Four 'academic sub-tribes', but one territory? Teacher educators and teacher education in Scotland

Menter, I. (2011) Four 'academic sub-tribes', but one territory? Teacher educators and teacher education in Scotland. Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy, 37(3), pp. 293-308. (doi: 10.1080/02607476.2011.588018)

Abstract

This paper takes a sociocultural approach to questions around the professional identity of teacher educators in Scotland. Through an analysis of the historical trajectory of Scottish teacher education and its institutions, it is suggested that there are four distinctive groups of staff currently working in the university departments that provide all of the initial teacher education. The professional backgrounds and experiences of these four groups are illustrated by data drawn from a series of interviews with Scottish teacher educators. The members of each of the four groups tend to have different relationships both with the academy and with the teaching profession. As they develop their careers as teacher educators, the continuously changing institutional environment may create different pressures on them, some of these emerging as identity conflicts, even though they are all working within the same ‘territory’ of teacher education.

• Item Type: Articles
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Menter, Prof Ian
• Authors: Menter, I.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Education > Pedagogy Policy and Practice
• Journal Name: Journal of Education for Teaching: International Research and Pedagogy
• ISSN: 0260-7476
• ISSN (Online): 1360-0540
• Published Online: 15 July 2011