Identity construction in practice teachers as teacher educators

Project summary

An overarching goal of this project is to investigate how the identity of teacher educators in the field is constructed or formed in the field of tension between the teacher training institution and teaching practice in schools, as part of the teacher education process.

In this study I will also look at the significance of this cultural formation process for teacher students in their development of a teacher identity and professionalism.

Through the execution and management of their professional tasks, teacher educators should provide student teachers with a firm basis for professional practice. There is an implicit expectation in the teacher educators’ mandate that they must help student teachers develop their teacher professionalism. It is therefore important to regard the entire spectrum of teacher educators, both institutional teacher educators and practice teachers, as teacher educators in order to cast light on the teacher educator identity as a phenomenon.

The study uses a social-constructionist theoretical framework with a focus on communities of practice (Wenger) and discourse analytical concepts (Foucault).

Supervisors:

• Main supervisor: Professor May Britt Postholm, NTNU
• Co-supervisor: Professor Thorolf Krüger, HVL