Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices

Abstract

This article provides an overview and discussion of self-study of teacher education practices. Self-study is a genre of research concerned with examining the role of the educator within professional practice settings. In teacher education, self-study is used as a form of practitioner research by higher education faculty to study their teaching and their students’ learning. Self-study functions as a means of better understanding the complex nature of teaching and learning and of stimulating educational change. In self-study, researchers focus on the nature and development of personal, practical knowledge through examining, in situ, their own learning beliefs, practices, processes, contexts, and relationships. Outcomes of self-study research focus both on the personal, in terms of improved self-understanding and enhanced understanding of teaching and learning processes, and the public, in terms of the production and advancement of formal, collective knowledge about teaching and teacher education practices, programs, and contexts that form an important part of the research literature on teacher education. Both personal and public purposes are concerned with the reform of teaching and teacher education that works from a social change and social justice perspective. The sources included in this article present works that have significantly influenced the research and practice of self-study in teacher education, comprehensive examinations of major issues in the field, and works that are breaking new ground. A variety of meanings has been associated with the term “self-study,” including self-directed learning, psychological studies of the growth of individuals, and institutional self-evaluations. These definitions are concerned with understandings of “self” that are different from self-study of teacher education practices and are not included in this article. Also, while self-studies are conducted in contexts outside teacher education by academics in other faculties of higher education, by teachers in schools, and by administrators, these contexts are not covered in this article.