Geography teacher educators’ identity, roles and professional learning in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world

Globally, teacher educators work in contexts which are shaped and informed by persistent policy reform and global environmental crises which we argue, combine to create a professional life that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). Through a case study of geography teacher educators...

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Main Authors: Rawlings Smith, E, Rushton, EAC
Format: Journal article
Language:English
Published: Taylor and Francis (Routledge) 2022
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author Rawlings Smith, E
Rushton, EAC
author_facet Rawlings Smith, E
Rushton, EAC
author_sort Rawlings Smith, E
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description Globally, teacher educators work in contexts which are shaped and informed by persistent policy reform and global environmental crises which we argue, combine to create a professional life that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). Through a case study of geography teacher educators (GTEs) based in England, we explore the experiences, knowledge and professional growth of teacher educators. Our findings draw on data from responses to an online questionnaire (n = 51), a practitioner workshop and 11 semi-structured interviews. We find that GTEs have multi-faceted identities which are shaped by professional, social and personal realms through engagement with a diverse community of practice. The VUCA context of teacher education is visible in the professional identities of GTEs in both affirming and deleterious ways which we argue, are linked to perceptions of professional autonomy. We argue that the professional role of teacher educators is to bravely engage with policy making as part of their contribution to a socially and environmentally just future for all.
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spelling oxford-uuid:e9763276-a766-4470-bde1-bff3b26259c62023-09-28T09:08:18ZGeography teacher educators’ identity, roles and professional learning in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous worldJournal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_dcae04bcuuid:e9763276-a766-4470-bde1-bff3b26259c6EnglishSymplectic ElementsTaylor and Francis (Routledge)2022Rawlings Smith, ERushton, EACGlobally, teacher educators work in contexts which are shaped and informed by persistent policy reform and global environmental crises which we argue, combine to create a professional life that is volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA). Through a case study of geography teacher educators (GTEs) based in England, we explore the experiences, knowledge and professional growth of teacher educators. Our findings draw on data from responses to an online questionnaire (n = 51), a practitioner workshop and 11 semi-structured interviews. We find that GTEs have multi-faceted identities which are shaped by professional, social and personal realms through engagement with a diverse community of practice. The VUCA context of teacher education is visible in the professional identities of GTEs in both affirming and deleterious ways which we argue, are linked to perceptions of professional autonomy. We argue that the professional role of teacher educators is to bravely engage with policy making as part of their contribution to a socially and environmentally just future for all.
spellingShingle Rawlings Smith, E
Rushton, EAC
Geography teacher educators’ identity, roles and professional learning in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
title Geography teacher educators’ identity, roles and professional learning in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
title_full Geography teacher educators’ identity, roles and professional learning in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
title_fullStr Geography teacher educators’ identity, roles and professional learning in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
title_full_unstemmed Geography teacher educators’ identity, roles and professional learning in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
title_short Geography teacher educators’ identity, roles and professional learning in a volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world
title_sort geography teacher educators identity roles and professional learning in a volatile uncertain complex and ambiguous world
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