The aim of this study is to understand my transitioning professional identity as a Muslim Woman. The focus of this qualitative study was the navigation of my transitioning professional identity as a Muslim woman. The purpose of this study was to understand and interpret my experiences as a Muslim woman during my educational journey from religious education into a secular higher educational institution and the resulting process of professional identity change [1]. The research problem identified in my study was during my journey I identified a gap, where my Islamic environment was my comfort zone but not my environment for professional growth and developing a professional identity. I also identified in my study, was my transitioning identity and how I needed to adapt from religious to secular environments and why I decided to transition from religious educational environments to secular educational environments. I used a primary and secondary research question to direct this study, which were: How did I as a Muslim woman navigate my transitioning professional identity? and Why did I navigate my transitioning professional identity the way I did? Theoretically, the study was framed by a conceptual framework which I designed by merging the Possible Selves’ theory Marcus and Nurius [3], and the Johari Window model [2]. The conceptual framework enabled me to understand my professional identity through reflection and feedback. Possible Selves’ theory entailed understanding the self from the past to the future.

Author: Nurain Aboo

Published in: London International Conference on Education (LICE-2024)

• Date of Conference: 4-6 November 2024
• DOI: 10.20533/LICE.2024.0019
• ISBN: 978-1-913572-74-7
• Conference Location: St Anne’s College, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK