Research

We welcome new blogs on teacher educators and teacher educator development (500-750 words). For more information see our Blog submission policy or contact your national moderator.


March 11, 2024

Towards diversity-responsive teacher educators: reflections of a professional development initiative

In the past year, a fruitful collaboration took place between a teacher educator, Ann, and a doctoral researcher, Benjamin, regarding a professional development initiative (PDI) on […]
February 19, 2024

Creative research as a starter for professional dialogue

Creative research methods invite people in and promote professional development while participating in the research.
January 15, 2024

‘So how do you feel that lesson went?’ Patterns of discursive interaction in post-lesson debriefs

Thinking before we talk, or realising that talk is structuring thinking and thus learning, would allow for more intentional conversational choices in post-lesson debriefs.
December 13, 2023

Teacher’s Profession is (Still) Attractive in Finland

In 2023 at the University of Helsinki, only 10% of the applicants were accepted to primary school teacher education programme and only 4% of the applicants were accepted to special education teacher education programme.
December 13, 2023

Identifying School-Based Teacher Educators’ Professional Learning Needs: An International Survey

The presumption that, if you can teach young people in schools you can therefore also teach adults how to teach and how to teach more effectively, is one that has permeated many teacher education systems and policies (Parker, Zenkov, and Glaser, 2021).
August 28, 2023

Sleeping Beauty and the future of (teacher) education

What if you fell asleep and wake up one hundred years from now? How do you think education smells in 2123? Which metaphor would best represent the teacher-student relationship we see? Which animal do you hope runs the school premises? Sixty educational professionals working in all areas of the educational field
February 1, 2022

Long-COVID-19 – The need to (re-)research about teacher educators’ professional learning needs

The COVID-19 pandemic has encouraged us to rethink about the long-lasting implications for teacher education and how the traditional approaches to educate teacher candidates have evolved. This unexpected scenario has become a living laboratory for teacher educators who have had to transfer to solely relying...

March 5, 2021

Fit to teach?

As a teacher educator of 13 years of experience, I have learned a great deal since Covid-19 took its grip on the UK in March 2020, with the pandemic providing me with time to reflect on and review my previous and current practice (Bain et al 2002).The personal and professional became inextricably intertwined, prompting me to engage with my practice in more depth. I am a teacher educator, a parent, an assessor, and a former school teacher. These roles once separate, have become interwoven, leading me to look at my engagement in the teacher educator landscape through a different lens.

October 30, 2020

Changing the ‘message’ of school physical education in response to COVID-19: avoiding the ‘new normal’

The current Covid-19 pandemic has, and will continue to, significantly influence the way in which teaching and learning are experienced in schools (Kaur, 2020). As some governments begin to consider plans and protocols for a safe return to schools, as a physical education teacher and physical education teacher educator respectively, we raise the concern that physical education...

October 13, 2020

Teachers as teacher educators in the post-COVID world

It has been a decade since the highly influential report Teaching Scotland’s Future, also known as the Donaldson Report, was published. This document set out a blueprint for developing teacher education in Scotland. I know this report well, because I read it cover to cover, in preparation for my current job in Teacher Education. The interview presentation asked me to consider the recommendation: “All teachers should see themselves as teacher educators...”

October 13, 2020

Teacher educator conversations prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic: opportunities and responsibilities (post 3)

On March 12th, 2020, the HEIs closed. As work moved from our educational institutions, complete with offices, corridors, lecture theatres, tutorial rooms and staff rooms, to our homes, we also moved from the physical world to the virtual world of work. In designing these new...

October 13, 2020

Teacher educator conversations prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic: opportunities and responsibilities (post 2)

Our identities have changed somewhat as a result of the many changes to our professional routines, norms and practices coupled with changes and adjustments in our personal routines. Our omni-presence at home means we ‘wear many...

October 13, 2020

Teacher educator conversations prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic: opportunities and responsibilities (post 1)

As a teacher educator and Assistant Dean Research I believe it is incumbent on me to examine, suggest and explore initiatives amongst teacher educator colleagues in helping in identifying and initiating how best to consider ‘spaces’ where teacher education colleagues can harness...

June 23, 2020

Mentoring as support for professional development

Mentoring is acknowledged as a means to support professional development for teachers. However, mentoring has multiple meanings and may be practiced as supervision, support or collaborative self-development for new as well as experienced teachers. As researchers we were curious to find out what expectations newly qualified teachers, their mentors and their school-leaders have to mentoring and professional development and thereby to identify what kind of mentoring is needed...

May 12, 2020

Being and Becoming A Research-Active Teacher Educator

It’s April 2020 and I’m writing this at home in lockdown during the Covid 19 pandemic. In these terrible times, one of my ways of maintaining a semblance of ‘normal life’ is to take refuge in my research, an enjoyable and – usually - productive process for me. But this was not always so. In my early years as a teacher educator, I struggled to research and write. A brief autobiography will explain why.I entered teacher education, straight from school teaching...

May 30, 2025

Perspectives of the Finnish School for All – Inclusiveness, diversity and equity?

In this podcast four Finnish researchers discuss various aspects of the Finnish education system. First, the background and the basic principles of the Finnish school for all […]
May 26, 2025

Gender and sexuality diverse children and youth: two points for teachers

I have been researching sexuality and gender diversity in Finnish education for over 30 years and have found that the situation has improved over time, although […]
May 26, 2025

Working with cases dealing with issues of Diversity and Social Justice

Their task is to read assigned texts from a book called Case Studies on Diversity and Social Justice Education before the class and be prepared to share their thoughts on the texts.
May 26, 2025

Reflecting on privileges

This list of 30 statements is meant to provoke thought among pre-service teachers. The list contains statements about privileges, of which many might be self-evident.
May 26, 2025

Cross-cutting path of equality, equity and non-discrimination for teacher education curriculum or program

The cross-cutting path of equality, equity and non-discrimination shows how these themes are integrated in nearly all courses and from different viewpoints.
May 26, 2025

Equality and Non-Discrimination Action Plan for an Organization

This Excel sheet allows the organization to examine their current equality and non-discrimination practices and the current situation.
May 21, 2025

Appreciative Inquiry: a key to inclusive education

The resources contains an approach that helps (student)-teachers and teacher-educators to inquire after their own attitudes and practices regarding the inclusion of students with special education […]
May 21, 2025

Explicating Diversity: the 60seconds method

Students within a classroom differ from each other. Despite potential differences it is imparative that teachers hold high expectations for all students. To become aware of […]
May 20, 2025

Structured classroom debate

This activity is a structured classroom debate designed to help students practice empathetic argumentation by stepping into the shoes of different cultural stakeholders. Each participant is […]