The Process of Becoming a Teacher Educator: Changes in Teaching Practices

• In Event: 61.054 - Transitions and Transformations: Teacher Educators' Journeys of Becoming

Abstract

Our contribution to the symposium will share our research which offers insights into the conceptual and pedagogic changes during an individual’s professional path to becoming a teacher educator. Situated in the context of Chilean teacher educators’ professional development, the discussion will focus on understanding the changes to the teaching practices of a teacher educator and on how this professional development interacts with personal and work related issues. This becomes especially relevant when one considers that in Chile studies on this topic are mainly focused on pre-service teachers and teacher education curriculum rather than the teacher educators themselves. According to Kelchtermans (2009), teaching is always enacted by ‘someone’ who has a life story situated in the different contexts in which he or she has taught. Regarding teacher educators, research suggests that the social and institutional contexts contribute to developing new professional identities (Dinkelman, Margolis, & Sikkenga, 2006; Williams, Ritter, & Bullock, 2012). Becoming a teacher educator involves not only changes in self-identity, but also changes in professional knowledge, pedagogy and the practice of teaching (Bullock, 2009; Loughran, 2006). Developing a teacher educator’s professional identity aligned with a pedagogy of teacher education is clearly a complex process (Dinkelman, et al., 2006; Murray & Male, 2005; Williams & Ritter, 2010) worthy of examination.
The methodological approach used in our study was the ‘relational teacher education’ approach introduced by Kitchen (2005) which focuses on analyzing the teacher educator’s narrative by looking back with the aim of moving forward through a deeper understanding of being a teacher educator. The data includes autobiographical narratives that help recreate how personal and professional experiences have shaped one teacher educator’s professional career (participant A), the pursuit of a PhD in Education (participant B) and the changes to their respective understanding and teaching practices. The analytical framework was focused on identifying the main questions and key matters underlying academic and teaching practices throughout the professional path.
The research highlights important conclusions. For example, the process of becoming a teacher educator is a situated social practice due to the fact that individuals learn to be teacher educators with other members of teacher education programs in different contexts. Therefore, teacher education programs must be regarded as a learning community not only for student teachers, but also for teacher educators. Considering that professional development is situated (Borko, 2004), the process of becoming a teacher educator can be conceptualized in terms of framing and reframing the teaching knowledge triggered by significant experiences and/or interactions with others along the professional path. In this regard, collaborative relational teacher education is a powerful analytical approach, since it allows developing meaningful listening spaces among teacher educators. Finally, our findings suggest two key questions that teacher educators should always take into account; first, which are the implicit assumptions and the conceptual frameworks that he or she adopts regarding teaching practice? Second, deciding where the focus of reflective practice should be: outside (the pre-service/in-service teacher performance) or within (his or her practice as teacher educator)?

Authors

• Rodrigo Fuentealba, Universidad San Sebastian

• Helena Loreto Montenegro, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile