What Counts as Evidence in Self-Studies of Teacher Education Practices

Abstract

Answers to this question depend on what you and I are looking for and the contextual influences in our ways of seeing. Each reader could be looking for something different. My gaze is focused on evidence from the self-studies of teacher education practices that show contributions to the growth of educational knowledge. These contributions include my own self-study 'How do I improve what I'm doing?' as a teacher-educator and educational researcher at the University of Bath between 1973-2003. I will undoubtedly bring some of my biases as a white, middle-class male, working in the Academy, into this inquiry. However, I have learnt much about my own biases from the inquiries of others who work with different perspectives to my own. My analysis of this learning is focused on the evidence of five kinds of contribution to the growth of educational knowledge. These contributions are to educational theory, to educational standards of judgment, to educational research methodologies, to the logic of educational enquiries and to understandings of educational influence. The evidence for understanding educational influence is considered in the education of the s-step researcher, in the education of others, and in the education of social formation.