Ó Gallchóir, Ciarán and McGarr, Oliver (2023) What is caught rather than taught: messages of professionalism communicated by teacher educators. Journal of Education for Teaching, 49 (1). pp. 5-20. ISSN 0260-7476

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Abstract

Internationally, there is a growing recognition of teacher educators acting as both agents of and subjects to centrally devised policy reforms. In an Irish context, in which a rhetoric of policy veils teacher accountability behind standards/codes of professionalism, this study sets out to explore how professionalism is communicated to pre-service teachers during their School Placement practicum by teacher educators. This was achieved by examining a sample of teacher educators’ written reports of observed lessons (N = 429) and interviews with a sample (N = 10) of teacher educators from one Irish university. This study found that messages regarding the looking the part of a professional and fitting-in were communicated by teacher educators. While these messages appeared to be communicated from a position of care to ease students’ transition into the professional space, these messages also contained suggested sentiments of power and conformity. This study draws conclusion based on the professional agency of teacher educators and how their enactment of standards in programme design may communicate more than initially intended.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Professionalism; teacher educators; initial teacher education; standards; school placement;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Education
Item ID:	18324
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2022.2053356
Depositing User:	Ciarán Ó Gallchóir
Date Deposited:	26 Mar 2024 16:20
Journal or Publication Title:	Journal of Education for Teaching
Publisher:	Taylor and Francis Group
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/CJE...
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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