Draw yourself as a teacher: Exploring teacher identity and beliefs among teacher education students

Exploring teachers’ identity and beliefs is important to explore because they impact classroom practices and teacher behaviors. Drawing-based research can be an innovative way to capture teachers' deeply seated beliefs and conceptions. The purpose of the study is to investigate how students in teacher education programs create a visual image of themselves as teachers and discuss their perceptions of teaching using a drawing-based research method. Research questions are (1) How do students graphically present themselves as a teacher? and (2) How do students describe the image of their ideal classroom? The participants were 10 students in university teacher education programs across various areas of teaching focuses. Data sources included a drawing task and a focus group interview where participants discussed their drawings. The findings revealed that teacher education students in the study want to create positive and welcoming classrooms by smiling at students and displaying motivating quotes and colorful displays. Also, they discussed the importance of supporting inclusivity and diversity in their classroom. Participants tended to draw themselves wearing their favorite attire indicating they bring their personality into their practice. Additionally, more experienced participants drew student-centered classrooms, while less experienced participants drew teacher-centered classrooms where students were seated in rows or in desks. This study highlighted that drawings can be utilized as a powerful reflective tool to examine teacher education students’ deeply seated beliefs and thus help them become more self-aware of how their beliefs can be translated into teaching.