Creating a Space for the Development of Professional Knowledge: A self-study of supervising teacher candidates during practicum placements

Abstract

This article reports a self-study that analyzes my developing pedagogy as a beginning teacher educator and supervisor of practicum field placements. The data consist of my journal entries describing experiences teaching and supervising a group of teacher candidates both at the university and in their host schools. Qualitative techniques of content analysis and coding were applied to examine the data and identify themes and patterns relevant to my professional development as a teacher educator. Engaging in self-study as a new teacher educator is shown to be a productive way to confront my assumptions about how teacher candidates learn to teach. The quality of my relationships with teacher candidates has a direct impact on how I enact my principles of practice. Finally, this article highlights tensions between my developing principles of practice and my assumptions about teaching and learning.

Keywords:

• field experience
• supervision
• professional knowledge
• beginning teacher educator