualities related to their leadership. The researcher adopted a qualitative paradigm and collected data through a semi-structured interview. 5 headteachers were selected in Olomouc region of the Czech Republic. Grounded theory was applied to analyse the qualitative data, and to develop theories that can further interpret the reality of the developing professional identity in selected schools. Based on the collected data, the researcher summarized the main images of professional identity development from headteachers' viewpoint and their main concerns. The relationship between the concept of professional identity, the context influence and quality of leadership was revealed as well. This article suggests that although there are various identities and characteristics revealing the quality of leadership, the vital role of professional identity is beyond question. Headteachers need to develop a new understanding of their roles and responsibilities, to shape various identities, and to undertake daily practices that are conducive to the developing of professional identities. Besides, it concludes that the context influence which constrains or facilitate ways of developing headteachers' professional identity, so impacting on the quality of leadership should be acknowledged.