Using Self-Study to Enhance the Teaching of Self-Study with Pre-Service Teachers

In this paper, a teacher educator discusses her experience of using self-study methodology to enhance her teaching of self-study to final year undergraduate students in a teacher education programme. The research aimed to explore how to enhance the teaching and learning of self-study. Despite the burgeoning popularity of self-study research amongst teacher educators, there is a dearth of research conducted on the teaching and learning of self-study and it has been embraced in a very limited fashion by pre-service teachers. The pre-service teachers that the researcher worked with were undertaking self-study research as it aligned with the requirements of their accreditation body that required that they investigate their own practice in a critically reflective manner. Using the self-study tools of an autobiography and reflective logs that explored teaching experiences, teaching tools and critical friend interactions, the researcher sought to examine her practice and develop it. The main findings of the study related to the need to support and scaffold the learners process in self-study so that they have a clear vision of how to complete a self-study. It also underlined the importance of positive interaction in the lecture hall while also developing interactivity skills needed to maximise the use of critical friends. As a self-study, this paper is highly contextual but is intended to provide valuable insights into the teaching and learning of self-study in higher education contexts.