Teacher personality: a review of psychological research and guidelines for a more comprehensive theory in educational psychology

Abstract

The current review aims to demonstrate that findings from personality theories can help educational psychology craft a more thorough explanation of the role of teacher personality in the educational process. This topic seemed to have been inadvertently omitted. The following five groups of studies in psychology and related fields (classified based on their research objectives) are critically analysed: studies of teacher typologies, studies of teachers’ desirable and undesirable features, studies of teachers’ professional behaviours and their influence on students, studies of teachers’ professional identity and studies of teacher personality within the framework of personality theories (particularly within the Five-Factor Model of personality). Arguments in support of personality theories, and methodological dilemmas in assessing teachers’ personalities involving data collection and research design are also discussed. The article suggests that those findings on teachers’ personalities acquired in the context of personality theories might currently serve as the best starting point for a more comprehensive psychological theory of teacher personality in educational psychology–particularly when considered alongside current knowledge regarding small social group management and aspects of learning and development theories. Thus, the current review might serve as the basis for a separate field within school psychology focused on the psychological aspects of the pedagogical profession.