The limits of the research-teaching nexus: how teacher educators drawn from English literary studies view literature education research

Teacher educators play a crucial role in the educational research-teaching nexus, making it important to understand how they view research that bridges a subject discipline with school teaching, as well as how they use this research in initial teacher education (ITE). The present study contributes to this understanding by spotlighting the views of a cadre of teacher educators specialising in a subject discipline. Based on in-depth interviews with 21 teacher educators drawn from English literary studies in Sweden, this qualitative study examines how English literary scholars view literature education research and its usefulness in ITE. It shows that participants regarded their educational research literacy as limited, predominantly held a negative view of literature education research and were often disinclined to include this research in their courses. The study points to challenges of realising the close relation between educational research and teaching, offering important implications for ITE stakeholders.