Teacher educators and ‘accidental’ careers in academe: an Australian perspective

TY - JOUR

T1 - Teacher educators and ‘accidental’ careers in academe

T2 - Journal of Education for Teaching

AU - Mayer, D

AU - Mitchell, J

AU - Santoro, Ninetta

AU - White, S

N1 - DOI link correct but not working.

PY - 2011

Y1 - 2011

N2 - While teacher education is often seen as the key to preparing qualified teachers who are able to educate students for the demands of the twenty-first century, relatively little attention is paid to the teacher educators who actually do this work. Given the increased demand for teacher educators in Australia due to retirements, and the changing political and institutional context of teacher education, it is timely to understand a little more about the teacher educator workforce. Who are they, why do they work in teacher education, what career pathways have led them to teacher education, what are key aspects of their knowledge and practice as teacher educators, and what are the critical issues faced by those working in teacher education? This paper reports on a study that investigated the pathways into teacher education and the career trajectories of a small group of teacher educators working in a range of university sites in three states in Australia. The study draws on interview data to examine the ways in which these teacher educators talk about the accidental nature of their career pathways, their views about teaching and research, and the variable ways in which experiential and research knowledge are recognised and valued within the field of teacher education and in the academy. The report highlights important considerations for the preparation of the next generation of teacher educators as well as for their induction, mentoring and career planning in order to build and sustain a viable teacher education workforce for the twenty-first century.

AB - While teacher education is often seen as the key to preparing qualified teachers who are able to educate students for the demands of the twenty-first century, relatively little attention is paid to the teacher educators who actually do this work. Given the increased demand for teacher educators in Australia due to retirements, and the changing political and institutional context of teacher education, it is timely to understand a little more about the teacher educator workforce. Who are they, why do they work in teacher education, what career pathways have led them to teacher education, what are key aspects of their knowledge and practice as teacher educators, and what are the critical issues faced by those working in teacher education? This paper reports on a study that investigated the pathways into teacher education and the career trajectories of a small group of teacher educators working in a range of university sites in three states in Australia. The study draws on interview data to examine the ways in which these teacher educators talk about the accidental nature of their career pathways, their views about teaching and research, and the variable ways in which experiential and research knowledge are recognised and valued within the field of teacher education and in the academy. The report highlights important considerations for the preparation of the next generation of teacher educators as well as for their induction, mentoring and career planning in order to build and sustain a viable teacher education workforce for the twenty-first century.

KW - teacher educator

KW - teacher educator career pathway

KW - teacher educator knowledge base

UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02607476.2011.588011

U2 - 10.1080/02607476.2011.588011

DO - 10.1080/02607476.2011.588011

M3 - Article

VL - 37

SP - 247

EP - 260

JO - Journal of Education for Teaching

JF - Journal of Education for Teaching

SN - 0260-7476

IS - 3

ER -