Learning About Teaching Self-Study Research

• In Event: On Facilitating Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices in Different National and Transnational Contexts

Abstract

Objective
Since the nineties the interest in self-study research has grown hugely, but only in the last decade teaching self-study research has become into focus. Hence, when in 2007 I co-taught the first Dutch self-study trajectory, the available knowledge was limited. Since then, I have been co-teaching three Dutch self-study trajectories. The objective of this study is to analyze how my insights in teaching self-study research have been developed over time.

Theoretical framework
One of the first studies about teaching self-study was Hoban’s (2007) Australian project that identified six guidelines for teaching self-study. Projects in the Netherlands and in the USA built on and fine-tuned Hoban’s work (Author et al., 2011). Other studies followed. In New Zealand, Davey et al. (2011) studied collaboration in a self-study group. In the USA, Butler (2014) pointed to the importance of offering collaborative as well as individual support. Vanassche and Kelchtermans (2015), in their Belgian study, focused among others on the influence of the work context of the participants.

Methods
This self-study builds on a secondary analyses of the data collected on three Dutch trajectories and on a metalogue (Roth & Tobin, 2004) on the Dutch trajectories in which three perspectives were involved: the perspective of a participant, my perspective as teacher, and the perspective of an external critical friend.

Data sources
Data sources are intake- and exit- interviews with the participants of the three trajectories; for the first and second trajectories structured logbooks from participants and email correspondence among the facilitators; and for the third trajectory minutes of two focus-group meetings with the participants and logbooks of the teachers.

Results
In this proposal the presentation of the results are limited to two examples of advancing insights. More results will be shared in the presentation.
Firstly, in the consecutive trajectories I became more conscious that the participants were very attentive to the way self-study research was taught. Data show that the participants – teacher educators themselves - regularly referred to pedagogical choices. Especially in the beginning of a trajectory, a careful choice of pedagogical approaches (‘teach as you preach’), seemed to enhance the participants’ trust in the professional expertise of me and my co-teachers.
A second advancing insight concerns the broad shared paradigm that self-study research offers an excellent way to combine two important teacher educator roles: teacher of teachers and researcher. In the Dutch context this paradigm proved not to be obvious: most Dutch teacher educators don’t have a research task. Hence, for Dutch teacher educators self-study research is a way to explore a new role and to broaden their professional identity. This is challenging and request not only cognitive but also emotional support from me and my co-teachers.

Significance of the study
In the last decade teaching self-study research gets more attention. This study aims to contribute to the knowledge base on teaching self-study. Building on data collected on teaching three Dutch self-study trajectories, I share how my insights in teaching self-study research have been developed.

Author

• Mieke L. Lunenberg, VU University Amsterdam