The Tightness of Tensions as a Conceptual Frame and Analytic Tool for the Self-Study of Practice

• In Event: When Knowing Is Not Enough: Critical Examination of Self-Study of Practice Methodology

Abstract

Purpose: This paper examines Berry’s (2008) framework of the ‘tensions of practice’ for their contribution to the development of S-STEP methodology and the question of quality in S-STEP research.

Theoretical framework: Using Berry’s tensions as an analytic framework, I scrutinized my longitudinal S-STEP (Author, 2008) for the methodological components, evidentiary perspectives and the possibilities and challenges of the framework. Originally I developed my S-STEP with the intention of documenting and analyzing my developing pedagogy as a newly appointed teacher educator. The study progressed concurrently along two lines: (1) analysis of my own teaching of teacher education candidates in a year-long methods course, and (2) an examination of the literature produced by teacher educators about the studies of their practice.

Methods/Data-sources: I drew on a comprehensive array of qualitative data sources designed to closely examine my teaching practice from a range of perspectives (my students, my colleagues, myself), and to consider how these perspectives helped me perceive alignment between my actions and intentions in my pedagogy. Through the study of other teacher educators’ experiences I recognized similarities between my own experiences and what these teacher educators reported from their practice.

Findings: Berry’s framework of tensions supported me as I began to question my research findings, using the initial broad frame to stimulate a process of change in my understanding of practice and consequently, my approach to research. Eventually I could see that tensions existed, some of which I had initially overlooked. As I engaged in the process of analyzing my practice as tensions, my knowledge of each tension became better understood and articulated. These interconnected tensions emerged as a a conceptual frame and analytic tool for interpreting and formalizing the experience of being a teacher educator and providing a language for articulating knowledge of teaching about teaching. Issues of quality in S-STEP have been framed around the following aspects: (i) that the study should go beyond simply recounting a story of one’s practice (Loughran, 2010); (ii) that the study must take a turn to the self (LaBoskey, 2004a), that is, the ideas and perspectives of others must be taken into one’s teaching and research contexts for exploration of their meaning and consequences, (Russell, 2006), and (iii) that self-study requires stable data and rigorous analysis, that seeks to avoid romanticism and self-justification (Bullough & Pinnegar, 2004). Use of the tensions marks where solid S-STEP research can proceed further. We can use Berry’s tensions as a productive way to link self-study research to the larger literature. These tensions can provide a link for self-study research to productive conversations about self study and contributions to understandings about professional knowledge.

Scholarly significance: The outcome of high quality S-STEP research should be evident to the degree to which they adhere to the standards associated with t the transformation of personal practice (both understanding and enactment) and the development of knowledge of practice that is meaningful, useful and relevant to community of practitioners.

Author

• Amanda K. Berry, Leiden University