An exploratory study on the relationship between teacher education graduates professional identity and their views of teacher education.

1. Introduction During the past decade(s), the roles and responsibilities of teachers have broadened (OECD, 2005). This redefinition of teachers functions and tasks has produced designs for professional profiles describing the essential qualities required by teachers renewed and extended roles (Van Huizen, Van Oers, & Wubbels, 2005). These professional profiles serve as broad frames for designing and revising teacher education curricula. However, these clear and concise statements of what teachers are expected to know and be able to do, reflect only one part of the teacher education context in which future teachers are prepared for the teaching profession. After all, (student) teachers do not simply adopt professional standards or competencies exactly as they are described or prescribed in terms of knowledge, skills, and attitudes. They will differ in how they deal with these expectations depending on the value they personally attach to them (Beijaard, Meijer, & Verloop, 2004). In line with this, Korthagens (2004) onion-model indicates that preparing future teachers for the teaching profession should not only focus on changing behaviour, competencies or beliefs, but also take into account future teachers identity and their mission as a teacher on a more profound level. In the past decade, teachers professional identity has emerged as an important evolving research area. Beijaard et al. (2004) indicated that the concept of professional identity is used in different ways in the domain of teaching and teacher education. As in the work of e.g. Knowles (1992) and Nias (1989a), in our study the concept of student teachers professional identity is related to their concepts or images of self. Hence, we posit that these concepts or images of self strongly determine student teachers thoughts about education and teaching, their professional development as teachers, and their attitudes towards teacher education. Meaningful is Nias statement that [teachers] self image is more important to them as practitioners than is the case in occupations where the person can easily be separated from the craft (Nias, 1989b, p. 203). Furthermore, she argued that not all teachers incorporate an occupational identity into their self-image; those who do not, either leave the profession or lose interest in it (Nias, 1989b, p.3). Also pre-service teachers appear to be intensely concerned with their professional image of self as teacher (Kagan, 1992). From their recent literature review on teacher identity, Beijaard et al. (2004) concluded that professional identity is an ongoing process of interpretation and re-interpretation, that it implies both person and context, that it is not unitary but consists of sub-identities and that it results from construction processes teachers use to make sense of themselves as teachers. Through experiences in diverse contexts (family, school, leisure time,...) and with significant persons, candidate teachers develop an own identity as a teachers. This identity functions as an interpretative lens trough which they perceive the curriculum of teacher training and their classroom placements and give meaning to their experiences in teacher education (Bullough, 1997a; Knowles, 1992; Wideen, Mayer-Smith & Moon, 1998). From this perspective, Bullough (1997b, p. 21) wrote that Teacher identitywhat beginning teachers believe about teaching and learning as self-as-teacher is of vital concern to teacher education; it is the basis for meaning making and decision making. (...) Teacher education must begin, then, by exploring the teaching self.

For those concerned with teacher education, it is therefore important to get insight into the way teacher education can contribute to teachers professional identity formation. A study of Darling-Hammond, Chung, and Frelow (2002) suggest that teachers who were prepared in teacher education programmes felt significantly better prepared across most dimensions of teaching than those who entered teaching through alternative certification programmes or without preparation. In addition, teachers views of their preparation varied across individual programmes. In their review Wideen et al. (1998) conclude that successful teacher education programmes not merely change but build upon student teachers beliefs making use of systematic and consistent support of teacher educators during institutional meetings as well as of cooperating teachers during teaching practice periods. Based on their longitudinal study on the development of teaching competence, Brouwer and Korthagen (2005) conclude that teacher education can make a difference in regard to the kind of teaching competence graduates develop. In line with the findings of Wideen et al. (1998), Brouwer and Korthagen (2005) plead for teacher education programs characterized by the integration of practical experiences and theoretical study. Research like this indicates that although student teachers professional identity formation is a quite personal and interactive undertaken, teacher education programmes can make a difference. This study concentrates on understanding teacher education graduates perceptions of aspects of their professional identity and on the relationship of these perceptions with graduates views of their teacher education programme. As Beijaard et al. (2004) have pointed out, the process and ever changing nature of professional identity implies that characteristics of professional identity can only be described at a general and abstract level. Views on professional identity are products of a certain time. Therefore, referring to Tickle (2000), Beijaard et al. (2004) have suggested to use the term professional characteristics as indicators of professional identity. The central aim of the present study is to gain insight into the differentiation of newly qualified teachers professional characteristics, i.e. how they perceive their capabilities as a teacher, their professional orientation and their attitude towards the teaching profession. More specific, we explore teacher education graduates feelings of self-efficacy, professional orientation and commitment to teaching. These professional characteristics are in this research - considered as representations of their professional identity at the time of graduation. Moreover, we examine if these aspects of teacher education graduates professional identity are related to their view of their teacher education, i.e. their perception of faculty support, mentor support, and preparation for teaching. We confined this study to teacher education graduates qualified for teaching in the first grade of secondary education. This exploratory study addresses the following questions: (1) can different profiles of newly qualified secondary education teachers be distinguished based on their feelings of selfefficacy, professional orientation and commitment to teaching as indicators of their professional identity?; (2) How are these profiles of newly qualified teachers professional identity related to their view of their teacher education programme in terms of faculty support, mentor support, and preparation for teaching? Answers to these questions may contribute to the understanding of newly qualified teachers professional self-image and the role teacher education plays in the way this self-image comes into being. In the long run, studies like this may also lead to insight into teacher education related factors that can influence newly qualified teachers perceptions about their professional identity.

1.1. Indicators of teacher education graduates professional identity In this study, three main indicators of newly qualified teachers professional identity are distinguished: teacher efficacy, professional orientation, and commitment to teaching. In educational literature (e.g., see Tschannen-Moran, Woolfolk Hoy & Hoy, 1998) there has been growing attention for the concept of self-efficacy. Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy (2001) defined a teachers efficacy belief as a judgment of his or her capabilities to bring about desired outcomes of student engagement and learning, even among those students who may be difficult or unmotivated (p. 783). Teacher efficacy has been related to teachers perception of the relevance of their teacher preparation (Darling-Hammond et al., 2002). Additionally, Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy (2001) referred to several studies that indicated teacher efficacy to have a positive impact on enthusiasm for teaching, commitment to teaching and retention in teaching. Another facet of teacher education graduates professional identity in this study referred to their professional orientation. Hoyle (1980) distinguished between restricted professionals and extended professionals. Restricted professional orientation has its focus in the classroom. These teachers are mainly concerned with teaching methods, their own didactic behaviours, and subject matter. The extended professionals however are concerned with professional collaboration and locate their classroom teaching in a broader educational context. They also aim at functioning as members of a school team. In Flanders the educational government has chosen to devise professional profiles and basic competencies that refer to an extended view of professionalism (Devos & Vanderheyden, 2002). A third important indicator of graduates professional identity refers to their commitment to teaching. Inspired on Coladarci (1992), teaching commitment was defined as a teacher education graduates degree of psychological attachment to the teaching profession. 1.2. Teacher education graduates view of their teacher education programme An important characteristic of teacher education, is graduates perception of the adequacy of the support received from the faculty in their teacher education program (another widely used term is supervision). These perceptions include faculty behaviours that students find helpful and the adequacy of the support received (Shelton, 2003). Furthermore, pre-service teachers usually maintain that teaching practice is the most important element of teacher preparation because it provides them with opportunities for actual teaching in real learning situations (e.g. Franke & Dahlgren, 1996; Zanting, Verloop, Vermunt & Van Driel, 1998). To facilitate learning during these field experiences, student teachers are supervised by mentor teachers. Based on Zanting et al. (1998), mentoring in this paper refers to the mentor teachers activities and attitudes aimed at assisting student teachers to learn how to teach. Recent studies (e.g. Darling-Hammond, Chung & Frelow, 2002; LaTurner, 2002) have indicated differences in the extent to which teacher education graduates feel their teacher education programme has prepared them for the teaching profession. Therefore, the variable preparedness for teaching was included in this study. 2. Method 2.1. Sample This research was conducted among the graduates of three teacher education institutes affiliated to the Ghent University Association in Flanders (Belgium). For this paper the study

has been restricted to the graduates of one types of initial teacher training (N = 424): teacher training for lower secondary education. Generally graduates from teacher training for lower secondary education in Flanders are qualified for teaching in the first (pupils age 12-14) and the second (pupils age 14-16) stage in all education forms of secondary education as well as for the third (pupils age 16-18) and fourth (pupils age 18-21) stage in the vocational secondary education. About two months after graduation a questionnaire was sent to 424 teacher education graduates with 130 graduates completing the questionnaire for a response rate of 31%. 23% (n = 30) of the subjects in our sample are male and 77% (n = 100) are female. 2.2. Measures The respondents were asked about their perceptions of their professional identity at the moment of graduation and their views about their teacher education. Therefore, a questionnaire, mostly based on (translation of) existing scales, was constructed. A number of new scales were developed using the Likert scaling technique. To ensure content validity, items were operational elaborations of variables considered important in existing literature and research. Confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) were conducted to investigate the factor structure of each instrument 1 . Different criteria were used to evaluate and readjust the models. Special attention was paid to cross-loading of items on multiple component factors, the regression coefficient of each item, and the consistency of data with the theoretical framework. For several instruments, items were deleted as a result of this process. Both absolute and relative fit indices were considered in order to find an optimal model fit: the test, the Non-Normed Fit Index (NNFI), the Adjusted Goodness of Fit Index (AGFI), the Comparative Fit Index (CFI), and the Root-Mean-Square Error of Approximation (RMSEA). Three variables referring to aspects of graduates professional identity were included: their teacher-efficacy, professional orientation and commitment to teaching at the moment of graduation. Teacher efficacy was measured by a Dutch translation of the short version (12 items) of the Teachers Sense of Efficacy Scale (Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy, 2001). It assesses a broad range of capabilities (across context, levels, and subjects) that teachers consider important in good teaching. Based on the results of the CFA one item was omitted, consequently the final scale contains 11 items. The scale encompasses efficacy in student engagement (3 items; = 0.67), efficacy in instructional strategies (4 items; = 0.65), and efficacy in classroom management (4 items; = 0.83). Professional orientation of the graduates was measured using the Dutch 13-item scale developed by Jongmans and Beijaard (1997). This scale is based on Hoyles (1980) characterisation of teachers with restricted versus extended professional orientation. In our study, we focussed on respondents professional orientation at the moment of graduation. Respondents were asked to indicate on a 4-point scale to what extent they agreed then with
1

This paper only presents a part of the results of a study on the relationship between initial teacher education and the decision of teacher education graduates whether or not to enter into the teaching profession. For this paper the focus is limited to one type of teacher education (N = 130). However, in the broader study, graduates of other types of teacher training in Flanders were surveyed as well. The scale construction based on the confirmatory factor analyses are conducted on the data of the total sample (N = 762).

the 13 statements. Based on the CFA, 3 items were removed. The higher the score on the scale ( = .85), the more extended the professional orientation Commitment to teaching. In accordance with the study of Van Huizen (2000) we used a Dutch 10-item scale to measure respondents commitment to teaching as an occupation. Respondents were asked to indicate on a 6-point scale to what extent they agreed with each of the 10 statements. Four items were omitted in the process of the CFA. Subsequently, the final scale contains 6 items and has a sufficiently high internal consistency ( = .72). Regarding the variables which refer to teacher education, three constructs were included: of faculty support, mentor support, and preparation for teaching. Faculty support. Graduates perception of the adequacy of the support received from the faculty in their teacher education programme was measured by a Dutch translation of the Perceived Faculty Support Scale (Shelton, 2003). The final scale after deletion of some items based on the results of the CFA contains 16 items. In line with the results of Shelton (2003), two highly correlated factors were distinguished. A first component, psychological faculty support (8 items), is a measure for the support directed at promoting a sense of competency and self-worth ( = .91). A second component was labelled functional faculty support (8 items) and refers to support directed at the achievement of tasks to reach the goals of academic success ( = .84). Mentor support. Based on the work of Zanting, Verloop & Vermunt (2001) and Visnen (2003), a perceived mentor support scale has been developed for this survey. Respondents were asked to indicate on a 5-point scale (ranging from 1 = not at all, to 5 = a lot) how well different roles and tasks were reflected by their mentors during teaching practice. Although Zanting et al. (2001) theoretically identified six mentor roles, based on CFA we identified only four sub-factors in our study. This suggests a considerable overlap between several mentor roles. In our study, we distinguished between mentor as coach/evaluator (4 items, = .84), mentor as stimulator of self-reflection and self-regulated learning (7 items, = .87), mentor as information source (3 items; = .80), and mentor as someone who introduces a student teacher to school life (4 items, = .83). Preparedness for teaching. In Flanders, the guiding principle is that curricula of teacher training institutes have to pursue the development of the basic competencies (initial competencies of graduates) as set out by the government. These competencies are grounded in extensive scholarly research (Aelterman, 1995) and are described from a number of responsibility clusters which are specified more detailed in what is referred to as functional units. In order to measure respondents perception of preparedness for teaching, a scale was constructed based on the basic competencies common for all types of teachers. Respondents were asked to indicate the degree to which they felt teacher education had prepared them to perform a set of tasks central to teaching. The 20 items were scored on a scale ranging from 1 (not at all prepared) to 5 (very well prepared). Based on the results of the CFA, five items were omitted. In accordance with the theoretical classification of basic competencies (Aelterman, 1995), to factors were distinguished. A first component (10 items) represents the teacher education preparation for responsibility towards the learners ( = .89). It assesses graduates perception of the extent to which teacher education has prepared them to act as coaches of learning and developmental processes, as educators, as content experts, as organizers, and as innovator-researchers. A second component (5 items) was labelled teacher education preparation for responsibility towards the educational community and society ( = .81). It measures the extent to which graduates estimated teacher education having prepared them to act as partners of parents, as members of a school team, as partners of externals, as members of the educational community, and as participants in culture.

2.3. Analysis For the first research question concerning the different profiles of newly qualified secondary education teachers professional identity, a cluster analysis was undertaken to identify graduates who differ in their feelings of self-efficacy, professional orientation and commitment to teaching. The purpose of cluster analysis is to classify a number of individuals into clusters so that individuals within a cluster are more similar to each other than those from other clusters (Aldenderfer & Blashfield, 1984). This classification of subjects into relatively homogeneous groups is based on multivariate similarity (Gore, 2000). For the second research question regarding the relationship of these profiles of professional identity to graduates view of their teacher education programme, a MANOVA was conducted. Specific cluster differences between the teacher education variables were studied by subsequent ANOVAs. When significant differences were found, Tukey post-hoc tests were computed to study specific contrasts between teacher education graduates profiles of professional identity. 3. Results 3.1 Profiles in teacher education graduates indicators of their professional identity The first analysis examined whether profiles of newly qualified teachers can be defined by classifying them on five measures: i.e. efficacy in student engagement, efficacy in instructional strategies, efficacy in classroom management, professional orientation, and commitment to the teaching profession. Cluster analysis on the standardized variables was conducted using a two-step procedure in order to end up with a stable and highly interpretable cluster solution (Gore, 2000). First, a hierarchical cluster analysis was carried out using Wards method on squared Euclidian distances. This method is a procedure for forming hierarchical groups of mutually exclusive subsets with members that are maximally similar with respect to specific characteristics. As such within-cluster differences are minimized (Hair, Anderson, Tatham, & Black, 1998). Following the recommendations of Gore (2000) an iterative k-means clustering procedure was used to form the final groups. A solution with three clusters was chosen to obtain maximum interpretable discrimination between the clusters. Consequently, based on their professional orientation, teacher efficacy and teaching commitment, three profiles of teacher education graduates professional identity were distinguished, consisting of respectively 46.2%, 24.6%, and 29.2% (n = 38) of the graduates. Table 1 presents the mean scores and standard deviations of the five classification measures of each cluster. Graduates in cluster 1 (n = 60) reflect a profile of moderately mean scores on all five classification measures. The second cluster (n = 32) shows a quite different pattern and is characterized by a relatively restricted professional orientation, rather low up to moderate levels of efficacy and a moderate mean score on commitment to teaching. Compared to the teacher education graduates in clusters 1 and 2, the means scores of the graduates in cluster 3 are clearly higher on all five indicators of their professional identity. Multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was used to test the differences in teacher education graduates professional identity types statistically. The professional identity profiles were entered as independent variables to compare the five classification measures (i.e. indicators of professional identity) in each cluster. Based on the Wilks lambda criterion, the multivariate test shows a significant cluster effect (F(10,246) = 33.354, p < .0001, partial eta squared = .576). Subsequent univariate ANOVAs revealed significant cluster differences for all five classification variables.

Table 1. Means and standard deviations of the classification measures per cluster Classification measure Efficacy in student engagement Efficacy in instructional strategies Efficacy in classroom management Professional orientation Commitment to teaching Cluster 1 (n = 60) 59.47 (11.74) 68.38 (9.77) 59.35 (13.62) 63.70 (9.80) 64.09 (14.46) Cluster 2 (n = 32) 56.31 (10.80) 48.47 (8.40) 55.60 (12.36) 51.53 (12.63) 61.92 (16.80) Cluster 3 (n = 38) 74.85 (9.35) 75.69 (9.65) 75.45 (12.40) 74.27 (12.65) 82.30 (12.20)

Note. All mean scale scores are within the interval (0, +100). Standard deviations are in parentheses.

3.2 Linking teacher education graduates profiles to their view of teacher education To investigate possible cluster differences in graduates view of their teacher education programme, a MANOVA was conducted. The scales measuring graduates view of their teacher education programme in terms of faculty support, mentor support, and preparation for teaching were entered as dependent variables and the cluster solution as the independent variable. Overall, the multivariate test showed statistically significant cluster differences (F(16, 240) = 3.411, p < .0001, partial eta squared = .185). Subsequent univariate ANOVAs revealed significant cluster differences for all teacher education variables (see Table 2). Moreover Table 2 shows the cluster means and standard deviations for each of the teacher education variables. It is apparent that teacher education graduates with a profile characterized by a relatively restricted professional orientation, rather low up to moderate levels of efficacy and a moderate mean score on commitment to teaching (cluster 2) are the least satisfied with their teacher education programme in terms of faculty support, mentor support and preparation for teaching.
Table 2. Means, standard deviations and results of the univariate ANOVAs for the teacher education variables. Cluster 1 Cluster 2 Cluster 3 Psychological faculty support 65.76 59.25 69.97 (15.99) (12.60) (14.06) Functional faculty support 59.40 53.78 65.90 (15.77) (11.56) (13.94) Mentor (coach/evaluator) 66.88 61.32 77.78 (18.30) (16.04) (12.54) Mentor (self-reflection/self-regulated learning) 52.31 49.93 65.77 (19.41) (14.88) (19.96) Mentor (introducing to school life) 47.80 43.07 57.70 (24.00) (21.17) (26.48) Mentor (information source) 49.89 40.88 58.51 (20.05) (16.80) (21.91) Preparedness for teaching (responsibilities 59.69 55.52 71.10 towards learners) (11.62) (12.83) (13.71) Preparedness for teaching (responsibilities 46.42 38.95 55.26 towards educational community and society) (17.41) (16.51) (18.49) F (2, 127) Eta 4.67* .07 6.30** 9.60*** 8.13*** 3.49* 6.08** 15.26*** 7.63** .09 .13 .11 .05 .09 .19 .11

Note. All mean scale scores are within the interval (0, +100). Standard deviations are in parentheses. * p < .05; ** p < .01; *** p < .001

Post hoc analyses (based upon Tukey HSD tests) were conducted to verify whether different graduates professional identity profiles are related to a different view on their teacher education programme. Significant differences are summarised in Table 3.
Table 3. Overview of significant difference between the clusters for each teacher education related variable. Teacher Education Psychological faculty support Functional faculty support Mentor (coach/evaluator) Mentor (self-reflection/self-regulated learning) Mentor (introducing to school life) Mentor (information source) Preparedness for teaching (responsibilities towards learners) Preparedness for teaching (responsibilities Multiple comparisons Clusters Mean difference 2-3 -10.72 2-3 -12.12 1-3 -10.89 2-3 -16.46 1-3 -13.47 2-3 -15.84 2-3 -14.64 2-3 -17.63 1-3 -11.41 2-3 -15.58 1-3 -8.84 2-3 -16.31 Standard error 3.52 3.43 3.37 3.90 3.85 4.46 5.78 5.06 2.60 3.01 3.63 4.20

p .008 .002 .004 <.001 .002 .002 .034 .002 <.001 <.001 .043 <.001

towards educational community and society)

The results highlight the significant difference between teacher education graduates in cluster 2 and cluster 3 for all teacher education related variables. It is clear that graduates who score highest on the indicators of professional identity (i.e. high levels of teacher efficacy, extended professional orientation, and commitment to teaching) look back more positively at their teacher education programme in terms of all components of faculty support, mentor support and preparation for teaching than graduates who report a relatively restricted professional orientation, rather low up to moderate levels of efficacy and a moderate commitment to teaching. The post hoc tests also revealed significant differences between cluster 1 and cluster 3. These differences indicate that graduates with high scores on all five indicators of professional identity perceive stronger support from their mentor teachers in terms of the roles mentor as coach/evaluator and mentor as stimulator of self-reflection/self-regulated learning than graduates with moderately scores on the indicators of professional identity. Furthermore, graduates in cluster 3 feel teacher education has better prepared them for teachers responsibilities towards the learners and towards the educational community and society. Finally, no significant differences were found between cluster 1 and cluster 2. Although the differences are not statistically significant, it is worth noting that the mean scores of graduates with moderately scores on all indicators of professional identity (i.e. cluster 1) were higher in comparison with graduates who report a more restricted professional orientation and lower levels of teacher efficacy (i.e. cluster 2) (see Table 2).

4. Discussion The central focus in the present study was on the professional identity formation of student teachers during teacher education resulting in graduates perceptions of their professional orientation, capabilities as a teacher, and attitude towards the teaching profession. More specific, we explored newly qualified secondary education teachers feelings of self-efficacy, professional orientation and teaching commitment at the moment of graduation. These professional characteristics are in this research - considered as representations of their professional identity at the time of graduation. Based on the review study of Beijaard et al (2004), professional identity is seen as ongoing process of interpretation and re-interpretation, that it implies both person and context, that it is not unitary but consists of sub-identities and that it results from construction processes teachers use to make sense of themselves as teachers. Consequently, views on professional identity are products of a certain time. The purpose of the present study was to explore whether different profiles of newly qualified secondary education teachers be distinguished based on their feelings of self-efficacy, professional orientation and commitment to teaching as indicators of their professional identity at the moment of graduation. The results of the cluster analysis indeed showed three different types of professional identity to exist among newly qualified secondary education teachers. The first and largest group of graduates is characterized by moderately levels of teacher efficacy, a moderately extended professional orientation, and a moderately commitment to teaching. Next to this group of newly qualified teachers with average scores on all indicators of professional identity, two more extreme profiles of graduates emerged in the analysis. As in cluster 1, the graduates in cluster 2 also indicate a moderately level of commitment to teaching. However, the graduates in cluster 2 report lower levels of teacher efficacy (in particular efficacy in instructional strategies) as well as a relatively restricted professional orientation. Finally, compared to the teacher education graduates in clusters 1 and 2, graduates in cluster 3 clearly show higher teacher efficacy, a more extended professional orientation as well as stronger commitment to teaching. The observed relationships between graduates teacher efficacy and professional orientation with their commitment to teaching suggest that a correspondence between self-rated teaching abilities and own professional orientation with the expectations in teacher education (as reflected in the view of professionalism presented in the basic competencies), confirms graduating teachers in their engagement for teaching. Additionally, Tschannen-Moran & Woolfolk Hoy (2001) referred to several studies that indicated teacher efficacy to have a positive impact on enthusiasm for teaching, commitment to teaching and retention in teaching. As suggested by Gore (2000), it is advisable to consider the cluster study as a first step and not as an end in itself. In line with this recommendation, the present study also examined how the three profiles of newly qualified teachers professional identity are related to their view of their teacher education programme in terms of faculty support, mentor support, and preparation for teaching. Results of a MANOVA and subsequent ANOVAs suggest a relationship of professional identity with experiences during teacher education since for all teacher education related variables significant differences were found between the three clusters of graduates. Graduates that look back more positively at their teacher education programme in terms of faculty support, mentor support, and preparation for teaching, are more likely to report higher teacher efficacy, a more extended professional orientation, and a stronger commitment to teaching. In this respect, the most important characteristics of teacher education seems to be teacher education preparation for teachers responsibilities (towards the

learners as well as towards the educational community and society) and the extent to which mentor (cooperating) teachers during practical experiences take on their role as coach/evaluator and as stimulator of self-reflection/self-regulated learning. Each of these features of teacher education yield significant differences between all three profiles of graduates professional identity (respectively between cluster 1 and cluster 3 as well as between cluster 2 and cluster 3). These results are in accordance with the findings of the study of Darling-Hammond et al. (2002) who found that the feeling of being prepared for the teaching profession is significantly correlated with graduates sense of self-efficacy as a teacher and their plans to remain in teaching. Our findings also point to the significance of the support provided by mentor teachers during practical experiences in schools for graduates professional identity formation. More specific, it appears that the extent to which mentor teachers have acted as coach and as evaluator during student teaching, is positively associated with graduates feelings of teacher efficacy, extended professional orientation and teaching commitment. A possible explanation for this finding is that student teachers that received explicit yet encouraging feedback on their teaching qualities may feel more confident about teaching which in turn may enhance their commitment to teaching and their capability to focus on a more extended interpretation of their task as a teacher. Next, our results indicate the importance of stimulating student-teachers self-reflection and self-regulated learning during practical experiences. In line with this, Korthagen (2004) argues that core-reflection, i.e. reflection that goes beyond behaviour, skills and beliefs and takes the levels of identity and mission into account, helps students to consciously direct their own development, in accordance with their personal identity, and their inspiration and enthusiasm for their profession. Furthermore, Zanting et al. (2001) also indicate that mentors who provide student teachers with support to self-regulate their learning processes, help them to build on their own teaching ideas and develop their own teaching styles and consequently find an own identity as a teacher. Concluding, this study contributes to the understanding of professional identity formation as part of the process of learning to teach. It is important to do research on how (newly qualified) teachers perceive themselves, i.e. their professional identity, since these perceptions influence their judgments and behaviour (Nias, 1989a). Furthermore, research on teachers professional identity formation is relevant for teacher educators and mentor teachers in order to better understand and organise the support for student teachers (Beijaard et al., 2004). Our study presented some relevant insights into similarities and differences among teacher education graduates aspects of their professional identity, including relevant characteristics of teacher education that are related to these differences. The results show that different profiles of newly qualified secondary education teachers can be distinguished based on their feelings of self-efficacy, professional orientation and commitment to teaching as indicators of their professional identity at the moment of graduation. Moreover, these profiles of graduates professional identity are related to their view of their teacher education, stressing the significance of teacher education for graduates professional identity formation. In particular, the importance of teacher education preparation for the roles and responsibilities of teachers in the present-day society is confirmed. As our findings indicate, adequate and sufficiently intensive supervision by the faculty at the training institutes as well as support provided by mentors during practical experiences in schools is necessary to obtain this objective. This corresponds with Brouwer and Korthagen (2005) argumentation for the integration of practical experiences and theoretical study in teacher education programmes.

However, in this study, the identified differences among teacher education graduates indicators of their professional identity were not profoundly related to contextual, experiential, and biographical factors that might influence the professional characteristics of these newly qualified teachers. Since professional identity is defined as an ongoing process of interpretation and re-interpretation that implies both person and context, in future research other methods will be needed to establish clear relationships between these factors, the features of the teacher education programme, and graduates perceptions of their professional identity. Therefore, to deepen and elaborate on the relationships found in this study, additional research from a qualitative-interpretative perspective is necessary to reveal graduates subjective perception and experience of teacher education from the perspective of their professional identity formation.

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