Abstract This study examines how teachers in Hong Kong navigate educational change, drawing on identity grafting (IG) theory. By profiling teachers based on how they reconcile identity differences, we explore their value orientations and pedagogical practices. Using survey data from 634 in-service primary and secondary teachers, we conducted a latent profile analysis. We identified six profiles: versatile, jack-of-all-trades, selective, conservative, skeptical, and disengaged. These profiles varied in instructional practices and value orientations, including risk-taking, power distance, and uncertainty avoidance. For example, versatile and jack-of-all-trades teachers employed diverse pedagogies, whereas selective and conservative teachers adopted more cautious approaches to change. Skeptical and disengaged teachers exhibited the lowest receptivity to change. Theoretically, the findings extend the IG framework from fixed identity types to a more fluid, spectrum-based model of how teachers navigate educational change. Drawing on cross-cultural parallels with Finnish teacher identity profiles and prior research across Chinese cities, this study also highlights the global and regional contingencies that shape identity formation and instructional behaviors, thereby contributing to international understandings of how teachers experience educational change across diverse cultural contexts. In practice, this study calls for tailored professional development and leadership strategies that address teachers’ diverse orientations toward change.
Yang et al. (Mon,) studied this question.