Who are we and what do we do? Anja Swennen Onderwijscentrum Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam Workshop IPDA, London, 23 June 2008

Overview of the workshop Morning: Who are we? The professional identity of teacher educators Afternoon: What do we do? Congruent Education

: My father was a teacher in primary teacher educator : TEI secondary education Dutch and English and master in Dutch subject pedagogy : Teacher in secondary education and higher professional education : Teacher educator at TEI primary education. Active in VELON and ATEE. Start research on student teachers concerns : Work at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam at CETAR, editor Dutch Journal for Teacher Education, associate editor European Journal for Teacher Education; research on congruent education; Dutch and international book for novice teacher educators : PhD about the development of the professional identity of teacher educators Who am I?

Professional identity Identity is the socially and culturally constructed self that is formed during life, by lived experiences and by talking about these experiences with oneself (inner speech) and with others in figured worlds (Holland, 1998) A profession a high status, powerful, service oriented occupation Professionalism is a historically changing and socially constructed concept-in-use (Holroyd, 2000, 39) Professionalism is about the quality of practice and the public status of the job (Sockett, 1996, 23)

Professional identity of teacher educators Life history as the story of professional development of teacher educators and teacher education Multiple professionalities make a profession (Evans,2008)

Task 1 1.Make a drawing or write a text about your own professional development: your professional biography. 2.What do you call yourself? 3.Discuss 1 and 2 in your group and write down your main findings. 4.Discussion about the results: who are we? Who are you?

Identity Names used Teacher educator; trainer; lecturer Working at…, working with…; people/partner organisations; university teacher University lecturer; teacher; training and development manager; Lecturer; teacher; academic; scholar Term used varies with context, who is asking e.g. when applying for insurance; varies with how much people know about education; may be influenced by how we want to be perceived (e.g. academic seen by some as = irrelevant); may be influenced by how perceive those with whom we work; Govt and funders may use different terminology e.g. trainer/manager. Political context is powerful in the UK.

Multiple identities Teacher in higher education Researcher In-service educator Teacher Teacher educator

Professionals in transition From teacher to teacher educator: higher status within the profession From teacher to teacher educator: social rise From college teacher to teacher in Higher Education: gaining status and respect From teacher to academic professional: conflicting demands From semi-professional to academic professional: a stranger in ones own land (Ducharme, 1993)

Teacher of teachers First order teachers Teach a subject or subject area in school Second order teachers Teach about teaching in Higher Education

An expanded identity To become second order practitioners, novice teacher educators not only need to acquire new knowledge and skills, they also need to redefine their professional identity (Murray, 2006)

A professional knowledge base The knowledge of teachers is about teaching their subject to pupils - Subject geography or English - Subject pedagogy The knowledge of teacher educators is about how to teach students to teach their subject to pupils - Subject: geography or English - Subject pedagogy - Pedagogy of teacher education - Supervision - (Practitioner) research

What does this mean for us? Use your own work as a tool to educate teachers

Congruent education The view and methods of the educator are consistent with the view and teaching approach the educator wants to encourage in teachers Swennen, Korthagen & Lunenberg, 2004

What do you preach? What is the most important idea/ notion/view/conception about good teaching you want to encourage in teachers? What do you teach ? What are the three best methods or approaches teachers can use to give form to this idea? Task 2 Interviews

Congruent Education Consciously model Be explicit Legitimize what you model

Model It is modelling the processes, thoughts and knowledge of an experienced teacher in a way that demonstrates the why or the purpose of teaching: it is not creating a template of teaching for unending duplication John Loughran, 2001

Be explicit Teacher educators need to make their teaching explicit, so the modelling is brought to a conscious level of the student teachers. This requires a high-level of meta-cognition, it is verbalizing the reflection-in-action, (Schön, 1983) the tacit part of professional knowledge in teaching Kari Smith, 2001

Legitimize Underpin what you model with theory that teachers know or should know Swennen, Korthagen & Lunenberg, 2004

Do you model consciously? Sometimes Are you explicit about your own ´teaching´ Hardly ever Do you legitimize what and how you teach? Never Task 3 Discussion

Third Order Perspective Improving the knowledge and skills of educators Studying yourself and your work 3

Conferences (annual and spring) Research and Development Centres (RDCs) Projects Publications

Professional Development of Teacher Educators (PDTE) Projects Publications European Journal of Teacher EducationEuropean Journal of Teacher Education, Volume 31 Issue The induction and professional development of teacher educators Becoming a Teacher Educator Theory and Practice for Teacher Educators Swennen, Anja; Klink, Marcel van der (Eds.) 2008, Approx. 270 p. 10 illus., Hardcover ISBN: