Jiaoshi jiaoyu xuebao (Jul 2024)
A Qualitative Study on the Professional Practice of Teacher Educators from the Perspective of Identity Orientation
Abstract
Teacher educators' professional practice is a manifestation of their professional behavioral choices and actions in practice. To explore the core elements and specific patterns of teacher educators' professional practice under the influence of different identities, this study, based on the positioning theory and personal interpretation framework, interviewed 12 experienced teacher educators in different regions of China and conducted cross-case interpretive analyses, revealing three identities of teacher educators through thick description, "the nurturing teacher educator", "the reflective teacher educator", and "the subject teacher educator". Each type of teacher educator demonstrates a professional pursuit of teacher education in practice, as well as different characteristics in self-positioning, student cognition, teacher-student relationships, and teaching beliefs. Nurturing teacher educators should position themselves as educationalists, perceive students as complete human, emphasize the broadness of education, and construct responsive teacher-student relationships. Reflective teacher educators should position themselves as reflective practitioners, perceive students as "prospective teacher with a reflective stance" in their educational practice, focus on the nature of reflective in education, and construct interactional teacher-student relationships. Subject teacher educators should position themselves as teacher of subject, and perceive students as prospective teacher in need of learning subject knowledge and teaching skills, adhere to technical beliefs, and construct directive teacher-student relationships. These three modes of positioning and practical forms support teacher educators to recognize the conceptualization and differentiation of teacher education, and help them critically examine and improve their teaching practices.
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