Beyond language teaching: integrating language teacher identity into ESOL CPD

The ESOL classroom is a socially complex space shaped by linguistic diversity, migration, and learners’ experiences of displacement. As a result, ESOL teaching extends beyond language instruction to include supporting learners’ social integration and wellbeing. This dual role creates tensions for practitioners, who must balance institutional expectations of measurable language outcomes with the relational and emotional demands of their work.

This paper argues that language teacher identity (LTI) is central to how ESOL practitioners navigate these competing demands yet remains largely absent from continuing professional development (CPD). Drawing on qualitative data from five interviews with ESOL practitioners in Scottish further education, the study explores how teachers enact multiple roles and use identity as a resource for empathy and pedagogy, while at the same time experience a lack of structured opportunities for identity reflection. The findings highlight a significant disconnect between policy-driven, skills-focused CPD provision and the realities of ESOL practice. The paper proposes integrating identity-focused reflection into CPD as a means of supporting more inclusive and critically informed teaching.