professional identity essay

Work and Professional Identity Essay

Introduction.

Work is a complex social phenomenon that has numerous definitions. No matter, in what sense people use this term, they work throughout their lives, spending long hours at their jobs. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the role of work in the life of people and the importance of professional identity.

In simple terms, work can be described as an activity aimed at the production of goods or services. I think it is crucial to understand that even significant work can be unpaid. Housekeeping and volunteering are often underrated because they do not have a fixed price to them. The term “women’s labor” is often used to describe non-paid work, thus undermining the role of women in society.

The image of work changed throughout the centuries. From God’s curse in the ancient world labor evolved into a gift from God in the 16th century. Work was perceived as a moral obligation as well as the essence of humanity in the Renaissance. Karl Marx evaluated people by the results of their labor.

Occupation broadly defines the type of work a person does, whereas a profession is characterized by specific knowledge and skills needed for a certain job. Professionals differ from other workers due to the higher requirements for their education. They can receive informational and legal support from particular associations. Professionals are more devoted to the work they do than unqualified workers are. In my opinion, that is why the development of professional identity is very important among graduates when they begin to work. Successful integration of work into everyday routine enhances the person’s productivity and increases income.

Working conditions have improved greatly in comparison with the older times. Current labor laws are aimed to create comfortable working conditions with a high level of security. However, along with the improvements, there are many new issues in the labor market.

In the ever-changing modern world, short-time projects are becoming the leading type of employment. Consequently, people do not receive a possibility for constant development of their professional skills. Nowadays, even qualified workers are disposable. Employees feel insecure in their places what inevitably leads to a lesser quality of their work.

In her film Poor No More , Mary Walsh investigates the employment situation in Canada and Sweden. Like everywhere else in the world, there are many jobless, poor people, and young professionals with no prospects. Together with two Canadian workers, Mary Walsh travels to Ireland and Sweden to find the possible solution to the situation. The film points out the effectiveness of wisely employed tax programs. I will agree with the author of the film that partnership between unions and employees can also provide secure jobs and lead to positive changes in the labor market.

Illegal immigration greatly influences the employment situation in many countries. In one South Park episode called Goobacks, the authors give a satire of the debate concerning this phenomenon. I think the protest against immigration in the form of an orgy is a good example of inappropriate measures taken by many countries.

To sum up, I should say that work is a very complex phenomenon that penetrates every aspect of our lives. Most of our time we spend at work. Logically, the image of the work has changed throughout the ages to become an integral part of our everyday routine. The modern world presents many possibilities for a professional occupation, but short-time projects often leave workers insecure. Therefore, the professional identity is still important, but the qualified labor is degraded as well as the women’s work. The labor market can be greatly influenced by illegal immigration and a recession in the economy. I think we are still on the way to building strong relations between work, personal life, and the economy.

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How to Write an Essay about Your Identity

If you’re looking for a simple way to write an essay about your identity, then you’ve found the perfect tutorial!

Writing an essay about your identity can be a great way to highlight who you are as a person and explore your values, experiences, and characteristics. So, in this tutorial, I will show you how to write such an essay in five simple steps effectively. We’ll also work on a sample essay so you can see how to put these steps into practice.

Let’s get started!

Step 1. Plan the word count for your essay’s paragraphs.

Doing this first step is important if you want to make things simpler for you while writing an essay. You’ll get to know exactly how many words each paragraph will have, which makes the process quicker.

Note that essays have three parts you must include:

• The introductory paragraph
• Three body paragraphs
• The concluding paragraph

For example, suppose you need a 300-word paragraph. How would you distribute 300 words across five paragraphs? Here’s a simple way to do that:

That’s all you need for your essay — short introductory and concluding paragraphs and three concise body paragraphs.

Step 2. Select your main idea and supporting points.

You need to come up with a central idea that will give you a frame of reference for the rest of your essay. To do this, you can first consider what your identity is. Then, determine what shapes this identity. 

For example, are you an artist? Maybe you’re imaginative and creative! Do you have a unique perspective on things? Do you like expressing yourself visually?

Or maybe, you’re a doctor? Do you have extensive knowledge and expertise in the field of medicine? Do you possess strong problem-solving and critical-thinking skills?

Whatever they are, you will use them as your basis — your essay’s thesis .

For our sample essay, we can use this as our main idea: “My identity as an educator has been shaped by my faith, parenthood, and my inborn creativity.”

Next, we will use the Power of Three to divide this main idea into three supporting points. 

The Power of Three is a three-part structure that helps you produce your body paragraphs.

Let’s see how it works for our sample essay. In this case, we will use three things that could shape someone’s identity as an educator:

• My faith is an integral part of my identity.
• Parenthood has had a significant impact on my identity.
• Creativity has been a part of my identity for as long as I can remember.

Now we have what we need to start writing our essay. Let’s go to the next step!

Step 3. Write the introductory paragraph.

To write an introductory paragraph , you can follow the diagram below:

First, you need an introduction — an opening sentence that briefly sets the essay’s context. Next, you will include your thesis and three supporting points.

Here’s an example:

Introductory Paragraph

“Different factors, including beliefs, experiences, and innate qualities, shape our identities. For me, my identity as an educator has been shaped by my faith, parenthood, and my inborn creativity. My faith guides my values and principles in teaching. My experiences as a parent have also helped me develop empathy and understanding toward my students. And my inborn creativity allows me to come up with innovative ways to present lessons, engage my students, and foster a positive learning environment.”

As you can tell, the introductory paragraph proceeds from general to specific , starting from the introduction, followed by the thesis and three supporting points.

Step 4. Write the body paragraphs.

Our essay will contain three body paragraphs that expound our supporting points. Here’s how to structure a body paragraph in any essay:

Body paragraphs start with a topic sentence that briefly summarizes the entire paragraph. Next, you will explain and illustrate your point using example/s .

Paragraph 1

“My faith is an integral part of my identity. My faith guides me in creating a safe and positive learning environment for my students. I strive to make my classroom a safe space where my students feel welcomed and valued. I model kindness and compassion, which I hope inspires and encourages my students to treat each other with the same level of respect and understanding.”

Note that the topic sentence gives context to the entire body paragraph. The following sentences explain the supporting point, and the rest illustrates it with an example.

Paragraph 2

“Parenthood has had a significant impact on my identity as an educator. It has taught me to approach teaching with compassion and empathy. As a parent, I learned that everyone has unique needs and struggles that require understanding and, if possible, a personalized approach to teaching. I apply this principle in my classroom by taking the time to get to know my students and understand their personal learning styles and circumstances. I schedule one-on-one meetings with students and offer them encouragement and resources to help those struggling to catch up.”

Paragraph 3

“Creativity has always been a part of my identity, especially as an educator. It is essential in creating engaging learning experiences for my students. I constantly look for fun and innovative ways to present lessons that will help them foster a love for learning. I incorporate hands-on activities and projects in my lessons to challenge my students creatively and critically about the material. For example, when I taught animal classification last academic year, I organized a field trip to a local zoo where the students observed and learned firsthand about the animals and ecosystems they were studying.”

Like paragraph 1, body paragraphs 2 and 3 follow the exact same structure outlined in the diagram above. It proceeds from the topic sentence to the explanation and example.

Excellent! Now we’re ready for the final step.

Step 5. Write the concluding paragraph.

The most time-proven way to write a concluding paragraph for any essay is to simply paraphrase all the points you’ve already mentioned in the introductory paragraph. Don’t copy and paste it! Instead, you can check your introductory paragraph and write the concluding paragraph based on it.

Let’s try this method to write the concluding paragraph in our sample essay:

“A combination of our beliefs, experiences, and characteristics shape our identities. As an educator, my identity has been shaped by my faith, parenthood, and creativity. My faith guides me in modeling important values in my classroom. Parenthood has taught me to approach teaching with empathy. And my creativity enables me to present material in innovative and engaging ways, which helps foster a love for learning in my students.”

We only restated the points in the introductory paragraph but used different words. Doing so makes writing the concluding paragraph pretty quick and simple.

And now we’re done! I hope you find this tutorial helpful.

Now it’s time for you to write your essay about your identity!

Tutor Phil is an e-learning professional who helps adult learners finish their degrees by teaching them academic writing skills.

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Professional identity in nursing: A mixed method research study

Affiliations.

• 1 Nursing Science Program, Adelaide Nursing School, Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Adelaide, Level 4, Adelaide Health and Medical Science Building, Corner North Terrace and George Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia. Electronic address: [email protected].
• 2 Adelaide Nursing School, Faculty of Health and Medical Science, University of Adelaide, Level 4, Adelaide Health and Medical Science Building, Corner North Terrace and George Street, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
• 3 Department/Reader Glasgow Caledonian University, Room A401, Govan Mbeki Building Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA, Scotland, UK.
• 4 Glasgow Caledonian University, Cowcaddens Road, Glasgow G4 0BA, Scotland, UK.
• PMID: 33823376
• DOI: 10.1016/j.nepr.2021.103039

Professional identity is developed through a self-understanding as a nurse along with experience in clinical practice and understanding of their role. Personal and professional factors can influence its development. A recent integrative literature review synthesised factors that influenced registered nurse's perceptions of their professional identity into three categories of the self, the role and the context of nursing practice. This review recommended that further research was needed into professional identity and how factors and perceptions changed over time. The aims of this study were to explore registered nurses' understanding of professional identity and establish if it changed over time. A mixed-methods study using a two-stage design with an on-line survey and focus groups was implemented with registered nurses who were studying nursing at a postgraduate level in Australia or Scotland. The reported influences on professional identity related to the nurse, the nursing role, patient care, the environment, the health care team and the perceptions of nursing. Professional development and time working in the profession were drivers of changes in thinking about nursing, their role and working context and their professional identity. Additionally, participants sought validation of their professional identity from others external to the profession.

Keywords: Education; Mixed methods research; Nursing; Professional identity; Registered nurses.

Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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Professional Identity, Essay Example

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The Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association

The psychiatric rehabilitation organization which focuses on the development and training of the recovery workforce for psychiatric patients. This organization is responsible for developing, supporting and disseminating information that pertains to the recovery and rehabilitation of psychiatric patients. When it was formed in 1975, under the name the United States Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (USPRA), it set the benchmark for psychiatric and psychosocial rehabilitation of patients, establishing a community based treatment model that ultimately became the primary source for knowledge, learning and research of psychiatric rehabilitation. The organization currently represents over 8,000 psychiatric rehab experts as well as 1,300 organizational and individual members.

PRA is a national organization with numerous chapters throughout the United States. The organization however adopts a uniform set of values that generally govern the scope and depth of its operations. PRA is generally founded on concepts of human dignity, where individuals recovering from mental illnesses should be provided with the best possible professional care. The organization’s mission is the growth and training of the recovery workforce for psychiatric patients. The organization’s vision is a world in which persons with mental illness recuperate to realize fruitful and satisfying lives through their environment (learning, working and social).

PRA conducts its operations with the guiding principle that the psychiatric rehabilitation results in the recovery of mentally ill persons. As such, the organization is dedicated to the quantity and quality of psychiatric rehabilitation. Furthermore, the organization is dedicated to the making high quality rehabilitation services universally available. The organization achieves this by defining psychiatric rehabilitation using three elements, (1) recovery, (2) community integration, and (3) improved life quality. This is complemented by the ideology that psychiatric rehabilitation is a process that is collaborative, Individualized and person-directed.

The organization’s website lists a number of resources that are crucial for psychiatric recovery practitioners. One of the most significant resources is the CPRP Exam Blueprint. This blueprint provides detailed information on the domains which the CPRP exam focuses on.

Associated Chapters

The organization currently has affiliates and chapters in more than 25 states. They include the following;

• Arizona Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (AZPRA)
• California Association of Social Rehabilitation Agencies (CASRA)
• Florida Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (FLPRA)
• Massachusetts Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (MassPRA)
• Community Behavioral Health Association of Maryland (MDCBH)
• Psychosocial Rehabilitation Association of New Mexico (PSRANM)
• Idaho Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (IPRA)
• New Jersey Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (NJPRA)
• Kentucky Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (KYPRA)
• Pennsylvania Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (PAPSRS)
• New York Association of Psychiatric Rehabilitation Services (NYAPRS)
• Virginia Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (VAPRA)
• PRA – Connecticut, Inc.
• PRA – Georgia, Inc.
• PRA – Illinois, Inc.
• PRA – Iowa, Inc.
• PRA – Louisiana, Inc.
• PRA – Maine, Inc.
• PRA – Michigan, Inc.
• PRA – North Carolina, Inc.
• PRA – Ohio, Inc.
• PRA – South Carolina, Inc.
• PRA – Tennessee, Inc.
• PRA – West Virginia, Inc.

Training Offered Through PRA

PRA currently offers the training and continuation of education for practitioners through the Academy of Psychiatric Rehabilitation and Recovery (APRR). The academy offers extensive training that involved psychiatric rehabilitation, management and leadership. APRR currently offers education and training in three areas;

• Whole Career Practitioner Training & Continuing Education
• Whole Career Leadership Training & Development
• Special Topics & Electives in Recovery

Certification

The organization offers certification to psychiatric rehabilitation professionals using two forms of certification (1) the CPRP (Certified Psychiatric Practitioner) and (2) the CPRC (Children Psychiatric Rehabilitation Certificate). The CPRP is a certification program that is test-based and has been developed to indicate the competency of psychiatric recovery practitioner working in adult mental health. The CPRP exam focuses on seven domains of competency. They include;

• Interpersonal Competencies
• Professional Role Competencies
• Community Integration
• Strategies for Facilitating Recovery
• Assessment, Planning, and Outcomes
• Systems Competencies
• Supporting Health & Wellness

The organization also offers the CPRC, which is an educational program that develops material for and trains practitioners who work with children. Their training helps both the children and the families that they encounter in the course of executing their duties. The PRA is currently looking to develop the CPRC program to a certification program that is test-based. However, this is only after a detailed job task analysis.

PRA promotes advocacy for the concepts and ideologies of recovery, community integration and psychiatric rehabilitation. The organization mainly advocates its vision mission and goals to the Congress and its members, governmental agencies and the government. This is mainly done to secure funding support, as well as regulatory support and federal support (through federal laws). The organization represents the recovery workforce through the PRA Public Policy Initiatives. This is mainly focused on the training and expansion of the workforce.

The organization has two types of impact-focused advocacy. State advocacy is conducted in conjunction with the organizations chapters, pushing for the adoption of the PRA and CPRP credentials. Federal advocacy entail and evidence-based approach towards lobbying for regulations and laws that can substantially impact the profession. The organization also has 4 year-round public policy activities that include (1) the Public Policy Committee, (2) Annual Conference, (3) Hill Day, and (4) the PsyR Connection and Recovery Update newsletter.

Educational and Employment Stance

The organization understands and underpins the inherent need for quality psychiatric recovery services. As such, the organization has a generally open and positive stance towards vocational training and career development. However, this policy especially applies for individuals seeking the CPRC, as it has no requirements for individuals seeking to become practitioners.

Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association (PRA). (2015, March 10). Psychiatric Rehabilitation Association. Retrieved July 12, 2015, from PsychRehabAssociation.org: http://www.psychrehabassociation.org/

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Professional Identity Formation and Transformation across the Life Span

• First Online: 01 January 2011

Cite this chapter

• Muriel J. Bebeau 3 &
• Verna E. Monson 4  

Part of the book series: Innovation and Change in Professional Education ((ICPE,volume 7))

2438 Accesses

20 Citations

Examining the foundational elements of professional identity formation and its relation to unmet health needs in society is at a critical juncture. Professions today are under assault from multiple sources that weaken or undermine the individual’s or the collective profession’s commitment to the profession’s public purposes. This chapter draws together evidence from multiple sources that support constructivists’ theoretical understanding of a developmental continuum of identity that proceeds from self-interest and concreteness of thought to more other-oriented and abstract ways of making sense of the self (Kegan, 1982, The evolving self . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press; Blasi, 1984, in W. M. Kurtines & J. L. Gewirtz (Eds.), Morality, moral behavior, and moral development (pp. 129–139). New York: Wiley). At more advanced levels of professional identity formation, the exemplary professional’s personal and moral values are fully integrated and consistent across context and situation. They are able to articulate the public duties of the profession, integrate them with personal value frameworks, and regularly and consistently engage in socially responsible actions. The identity of such exemplary professionals is contrasted with the identities of entering students, entering professionals, and professionals who have been disciplined by a licensing board. Methods are suggested for supporting learning and improving commitment to professional values.

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Portions of the literature review in this section also appear in Bebeau ( 2008 ).

A measure of life span moral judgment development (Rest, 1979 ).

Information about the Center is available at: http://www.ethicaldevelopment.ua.edu/

The Alverno College Faculty (Loacker, 2000 ) describe self assessment as an individual’s ability to observe, analyze, and judge his or her performance on the basis of standards of professional practice, and then determine how to improve it.

In the United States, “tattling” is the term used to describe the childish act of telling an authority (usually a teacher or an adult) about another’s misdemeanor, usually for the purpose of getting the other in difficulty. In the United Kingdom this is called “snitching.”

Students were asked to reflect (based on clinical experience to date, and portfolio entries) on what they now viewed as the easiest, the hardest, and the second hardest expectations of the professional to fulfill. Portfolio entries written during the first semester of the first year relevant to this activity included (a) the Professional Identity Essay written as a baseline assessment and (b) an essay “What does it mean to you to become a professional?” written as part of a course exam following a series of learning activities designed to enhance understanding of professional and societal expectations.

The six italicized statements in this section represent a synthesis of ideas drawn from the sociological and professional ethics literature. For a more extensive discussion of these six expectations of a professional, see Bebeau and Kahn ( 2003 ).

However, 47% partially attended to one or more of the three dimensions of this responsibility: (1) to monitor one’s own practice to assure that processes and procedures meet ever-evolving professional standards; (2) to report dishonest, incompetent, or impaired professionals; and (3) to join one’s professional associations, in order to participate in the setting of standards for the continuation of the profession. The latter is not a legal, but rather an ethical, responsibility (Bebeau & Kahn, 2003 ).

To establish the equivalency of the cadet population with the general population of college students, Lewis et al. ( 2005 ) administered the Kegan interview to a sample of college students from a state university that were matched to cadet samples based on standardized scores. Although the cadets scored slightly higher on the Kegan assessment, the differences were not statistically significant.

Although lower stages of identity formation are characteristic of early adulthood and advanced identity levels achieved with midlife (if achieved at all), Kegan and Lahey ( 2009 , p. 14) identified ample variability in identity level across all ages of the lifespan, suggesting higher levels of identity formation are more prevalent than previously estimated (Kegan, 1994 , pp. 194–195). According to Kegan and Lahey “…six people in their thirties … could all be at different places in their level of mental complexity, and some could be more complex than a person in her forties” (p. 14).

Objective Structured Clinical Exams (OSCEs) are used in assessing medical student competencies in one-on-one patient clinical interviews, clinical examination, communication, and interpersonal skills (Harden, Stevenson, Downie, & Wilson, 1975 ).

Another example, designed for law and medicine, is the Professional Decisions and Values Test (PDV) created by Rezler et al. ( 1992 ).

The Autonomy and Agency scales assess the probability that an individual will act upon his or her role concept. The scales are useful for remediation courses as part of disciplinary action (Bebeau, 2009b ).

The Minnesota dental ethics curriculum uses well-validated measures of the four components of morality described by James Rest (See Bebeau, 1994 ; Bebeau & Monson, 2008 , for a discussion of Rest’s theory and for descriptions and a review of construct validation studies of the measures used in You’s study.)

You ( 2007 ) reported an effect size of .57, favoring females, for the difference between male and female dental students’ mean scores on eight assignments that required third- and fourth-year students to demonstrate effective problem solving and interpersonal interaction skills.

Danielle and Sam are pseudonyms, and salient facts from their essays were altered slightly to preserve student confidentiality.

We find it helpful to draw students’ attention to sociologists’ (Hall, 1975 ) observations about the emergence of professions over time—that the amount of power and privilege granted by society is in direct proportion to the extent to which the practice of that profession is deemed essential to the health and welfare of society.

Arranging for students to interact with disciplined professionals may not be as difficult as it may appear. In the United States, every state board of medical or dental practice publishes the disciplinary cases and many states require that disciplined individuals engage in some kind of community service. It merely takes a creative ethics educator to initiate it. Our colleagues in legal education regularly invite lawyers who have been convicted of “white collar crime” to hold discussions with law students. Such learning opportunities are very powerful, especially when accompanied with a program that also uses positive mentors.

In Minnesota, sanctioned dentists may be required to complete an ethics course as part of the board’s disciplinary action. See Bebeau ( 2009a , 2009b ) for a discussion of the procedures and outcomes of such a curriculum.

In addition to the descriptions included in Table 7.1 , the authors prepared an extensive set of examples of student responses to the various essay questions that are organized under the levels of identity formation they have been judged to represent. These are available upon request.

Similar directions have been given with respect to self assessment of ethical reasoning and judgment, based upon feedback from measures of moral judgment development students completed at the beginning of the semester. This activity, though a useful part of self assessment of professional identity formation, is not addressed here.

Anderson, M. (2001). What would get you in trouble: Doctoral students’ conceptions of science and its norms. Proceedings of the ORI conference on research on research integrity . Washington, D.C.: Office of Research Integrity.

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Bebeau, M.J., Monson, V.E. (2012). Professional Identity Formation and Transformation across the Life Span. In: Mc Kee, A., Eraut, M. (eds) Learning Trajectories, Innovation and Identity for Professional Development. Innovation and Change in Professional Education, vol 7. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-1724-4_7

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