Back to school as a student teacher: Exploring tensions of a novice TESOL teacher educator's professional development through self-study

Teacher educators work in tertiary institutions and are largely involved in training pre-service and novice in-service teachers in initial teacher education programmes through teaching courses and supervising student teachers in the practicum. To cope with various challenges, teacher educators need to engage in ongoing professional development. Davey suggested ‘academisation’ of teacher education for schoolteachers’ transition to teacher educators. The demand for excellence in both research and teaching therefore can induce tremendous stress and cause anxiety to novice teacher educators in various fields of study. The concept of tensions offers a useful framework to explore teacher educators’ professional development in self-study research. The tensions for teacher educators to conduct self-study research for professional development have been discussed in a number of studies. Upon reflection, the tensions were created by the different views of effective teaching between the student teacher and the teaching practicum supervisor. Copyright © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Rui Yuan and Icy Lee; individual chapters, the contributors.