Teacher educators' professional development: the development of a researcherly disposition

From the beginning of the 21st century the need for professional development of teacher educators is internationally growing and recognized in research literature (Loughran, 2014; Lunenberg et. al, 2014). In this context, a majority of studies have increasingly emphasized teacher educators’ responsibility to become teacher educator-researchers (Lunenberg et al., 2014; Tack & Vanderlinde, 2014). Taking into account the explicit focus on the development of teacher educators’ role as a researcher (Loughran, 2014), this paper aims to (1) present the development of a researcherly disposition as a promising direction to enhance teacher educators’ professional development; and (2) discuss the development of a measurement instrument to measure teacher educators’ researcherly disposition.Based on the available literature in the field, we first define teacher educators’ researcherly disposition as the habit of mind to engage in research with the twofold goal of improving your own practice and knowledge about teacher education, and also to contribute to the broader knowledge-base on teacher education (Tack & Vanderlinde, 2014). This researcherly disposition involves three inter-related aspects: an affective aspect, a cognitive aspect and a behavioural aspect. Next, the results of the development of a measurement instrument to empirically assess and describe teacher educators’ researcherly disposition are presented. Questionnaire data were collected from a sample of 812 teacher educators. EFA, CFA and reliability analysis were conducted on the data. The results indicate a three-factor solution with 18 items. The factors can be labelled as: (1) Conducting research as a teacher educator, (2) Valuing research as a teacher educator and (3) Being a smart consumer of research. This paper furthers our understanding on teacher educators’ professional development by conceptualizing it as the development of a researcherly disposition and by discussing its operationalisation in a measurement instrument. In this respect, this contribution addresses an international widely recognized research problem, which is the lack of knowledge on teacher educators’ professional development (Loughran, 2014; Lunenberg et. al, 2014). In addition, this study has significant implications for future policy and practice focussing on the support and improvement of teacher educators’ professional learning.From the beginning of the 21st century the need for professional development of teacher educators is internationally growing and recognized in research literature (Loughran, 2014; Lunenberg et. al, 2014). In this context, a majority of studies have increasingly emphasized teacher educators’ responsibility to become teacher educator-researchers (Lunenberg et al., 2014; Tack & Vanderlinde, 2014). Taking into account the explicit focus on the development of teacher educators’ role as a researcher (Loughran, 2014), this paper aims to (1) present the development of a researcherly disposition as a promising direction to enhance teacher educators’ professional development; and (2) discuss the development of a measurement instrument to measure teacher educators’ researcherly disposition.Based on the available literature in the field, we first define teacher educators’ researcherly disposition as the habit of mind to engage in research with the twofold goal of improving your own practice and knowledge about teacher education, and also to contribute to the broader knowledge-base on teacher education (Tack & Vanderlinde, 2014). This researcherly disposition involves three inter-related aspects: an affective aspect, a cognitive aspect and a behavioural aspect. Next, the results of the development of a measurement instrument to empirically assess and describe teacher educators’ researcherly disposition are presented. Questionnaire data were collected from a sample of 812 teacher educators. EFA, CFA and reliability analysis were conducted on the data. The results indicate a three-factor solution with 18 items. The factors can be labelled as: (1) Conducting research as a teacher educator, (2) Valuing research as a teacher educator and (3) Being a smart consumer of research. This paper furthers our understanding on teacher educators’ professional development by conceptualizing it as the development of a researcherly disposition and by discussing its operationalisation in a measurement instrument. In this respect, this contribution addresses an international widely recognized research problem, which is the lack of knowledge on teacher educators’ professional development (Loughran, 2014; Lunenberg et. al, 2014). In addition, this study has significant implications for future policy and practice focussing on the support and improvement of teacher educators’ professional learning.C