‘Let’s focus on us’: recounting educators’ facilitation practices in improving collaborative commitments of learner-teachers during an action research course

Towards practice-based professional development by teacher educators

“…Researching teaching presents unlimited possibilities for (a) interrogating established practices with untoward consequences (Kemmis, 2022); (b) positioning courses as a viable context for collaborative inquiry and improvements (Idris et al, 2021); and (c) explicating tensions (Berry, 2008) and pedagogic reasonings (Loughran, 2019) in TEs' work that are central features of the pedagogy of modelling in teacher education (Korthagen, 2016). In this regard, program arrangements and roles of TEs in similar study contexts should shift from academic to practice epistemology in "paying special attention not so much to the content of our knowledge but to the processes that encourage more knowing-in-action and their outcomes" (Raelin, 2007, p. 496).…”

“…Emergent perspectives during the self-study highlight the role of course designs and committed collaborative practices (Idris et al, 2021) while enacting pedagogic changes for meaningful learning. Crucially, the FAs' practices of modelling facilitated in better appreciation of the notion of "presence" in teaching which was defined as a state of alert awareness, receptivity, and connectedness to the mental, emotional, and physical workings of both the individual and the group in the context of their learning environments, and the ability to respond with a considered and compassionate best next step (Rogers & Raider-Roth, 2006, p. 265).…”

“…In this context, the FA took up the challenge of studying situations and embedding reflective learning experiences in his course, Social Science Teaching Methods (SSTM). The self-study drew inspiration from previous initiatives by a team of education, of which the FA was part, who are motivated to improve teacher education practices from within (e.g., Idris et al, 2021).…”

“…The particular interest in improving reflective practices at a college level. Beyond the college, discussion meetings (n=6) were arranged with a team of critical friends (n=3) with whom the FA has previously engaged in studying and improving course practices at a similar study site (Idris et al, 2021). In self-study research, critical friendship is a viable method that affords supportive and challenging feedback in generating alternative interpretations of practice especially when the critical friends are more than two and have developed personal and professional relationships over time (Fletcher et al, 2016).…”