Abstract

Background: Occupational identity is defined as the perception of occupational interests, abilities, goals, and values, and the structure of the meanings that link these self-perceptions to career role. We developed an occupational identity questionnaire suitable to be used with university teachers. Aim: To evaluate the psychometric properties of the Occupational Identity Questionnaire (OIQ) and relate its results with those of the Teaching Practices questionnaire. Material and Methods. The OIQ and Teaching Practices Questionnaire were answered by 311 university teachers along Chile, who were selected through a non-probabilistic volunteer sampling. An exploratory factor analysis was performed and the internal consistency of each factor was calculated with Cronbach’s Alpha. Spearman correlations were used to explore the relationship between the two questionnaires. Results: Two factors were identified in OIQ: Teaching Vocation and Sense of Competence. Cronbach’s Alpha was 0.75 for teaching vocation and 0.82 for the sense of competence. There was a moderate direct relationship between teaching vocation, sense of competence and the results of the Teaching Practices Questionnaire. Conclusions: OIS has an adequate internal consistency, its factorial structure showed two different types of identities and it is directly related to the results of the Teaching Practices Questionnaire.