Learning to teach self-study in improving data management practices of student-teachers during an action research course

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ABSTRACT The article shares collaborating educators (authors’) experiences in supporting a group of student-teachers’ interventions to improve learning practices as part of an action research course in a teacher education setting. The authors engaged in a series of reflective discussions in making sense of and improving the course process. Facilitation and students’ experiences retrieved from course artefacts and written evaluations provided a context for the authors’ self-study practices and identifying critical learning experiences. Qualitative data, including practice-based discussion transcripts and students’ evaluations, were coded and thematically analysed. The two data sets were combined in showing how students’ experiences instigated educators’ learning in developing contextualised conceptions and practices of self-study. The notion of turning points was also employed in analysing data that significantly influenced conceptions of self-study and shaped the course of facilitations. Framing the experiences within community of practice and self-study of teacher education practices literature, we have discussed changing conceptions and practices of self-study while supporting students engage with data for and during interventions. Course experiences on how intervening to improve practices amplify the relevance of action research in teachers’ learning, and the significance of generating evidence from data in action research are discussed.