Forming a teacher educator identity: uncertain standards, practice and relationships

Drawing on his own experience as an illustrative case, the author examines the interplay of external influences and internal sense-making to explore aspects of teacher educator identity. Framed by attention to institutional, discursive and affinity perspectives on identity development, he argues that research and practice contexts in research-intensive schools and colleges of education in the USA contribute to uncertain conditions for the development of professional identity in the field of teacher education. Given an environment that sends mixed messages about the standards that most matter to knowing and acting in teacher education, teacher educators are encouraged to recognise their agency in claiming a sense of professional self, work with colleagues and students to cultivate deliberative inquiry spaces to shed light on the mystery of university-based teacher education, and explore the relationships embedded in the practice of teacher education that prompt recognition of what it means to be a teacher educator.