This article examines an under-researched area of education in Chile by exploring how contemporary initial teacher education policy addresses the professionalism of university-based teacher educators. While the content analysis is limited by the data available, its focus is on describing the notion of teacher educators' professionalism inherent in the current political discourse. First, findings show that policy pays scarce attention to the professionalism of teacher educators; most of these policies are part of general policies for university-based initial teacher education programs. Second, located within the academia, the prevalent view of teacher educators' professionalism is centered in a particular construction of the teacher-researcher that stresses greater the role of the researcher. Third, policy predominantly defines educators' professionalism in terms of market-oriented values (competences, knowledge-related resources). Finally, the article concludes by considering the implications for developing initial teacher education policy that puts greater emphasis on teacher educators, strengthens their professionalism, and positions them for an active role in policy-making.

This article uses critical discourse analysis (CDA) to interrogate the discursive construction of Chilean university teacher educators’ professionalism in government initial teacher education policy and institutional policy enactment documents. The study examines the network of discourses—new managerialist, quality assurance, performance, functionalist professional development—producing a version of professionalism akin to organizational professionalism. Used as a form of managerial control over teacher educators’ professional practices, such professionalism exacerbates performativity while reducing professional agency opportunities and consistent professional/academic development. Ultimately, this study contributes to the necessary questioning of Chilean ITE policy reform and the need to examine its effects on university TEs’ professional lives and the professional modeling of their student teachers.

Addressing university-based teacher educators' complex work in current higher education contexts requires identifying the variables influencing their professional agency. However, limited related literature mostly falls within boundaries of the global North, while the specifics from those in the global South remain under-researched. Thus, focusing on Chile, a country with a highly marketised education, this study explores how teacher educators agentically navigate contextual and personal factors by drawing on Archer's theory of reflexivity. Qualitative analysis reveals how participants' reflexivity mediates factors (i.e. collegiality, precarity) and yields diverse forms of agency (i.e. weak, progressive), reflecting their professional identities, concerns and professionalism. The findings suggest that participants' dominant communicative reflexivity relates to managerialism in education and Chilean society's collectivist nature. Implications are presented for future research on broader structural and cultural factors influencing teacher educators' reflexivity and agency and the role of policy implementation and institutional cultures in supporting their professionalism and careers.

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University-based teacher educators are key agents of educational and societal change. Still, their academic careers across institutions and countries have received insufficient attention. To bridge this gap, our empirical study collected data from 12 teacher educators in different Chilean and Finnish research-oriented universities. Drawing from Archer's social realist theory, we examine teacher educators' reflexivity as a decision-making process, offering them directional guidance to act in and over their (professional) lives. We identify three agentic approaches to career path development triggered by reflexivity modeswerelationship, excellence-driven and value-orientedthat Chilean and Finnish teacher educators practice amid workplaces' structural/cultural conditions. These approaches explain their diverse professional trajectories, even under similar circumstances, and contradict ideas of linear progression and 'one-size-fits-all' solutions for career development. This study contributes to promoting more equitable career pathways for teacher educators in Chile, Finland and elsewhere.