Becoming Activist Teacher Educators: The Learning Journeys of Two Physical Education Cooperating Teachers

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Thursday 9:50 am Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Activism, Poetic Inquiry, and Critical Discourse Analysis in Physical Education (Table 6)

Abstract

This study explored the learning journey of two cooperating teachers immersed in a school-university partnership. The study, a participatory action research in Brazil, included two cooperating teachers and a university lecturer. Data collection included weekly meetings, participants' diaries, final interviews with cooperating teachers, and artifacts. Through thematic analysis, three themes were developed: (a) creating democratic spaces with pre-service teachers; (b) engaging in practitioner inquiry as a means to transform teaching practice; (c) adopting micro-social changes to improve the profession. Through a dialogical process, cooperating teachers could engage in praxis and flip their thinking to an activist teacher and teacher-educator approach. This study underscores the role of cooperating teachers as activist educators in fostering collaborative and socially just teacher education processes.

Authors

• Luiza Lana Goncalves, Federation University Australia

• Leonardo Liziero, Municipal Education of Mato Grosso do Sul

• Kamila Silva, Municipal Education of Mato Grosso do Sul

• Carla N. Luguetti, University of Melbourne

• Melissa Parker, University of Limerick