Methods and Protocols for Collaborative Self-Study of Enacted Teacher Educator Practice

• In Event: Collaborative Self-Study as Co-construction of Embodied Knowledge in Teacher Education

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to highlight structured protocols that support collaborative self-study focused on the work and commitments of teacher educators.

Perspective(s)

Identifying collaborative self-study as our mode of inquiry for multiple projects, we highlight Loughran’s (2014; 2007) work regarding a pedagogy of teacher education. Reviewing collaborative self-studies (Allison & Ramirez, 2020; Author, 2016; Author, 2020, 2023; Loughran et al, 2004; Louie et al, 2003; Author, 2009), we note the importance of context, positionality, purpose for improvement, and critical friendship to guide inquiry and teacher educator collaboration. Honoring the importance of tensions (Berry, 2007) and an inquiry stance (Cochran-Smith & Lytle, 1999), our collaborative self-studies included using specific protocols to dig deeper into the complexity and shared functions within our work (Authors, 2023).

Mode of inquiry

Our intentional analysis through our work alongside each other (Anderson & Herr, 1999) followed collaborative self-study practice (Petrarca & Bullock, 2014) and led us to see self-study as having “the potential to push its participants out from the solitude of their mind’s eye to engage with personal values and the values of others and to realize new meaning in their roles as academics” (Bullock & Ritter, 2011, p. 179). We found ourselves growing individually and together with increasing motivation to continue collaborative self-study to add meaning (Louie et al, 2003) to teacher education.

Data sources

Our data sources were artifacts of our work, defined in the following way:

An artifact is a man-made object that provides evidence about human cultures, activities, or practices. In teacher education, these objects can range from tools teacher educators rely on to materials that support their planning, teaching, and learning initiatives, such as class assignments, meeting agendas, email messages, program documents, syllabi, and conversation transcripts.

We began shared, critical analysis by using a SLICE protocol from the School Reform Initiative (http://schoolreforminitiative.org/doc/slice.pdf) to investigate: What does a focused look at our work as 12 individual teacher educators uncover about the collective purpose of teacher educators as a group? Next, we each identified an artifact from our practice for shared analysis. In paired interviews, we described the artifact and discussed knowledge, skills, purposes, and dispositions required to create or use that artifact. These conversations lasted approximately 60 - 90 minutes and were recorded and transcribed. Using each structured protocol, we engaged in small and then large groups to serve as critical friends analyzing data informing personal and professional practice (Petroelje-Stolle et al, 2018).

Results

Our collaborative inquiry identified shared functions in our work (Authors, 2023) and key commitments such as collaboration and identity construction. We found these key commitments more powerful than naming specific knowledge or skills in our enacted practice. Using structured protocols highlighted that uniqueness of context and expertise (heterogeneity) informed shared understandings of our work (homogeneity).

Scholarly Significance

Using structured protocols for collaborative self-study allows for engaging tensions in the work of teacher educators (Berry, 2007) to make visible the embodied knowledge of practice and improving practice to inform the wider teacher education field.

Authors

• Jennifer Jacobs, University of South Florida

• Fernando Naiditch, Montclair State University

• Frank Pignatosi, New York University

• Andrew J. Schiera, University of Colorado - Boulder