Teacher Educator Changing Perceptions of Theory

Source: Educational Action Research, Volume 21, Issue 2, 2013, pages 237-252

This article considers the experience of mature trainee teachers in the United Kingdom, who participated in employment-based models of training.

Initially, trainees were drawn to meeting the immediate demands of practice in specific locations.
Capacity in practice more generally accrued through later exposure to analytical approaches.

The paper documents collaborative action research by teacher educators focusing on the changing demands of their development work with the trainees.
The resultant struggle of professional identity for tutors is seen as productive, adjusting educative processes to new circumstances.
The actor of action research so equipped mobilises a conception of theory supportive of more responsive subjective modes within wider professional functionality.