What Kind of Research Culture Do Teacher Educators Want, and How Can We Get It?

Abstract

This article describes a collaborative research journey involving nine teacher educators. Their common purpose was to find a research identity in a university department with a strong commitment to the education and training of student teachers but which existed within a university that prided itself on maintaining a reputation for research excellence. The methodology was inextricably linked to the decision to take a journey as a group. The journey, both route and progress, became the focus of our self-study through a number of exchange platforms including collaborative meetings, agendas which embraced equity and social justice, a shared blog space for self-reflection, and engagement with others through partnership conferences. Data were qualitative and focused on the ambitions, frustrations, and achievements of the participants as revealed through personal writing on a blog. Key findings of this study include: (i) the discovery of hurdles, false starts and frustrations that were common to all members of the group but hitherto had remained hidden and private; (ii) the tension between an identity as educator with a sense of responsibility to students and that of an active researcher; and (iii) issues of time and work balance between teaching and researching.

Keywords:

• self-study
• teacher educator
• research
• reflection
• collaboration
• identity
• social justice
• blog

Acknowledgements

The research described in this article was carried out collaboratively by the Research 9. The other members are Joan Cutting, Richard Easton, Neil Houston, Heather Malcolm, Jannet Robinson, and Hamish Ross. We are grateful to them for their support and interest in the article as we wrote it.