This chapter highlights the European contribution to the growing knowledge about self-study methodology. Europe is a patchwork of countries, cultures and languages. Looking at teacher educators in Europe, we see a broad variation in background, tasks and opportunities for professional development and self-study research. In this chapter we firstly map the development of self-study research in Europe which has mainly been the work of individuals and small groups. Then we focus on four countries that are in the forefront: England, Iceland, Ireland and the Netherlands. In all four countries self-study has proved to be a useful and stimulating way to aid the transition from being a teacher -or researcher -to becoming a teacher educator. Self-study methodology not only supported the understanding and development of the teacher education practice, but also led to identity development. Most helpful proved to be working together and mentoring, and sharing results publicly. In this context the role of the biannual S-STEP Castle Conference in England, which offers European self-study researchers to connect with colleagues from North America and Australia, plays an important role.
The study is supported by the University of Iceland Research Fund
Using self-study to develop a third space for collaborative supervision of master's projects in teacher educationTeacher education is constantly being renewed in response to continuous social, economic and technological changes. In Iceland in 2008, teacher education was extended from a three-year to a five-year master's degree. This significantly increased the number of students at the master's level. To respond to these changes, we, three university-based teacher educators, organized collaborative supervisory meetings for 18 master's students during the school years 2012-2014.We used self-study to understand our progress and inspire our development as supervisors. The goal was to gain a better understanding of how we learn together in collaborative supervision and to develop, adapt, and change our teaching and learning practices. Data consisted of reflective notes and journals, recordings of students' and supervisors' meetings, e-mails, tickets out of class, and material from Moodle. Constant analysis of data was conducted with personal reflection and collective discussion and using theories to scrutinize data. Our findings show that working on supervisory issues together, we expanded our resources, strengthened our collaboration and trust, developed our professional identities, and improved our collective supervisory efficacy. We discovered that self-study provided an "in-between" space for us to explore cultures, roles, and visions, as we collaboratively contested, defined and recreated our roles as supervisors.
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