Teacher Professional Identity is today an autonomous theoretical construct. The paper explores the dimensions of TPI stressed in psychological and educational research, presenting different answers provided to questions such as: Which dimensions have been taken into account to define what a teacher is? The image of teachers actually emerging from literature analysis points out vectors of tension between "mainstream" Social Representations of teacher and everyday experience; between different perceptions of TPI; between established practices and innovation in teaching; between technical rationalist assumptions and lived experience of teachers' job, involving ethical and emotional nature of teaching; and, definitely, between "reality-as-it-is" and "reality-to-be" in teaching. These questions are closely connected to the wider social debate on the future of education. Asking what a teacher is also implies questions about what a "good" teacher is, what should be and, consequently, what are the role and the Social Representations of teachers in society.
teacher professional identity; change; educational practice; social representations