Revealing Praxis: A Study of Professional Learning and Development as a Beginning Social Studies Teacher Educator

Abstract

This self-study reports on the professional learning and development of a beginning social studies teacher educator via an examination of the evolving relationship between the author's beliefs and practices during his first three years preparing social studies teachers. Throughout this time data were systematically collected in the form of written interpretive accounts of his experiences. An analysis of these accounts reveals how the relationship between his beliefs and practices evolved as he moved from embracing certain default assumptions about education, to rethinking the content of social studies, to recognizing that both what and how he taught as a teacher educator held potential significance in the development of preservice teachers. The implications of these stages of understanding for social studies teacher education learning and development are discussed, and avenues for further research are considered.