Example 11 from research – Murray and Male (2005)

Murray and Male (2005) carried out research on 28 teacher educators working in seven different institutions to contribute to ‘understanding the challenges new teacher educators face in establishing their professional identities as teachers of teachers and as scholars in HE’ (ibid: 125). The research found that moving into the role of teacher educator, even for those who were already recognised at ‘expert’ teachers, involved ways of making connections and recognising the place of those connections, or ‘shifting the lens of (their) teaching to re-analyse their
pedagogy in the light of their second-order practice as teacher educators.’ (ibid: 137). For new teacher educators, being given support to recognise where their existing experience fits with and connects to the role of a teacher educator is a process of connection building of a practice which ‘validates that practice, acknowledges its fundamental place in individual professional identity, and assists in the interactive processes of bringing substantial and situational selves into alignment.’ (ibid: 139)