Disseminating Secret-Story-Knowledge through the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices

ABSTRACT

This article is inspired simultaneously by the metaphor of professional knowledge landscapes and our experiences of the transformative potential of self-study methodology. We argue for the unique potential of self-study research, as a means not only for teacher educators to develop their pedagogy, but also to leave the mark of their experiences on the inhospitable terrain of teacher education reform. Central to our argument is our conceptual re-visioning of the professional knowledge landscape such that teacher educators’ knowledge of practice, typically contained in their “secret stories” of practice, comes to occupy a more public and prominent position on the landscape through self-study research. Locating our work within the Australian teacher education context, we highlight the ways in which current policy initiatives are redefining the work of teacher educators, and increasing the marginalization of teacher educators’ own perspectives and voices in the (re)production of knowledge about teaching. We offer a challenge to teacher educators to publicly participate in articulating and sharing their professional knowledge of practice through self-study.

KEYWORDS:

• Professional knowledge landscape
• teacher educator professional knowledge
• teacher education reform
• standards-based reform
• secret stories

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.