Q&A with LSX Fellow Oana Negru-Subtirica on Educational Identity and Romania’s Education System

Much of your recent work focuses on educational identity in adolescence. What exactly is “educational identity” and why is it important to study?

Whether they like it or not, young people spend most of their lives in school. The time they spend in school, with the school subjects they learn, the interactions they have with their classmates and teachers, and the formal (grades) and informal (praise from classmates or teachers) school achievements, leave a lifelong mark on who they are and who they become.

This is why the concept of educational identity is so important when we want to understand how and why students strive or fail in school. Educational identity is the answer to the question “Who am I in the educational domain?” and it revolves around how school and education are central parts of a student’s personal and social self. Self-formation really takes off in early adolescence. As school has a structuring role in young people's lives, their personal and social selves are molded by how their educational system is constructed and how they integrate their education into who they are and who they want to become.

Longitudinal studies have shown that students who prosper in school are those who see their education as an inherent part of who they are, which they keep exploring and try to positively integrate in their personal and social relationships. This often helps them see the link between what they do in school and who they want to become in the future.

What other research are you currently working on related to education and identity that might interest our readers?

At the SELFID Lab we are currently researching how the digital age has become an inherent part of our personal and social identities, especially from a relational perspective. In one line of research, we look at how digital natives use social media for identity exploration in multiple life domains, from education to self-improvement.

For instance, in a recent longitudinal study we looked at how digital stress related to using TikTok is related to self-concept clarity. In another large-scale project, we developed a collaborative app called ExplorScience, in which middle schoolers explore and strengthen their STEM interests by collaborating with their classmates in the app and then bringing their new insights into the “real” world.

What do you see as the biggest current challenges in Romania’s education system?

The Romanian educational system is quite static and deeply segregated, with educational inequalities limiting the access to education for many young people. We tend to believe that change is inevitable. Nevertheless, systemic change is a rather theoretical construct and the myriads of grass-root level or specific policy changes did not amount to systemic change in Romanian education.

Starting this year, I coordinate the Romanian team in a large-scale European project that will chart and comparatively analyze educational inequalities across Europe. The LEARN (Longitudinal Educational Achievements: Reducing iNequalities) project will offer a scientific picture of our system, which can then encourage systemic reflection and even change.

What have you learned during your fellowship that policymakers need to know?

If you want to change anything, you need to understand the system by listening to all the voices that embody that system. I think a humble stance and an open mind work miracles when we want to spark the first light of change.