(Re)framing and (re)positioning teacher educator professionalism

The need for a competent teaching force remains a central concern in many countries. Paradoxically, research focusing directly on the professionalism of teacher educators was slow to develop and has, until now, focused narrowly on the technical dimension of the profession (‘what works’), failing to account for the complexity of the work of educating teachers. This project addresses this knowledge gap and starts from a conception of enacted professionalism which takes as its unit of analysis the complexity of actual teacher education practice. Giving centre stage to actual practice, immediately brings to bear the relationships with student teachers, as well as the broader context in which these operate. Drawing on recent insights from positioning and framing, this project will result in an empirically-validated understanding of the content of teacher educator professionalism, but also propose a novel theoretical and analytical approach which offers a strong basis for future research.

Keywords:teacher

Disciplines:Teacher education and professional development of educators