**4. Methodology of self-study**

As previously mentioned, Bullough and Pinnegar [20] point out that self-study is not a recipe or a procedure, but rather a methodology. Pinnegar [42] highlights the fact that self-study is a methodology for studying the professional practices of teacher educators, and that there is no particular method or correct way to conduct self-study. Rather, what determines how a self-study is conducted depends on which focus area of practice that is wanted to be better understood and developed. Pinnegar [42] offers a way to understand the methodological when she states:

*"while the methods and methodologies of self-study are not much different from other research methods, self-study is methodologically unique … self-studies involves a different philosophical and political stance … researchers who embrace self-study through the simple act of choosing to study their own practice, present an alternative representation of the relationship of the researcher and the researched … as they explore the development of understanding practice" (p. 31–32).*

Therefore, it is crucial when considering how to approach the self-study to be aware of the continuous interplay between research and practice in the practice context [31]. This means i.e., as the research unfolds, learning and development through research will affect the practice, and because the practitioner is the researcher, the practice will inevitably change as a result of this interaction and thus affect what is being researched. According to Feldman [43] and Loughran [44], a persistent criticism related to self-study is the lack of methodological rigor and transparency. LaBoskey [45] presents insightful perspectives into the methodology of self-study, outlining what she sees as four integrated aspects.

The first aspect is that self-study aims to create changes and improvements, both at the individual, the collective and at the institutional level. In addition, one of the purposes of self-study is to bring in new knowledge and development related to the education of teachers. Therefore, it is necessary that self-study thoroughly elucidates and justifies choices made, and studies should point to changes or new structures in thinking, learning- and development processes and actions. It is also important in the studies to highlight how and why changes and improvements occurred. The second aspect is about the interactivity in self-study. Interactivity is connected to interaction with colleagues, with students, with literature and research in the field and the interaction with our own previous practice. According to Zeichner [46], there is an especially important link between the researcher and the students. Students are important participants and must be actively involved in self-studies. Students will be the researcher's "mirror" of what happens in the processes of information, feedback and advice related to teaching and processes, development, learning and their understanding. Pinnegar and Quiles-Fernández [47] point out the importance of building good relationships between researchers in self-studies that takes place in a research collaboration with other researchers. Hauge [35] emphasize that relationships between researchers and teachers based on trust, respect and equality contribute to; delve deeper into the topics being investigated, dare to ask the difficult questions and being critical, creates a lower threshold for trying out and experimenting with new approaches, and this enables them to have a deeper understanding of what is being studied.

The third aspect is that self-study uses several, primarily qualitative methods. Some of these methods are often used in educational research and intervention research, while some methods may have a more innovative character. An essential purpose of methods of an innovative character, or what Engeström and Sannino describe as expansive learning, is about thinking new, experimenting, trying new approaches, and, it is an opportunity to develop "something that is not yet there" ([48], p. 2). The methodological aspect is, as mentioned, a controversial area within self-study (both by researchers who have completed self-study and others who are more critical), and although there has been development, refinement and demarcation in the field, the one correct way or template for self-studies has not emerged. Rather, self-study tends to be methodologically framed through questions, challenges, problems and desires related to areas in practice which should be changed and developed, and where the method most appropriate for examining and collecting data is used according to the study's intent. The fourth aspect is about the need to formalize the work and make it available to the professional community (i.e other researchers in self-study and teacher education research). For self-study to be examples of the development of knowledge and practice, they must be intelligible to other researchers in self-study / teacher education research and to teacher educators, reflective over the human actions, and they must be socially and contextually situated. In addition, the researcher who completed the study must engage and guide the reader into examining aspects of the study related to teaching and learning by elucidating experiences and situations, and the research (text)

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revealed in the study.

*Self-Study Research: Challenges and Opportunities in Teacher Education*

must involve the researcher, the author's "self". This means that the researcher must show who he / she is in this landscape by illuminating thoughts, opinions, interpretations, actions, development, and it must involve the construction of meaning and knowledge. In other words: a self-study should not only describe the development of meaning and knowledge, but the moral dimension that involves the researcher's "self" must be brought into the research. Together, these four aspects demonstrate an expectation that learning and knowledge development from self-studies will not only be informative to the individual who completed the study, but also meaningful

A basic starting point in all empirical research is to choose the research design and the methods that are best suited to illuminate and answer the research questions [49]. It is thus the research questions that lay the foundation for the choice of design and methods for the research. To map, reconstruct, explore, analyze, develop and represent the study to a wider audience, self-study researchers use "whatever methods will provide the needed evidence and context for understanding their practice" ([50], p. 240). To show that self-studies borrows its repertoire of research methods and strategies from empirical-analytical and/or qualitativeinterpretive research, some examples of self-study is presented below. The method-

There are many teacher educators who are concerned about the impact of specific pedagogical interventions have on teacher students´ learning and development, and there can be various reasons to investigate one's own practice. To initiate discussions and reflections among students related to her methods in mathematics teaching, Brandenburg [51] organized short weekly *Round Table Reflection* sessions. The intention was to improve the students´ reflective thinking and to investigate whether her teaching created meaning and understanding, and whether the methods were good approaches for these students. A study conducted by Dourneen and Matthewman [52] analyzed how two student teachers´ transformed an education course on ICT in their internship lessons in a school through *videotaping the lessons*. The purpose was to identify what the students emphasized in their teaching, and how the teacher educators´ didactic approach affected the students and to create a focus for their ongoing improvements in practice with teacher students. In a study of Dinkelman [53], the starting point was an incident in his classroom where a student stated that she did not feel safe or could speak freely in this classroom. To investigate what this was about, a number of *individual interviews* with students´ in the class were conducted. In the interviews, several students appeared who felt insecure and lacked openness to speak freely in class, and the students pointed out that the reason was largely about the teacher's facial expression was perceived by some as judgmental. Although open classroom discourse were an important goal and a personal value in his teaching, there was something in his demeanor and behavior that placed restrictions on its implementation. This is what Whitehaed [27] describes as perceiving oneself as a "living contradiction", which in this case is about valuing one thing but showing something else. Dinkleman's study also show that those who complete a self-study must be able to cope with and handle what is

Berry and Forgasz [40] have conducted a study based on Clandinin and Connelly's [54] metaphor of "professional knowledge landscape" as a support for conceptualizing teachers' professional knowledge. This "landscape" consists of two fundamentally different places: one is in the classroom with students, and the other is in professional places with others (colleagues, administrators, etc.). At the

and useful for other researchers and teacher educators in their practice.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96252*

**4.1 Methods for self-study in practice**

ological approaches are highlighted in italics.

#### *Self-Study Research: Challenges and Opportunities in Teacher Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96252*

must involve the researcher, the author's "self". This means that the researcher must show who he / she is in this landscape by illuminating thoughts, opinions, interpretations, actions, development, and it must involve the construction of meaning and knowledge. In other words: a self-study should not only describe the development of meaning and knowledge, but the moral dimension that involves the researcher's "self" must be brought into the research. Together, these four aspects demonstrate an expectation that learning and knowledge development from self-studies will not only be informative to the individual who completed the study, but also meaningful and useful for other researchers and teacher educators in their practice.

#### **4.1 Methods for self-study in practice**

A basic starting point in all empirical research is to choose the research design and the methods that are best suited to illuminate and answer the research questions [49]. It is thus the research questions that lay the foundation for the choice of design and methods for the research. To map, reconstruct, explore, analyze, develop and represent the study to a wider audience, self-study researchers use "whatever methods will provide the needed evidence and context for understanding their practice" ([50], p. 240). To show that self-studies borrows its repertoire of research methods and strategies from empirical-analytical and/or qualitativeinterpretive research, some examples of self-study is presented below. The methodological approaches are highlighted in italics.

There are many teacher educators who are concerned about the impact of specific pedagogical interventions have on teacher students´ learning and development, and there can be various reasons to investigate one's own practice. To initiate discussions and reflections among students related to her methods in mathematics teaching, Brandenburg [51] organized short weekly *Round Table Reflection* sessions. The intention was to improve the students´ reflective thinking and to investigate whether her teaching created meaning and understanding, and whether the methods were good approaches for these students. A study conducted by Dourneen and Matthewman [52] analyzed how two student teachers´ transformed an education course on ICT in their internship lessons in a school through *videotaping the lessons*. The purpose was to identify what the students emphasized in their teaching, and how the teacher educators´ didactic approach affected the students and to create a focus for their ongoing improvements in practice with teacher students. In a study of Dinkelman [53], the starting point was an incident in his classroom where a student stated that she did not feel safe or could speak freely in this classroom. To investigate what this was about, a number of *individual interviews* with students´ in the class were conducted. In the interviews, several students appeared who felt insecure and lacked openness to speak freely in class, and the students pointed out that the reason was largely about the teacher's facial expression was perceived by some as judgmental. Although open classroom discourse were an important goal and a personal value in his teaching, there was something in his demeanor and behavior that placed restrictions on its implementation. This is what Whitehaed [27] describes as perceiving oneself as a "living contradiction", which in this case is about valuing one thing but showing something else. Dinkleman's study also show that those who complete a self-study must be able to cope with and handle what is revealed in the study.

Berry and Forgasz [40] have conducted a study based on Clandinin and Connelly's [54] metaphor of "professional knowledge landscape" as a support for conceptualizing teachers' professional knowledge. This "landscape" consists of two fundamentally different places: one is in the classroom with students, and the other is in professional places with others (colleagues, administrators, etc.). At the intersection of these rooms, *the secret lived stories of practice*, teachers can learn to both tell and live their professional knowledge, while at the same time having the opportunity to reconstruct and adjust their professional knowledge. The broader landscape of teachers' professional knowledge, on the other hand, is full of imposed prescriptions on teaching, *the sacred stories*. Sacred stories are "pulled down" to teachers by a number of seemingly undeniable external authorities, including researchers and policy makers. By disseminating their *secret lived stories*, it was a goal for Berry and Forgasz [40] to find out how articulation and disclosure of own *secret stories* of teaching to colleagues could contribute to a broader and more pedagogical understanding of teacher education practices and at the same time be critical of the *sacred stories* of teaching.

In a study by Vanassche and Keltchermans [24], six teacher educators worked with their professional development in a two-year period where they had monthly meetings. Vanassche and Keltchermans facilitated the study and the monthly meetings, and the six participants made their own research questions related to focus in their professional development. The study was a formative intervention study based on a research collaboration between researchers and participants, where the goal was to create development and understanding of the teacher educators´ practice for both parties, both the facilitators and the teacher educators. The intention of formative intervention research is to carry out interventions to promote change and improvement, and development and research take place in parallel [48], which means that research is carried out on the ongoing development processes while the study is in progress. In order to bring out tensions and contradictions between the teacher educators´ practices and their normative beliefs, *"mirror data"* was collected as a basis for systematic discussions and reflections. According to Cole and Engeström [55], "mirror data" will act as a collective mirror on the participants practice, and the data literally "hold up the mirror". The mirror data included: *videorecordings of lessons with student-teachers´, teacher educators´ staff meetings, observations of teaching and internship evaluation reports.*

Smith and Krumsvik [56] conducted a self-study in teacher education where they searched for weak points in their own pedagogy teaching. An essential part of the study was the teacher educators´ reflection processes. The methods used to collect data for the reflection processes were video recordings of lectures with many students present and seminars with a small group of students. In addition, the teacher educators´ log notes were part of the data base. The video recording became the empirical basis for searching for weak points in the teaching. Based on the video recordings and log notes, the reflection processes were first carried out on an individual level, then they reflected together, before showing the video recordings and discussing the reflections with all the other colleagues in the department of pedagogy. In this study, *video recordings* and *log notes* are used for thorough *individual reflections, reflections in pairs*, and to invite an ever-expanding audience to participate in the reflection processes related to the two teacher educators´ learning process.

An important point that large parts of the literature in self-study agree on is the need for self-study to be a collaborative process (e.g. multiple chapters in the *International handbook of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices*: [10, 20, 45]). Freese [57] conducted a two years self-study collaborating with one student teacher aiming at a better understanding of the complexities of learning to teach, and which specific tasks and activities could contribute to teacher students´ growth and development. Another goal of this study was to discover "oneself" as a teacher through reflection and an inquiry approach in collaboration. In this study, *discussions and reflections* (*audio-recorded*) related to growth and development for both parties, in addition to finding themselves as teachers` were essential methods.

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*Self-Study Research: Challenges and Opportunities in Teacher Education*

Koster and van den Berg [58] have conducted a study that focuses on how teachers who participated in a Master's degree study of learning and innovation can explore their professional identity. One of the methods used in this study was a *biographical* approach [59]. There are different approaches to a biographical approach, but here a constructivist approach was used where the students actively constructed

What emerges in these different examples from different self-studies is that it does not involve following a recipe or a fixed procedure, but that there are many different methodological approaches. What determines which methodological measures self-study the researcher should take depends on the focus of the study, what is to be investigated and what is the goal and purpose of the study [42]. Until now, it has been tried to illuminate and describe what self-studies is and what makes self-studies special in terms of methodological approaches. In the following, some challenges and opportunities related to self-study will be highlighted in order to

The discussion related to challenges in self-study research could have been an article in itself, but here three challenges will be highlighted: 1) the challenge of the self-critical nature of one's own work and practice, 2) the requirement for quality,

Being able to ask "serious" critical questions about own actions and existing interpretations and assumptions is difficult when exploring and investigating own practice and experiences [31, 60]. There is a risk that the learning that comes out of a self-study just becomes a pseudonym for rationalization or self-justification. One of the core elements of self-study is about being informed to a greater extent about and developing own practice through adopting a reflective attitude towards own teaching. A vital feature of reflective teaching involves having a critical view on practice and a critical look at existing assumed assumptions related to various aspects of the educational process. In the field of teacher education there is a widespread agreement that there is a strong relationship between what a teacher believes and how teaching occurs in the classroom [45]. Thus, in order to influence practice, teachers´ thinking about teaching must be transformed and critical questions must be asked about what is being done [45]. But, for various reasons this is easier said than done. Firstly, this is due to the fact that our beliefs, values and knowledge about teaching are derived from our experiences and our personal history which is necessarily limited. Secondly, many of these assumptions are implicit, which means they have never been articulated, not even for us self [61]. It is also a fact that some of these ideas and beliefs about teaching are deeply ingrained in us and intimately connected to our identities as teachers and teacher educators [45]. For these reasons, it can therefore be challenging to ask critical and constructive questions

Another challenge, according to Vanassche and Keltchermans [24] is related to the tensions between the relevance of self-study and methodological rigor. In other words, a question of quality and what requirements are placed on quality for a self-study. Self-studies are inevitable in this field of tensions and it is a direct consequence of its dual research agenda. One the one hand, the requirements to contribute to professional development and improvements in practice, and on the other hand the development of a public and accessible knowledge base in teacher

and 3) the tensions between efficiency and understanding.

their career experiences into a story that became meaningful to them.

*DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96252*

study and develop own practice.

**5.1 Challenges**

**5. Challenges and opportunities**

related to one's own teaching and practice.

#### *Self-Study Research: Challenges and Opportunities in Teacher Education DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.96252*

Koster and van den Berg [58] have conducted a study that focuses on how teachers who participated in a Master's degree study of learning and innovation can explore their professional identity. One of the methods used in this study was a *biographical* approach [59]. There are different approaches to a biographical approach, but here a constructivist approach was used where the students actively constructed their career experiences into a story that became meaningful to them.

What emerges in these different examples from different self-studies is that it does not involve following a recipe or a fixed procedure, but that there are many different methodological approaches. What determines which methodological measures self-study the researcher should take depends on the focus of the study, what is to be investigated and what is the goal and purpose of the study [42]. Until now, it has been tried to illuminate and describe what self-studies is and what makes self-studies special in terms of methodological approaches. In the following, some challenges and opportunities related to self-study will be highlighted in order to study and develop own practice.
