English abstract
The aim of this study is to explore the perceptions of female second domain teachers (Science and Maths) in cycle (1) about professional identity and their relation to teaching practice. It also aims to investigate the influence of teaching experience variable on these perceptions. The sample of the study consists of (126) female second domain teachers (Science and Maths) cycle (1) in Al. Dakhiliya Governorate in the school year 2013/ 2014. The perceptions scale about the professional identity was applied on those teachers. Besides, an observation based survey was conducted on a sample of (30) teachers. The researcher developed two instruments to achieve the aims of this study. The first instrument which was the teachers' perceptions scale of the professional identity consisted of (38) items distributed on 3 domains which are: teaching competencies, scientific competencies and self competencies. The second instrument which was an observation based survey consisted of (23) items distributed also on 3 domains stated earlier. Its items were extracted from the observation form applied in the Educational Supervision Department in the Ministry of Education and they were adapted to suit the aims of this study. The validity of the two instruments was examined by a panel of (15) judges. Their reliability was examined by alpha Cronbach for internal consistency on a sample not included on the real samples. The reliability coefficient for the perceptions scale was (0.95) and it was (0.90) for the observation instrument. This indicates that the two instruments are appropriate for the aims of the study. The results of the study indicated that the perceptions of the second domain teachers of the professional identity are high. The mean of the sample responses to the scale was (4.10 out of 5). The results also indicated that there was no statistically significant differences at (a = 0.05) on the means of the teachers' perceptions attributed to the teaching experience. Moreover, there was no correlation at (a= 0.05) between second domain teachers' perceptions about professional identity and their teaching practice. In the light of the above results, the study recommends conducting a similar study to identify cycle (2) science teachers' perceptions about professional identity and their relation to teaching practice. It also recommends developing a professional identity scale based on the scale of this study.
