Learning selves: Learner identity development in school and beyond

Inequalities occur in opportunities to engage in school. Adolescents’ learner identities, their self-understandings as learners, inform their school engagement. This dissertation sought to advance insight into adolescents’ learner identity development. It was already known that students who experience discontinuities between the school and out-of-school contexts they participate in, may struggle to engage in school. Discontinuities may concern the learning notions (ideas about what are and are not legitimate learning goals and ways to pursue these goals) and learner identity positions (social roles as learners, such as the creative learner or the fast learner) that are prevalent and valued in a particular context. It is in relation to various learning notions, learner identity positions and the (dis-)continuities that they form across contexts, that adolescents develop their learner identities. To better understand adolescents’ school engagement, this thesis further explored what role continuities and discontinuities between school and out-of-school contexts play in adolescents’ learner identity development. It was found, first, that especially (dis-)continuities between school on the one hand, and the contexts of home and peer groups on the other, play a role in adolescents’ learner identity development. Second, continuities generally inform adolescents’ learner identities in ways that foster school engagement, whereas discontinuities may lead to suboptimal learner identities. Third, teachers can create opportunities to identify with learning in school for diverse students by explicitly positioning them as people who are getting better prepared for their envisioned participation in society and as people who can learn in accordance with their own (perceived) abilities.