Being a teacher and teacher educator: The antecedents of teacher educator identity among mentor teachers

Although teachers’ professional identities have been the subject of extensive study, the field still lacks knowledge about the development of a professional identity for mentor teachers. These teachers take on multifaceted professional roles as teachers and teacher educators. In the present paper, we investigate the professional identity of mentor teachers partnered with two universities in Norway. The study adopts a quantitative approach and report on survey data from the mentor teachers. The results demonstrate that school climate, individual beliefs about the role, and university collaboration predict the development of a teacher educator identity. •School climate, Individual beliefs about the role, and university collaboration predict the development of teacher educator identity.•Mentoring self-efficacy is a strong contributor to the development of teacher educator identity.•Belonging to a community of teacher educators within school activates a sense of identity.•University-based teacher educators' acceptance of mentor teachers promotes the development of teacher educator identity.