1. The Professional Development of Higher Education Based Teacher Educators in Three Countries: Ireland, Israel and Norway
Ann MacPhail, University of Limerick, Ireland
Ainat Guberman, The Mofet Institute, David Yellin College, Israel
Marit Ulvik, University of Bergen, Norway
ECER, 4-7 July 2018, Bolzano, Italy

2. Purpose of the study …
to trace the professional development of higher-education based experienced teacher educators to reveal influencing factors and affordances conducive to professional development throughout their career

3. Background
Many teacher educators acquire their expertise after taking on the position of teacher educator (Murray & Male 2005; Smith 2012).
Teacher educators’ professional development is still an under-researched area (Lunenberg, Dengerink & Korthagen, 2014).
Most of the existing research deals with beginning teacher educators (Berry 2007; Loughran 2013; Murray & Male 2005).
There are no abiding guidelines defining who teacher educators should be, what they are expected to know, and be able to do (EU 2013; Goodwin et al. 2014).
Teaching is complex and so is learning to teach (Loughran, 2014). The quality of teacher education depends on the quality of teacher educators

4. Teacher educators …
… are usually recruited from two sources, working as teachers or working as researchers in universities.
… need to fulfil diverse roles, each of which requires professional learning (Lunenberg et al., 2014; Vanassche, Rust, Conway, Smith, Tack & Vanderlinde 2015).
… must act as mediators between the academia, schools and communities. They need to clarify their educational vision and values and make sure their practices are aligned with them.
… are under an increasing demand in recent years to engage in research and contribute to the development of knowledge in their field (Swennen, Jones, & Volman 2010; Lunenberg et al. 2014; Tack & Vanderlinde 2014).

5. Methods 30 experienced higher-education teacher educators
Semi-structured interviews aligned to survey questions
Thematic analysis

6. Results (i) self-initiated professional development
There are no professional development opportunities unless you devise them yourself (Israel)
I encourage myself. I set goals. I set targets. Then I engage where I can in supports to try and drive that agenda (Ireland)
Nobody stopped me. It was up to me. The more I chose to do it, the more I invested in it – it happened (Israel)
A quote that could be included: I develop through being brave and take risks (Norway)
A comment: How and if teacher educators develop is left to chance.

7. (ii) the importance of experiencing professional development through collaboration with peers and colleagues
I had the great advantage of having a colleague who was there all the time and knew the modules and the organization (Norway)
I engaged with… a learning community or a collaborative of like-minded people. We needed their research skills and wanted them. They needed our teacher education skills… It worked, in terms of all of us (Ireland)
Meeting with colleagues from other institutions, who are not part of my daily life… learning from others is very significant for me (Israel)
This takes time and support/understanding from institutions.

8. (iii) accessing opportunities to improve teacher education practices
We’re a research and development team of sorts… we film all our teacher education meetings… and analyze them, write about them. So this is learning (Israel)
What I miss is the possibility to go back to school for some time (Norway)
I actually can't even think of professional learning opportunities specifically in the area of teacher education (Ireland)
The most important for me is that students find the teaching meaningful, but the system gives no credit for teaching (Norway)
Lack of opportunities for learning.

9. (iv) the inextricable link between teaching and research
Research is very important in teacher education. It has to do with legitimacy (Norway)
When I plan my teaching… I read new literature, find new resources (Norway)
I draw on my projects in my teaching... my own publications (Norway)
My research is connected to the pedagogical inquiry approach that I attempt to espouse (Ireland)
Research should contribute to the growth processes of student teachers (Israel)
research should be revealing good practice (Ireland)
Underlines the need for a double competence. Cochran-Smith (2005) – every moment both reserachers and practitioners.

10. (v) The main factors inhibiting PD are lack of skills and lack of time
Some teachers [educators]… let's call them the old generation, who started from [school] practice … are not research- orientated… I hear their difficulty all the time. 'You have to help me!' 'Where do I start?‘ (Israel)
The publications aren't as extensive as they might be if you had a different... balance between teaching and research (Ireland)
The problem is… everything is always interesting,… so you tend to say yes to things when maybe you need to learn to say no (Ireland)
Time a crucial factor. Need to be recognized from insititutions that being a teacher educator is different from other positions in highr education.

11. Discussion
Teacher educators need to develop their professional skills throughout their career
Opportunities for PD are scarce, and they need to devise them themselves
Learning with and from colleagues is the preferred mode of PD
There are no career plans for teacher educators nor support from their teacher education institutes as they struggle to balance between their diverse roles and PD needs
The quality of teacher edication depends on individual initiatives.