Conference Agenda

The quality of teachers has long been recognised as pivotal to both teaching quality and, consequently, student learning outcomes (European Commission, 2013). This recognition has increased the focus on teacher preparation and, in particular, on the essential role of teacher educators. Teacher educators contribute to the education of prospective teachers as well as to the continuing professional development of in service teachers, during induction and throughout their careers (European Commission, 2013; Czerniawski et al., 2017; White, 2019).
Over the past decade, research interest in the professional development of teacher educators has grown, particularly given the limited or absent formal preparation for this role (Zellermayer & Margolin, 2005; Van der Klink et al., 2017; Ping et al., 2018). The profession of teacher educators is not yet fully established: there is no clearly defined route into the role, nor are structured induction programmes common practice (Murray & Male, 2005). Most teacher educators enter the profession after working as school teachers or as researchers (Davey, 2013). However, little is known about how teacher educators across Europe experience the transition from school or research contexts into teacher education. Neither career path appears to fully prepare them for the challenges associated with the role, such as developing a new professional identity. Professional identity formation is considered a central process in becoming a teacher educator and is crucial for ongoing professional learning (Olsen & Buchanan, 2017). It is therefore important to explore ways of helping teacher educators become more aware of their identity development as a basis for supporting their professional growth.
A large-scale international study has shown that teacher educators report moderate satisfaction with their professional development opportunities but express a strong desire for continued learning, shaped by their contexts and evolving roles (Czerniawski et al., 2017). Previous research has emphasised the importance of self-initiated learning, research skills, and collaborative professional development for teacher educators (e.g., Guberman et al., 2021; Van der Klink et al., 2017). At the same time, teacher educators’ professional roles are changing in response to developments in teacher education systems—such as increased emphasis on research or stronger school–university partnerships. However, there is limited insight into how these roles are shifting across Europe.
This symposium brings together research projects conducted by experienced teacher educators working in diverse national contexts. These projects focus on teacher educators’ professional identity, their transition into the profession, and their evolving professional roles. All contributions were initiated during the InFo TED Academy 2025, a year-long initiative of the International Forum for Teacher Educator Development. The Academy brings together research of more than 30 school based and higher education based teacher educators from over ten European countries and beyond. Throughout the programme, participants collaboratively developed research projects related to teacher educators’ identity, work, and roles.
The symposium has a twofold aim: (1) to present the research findings in relation to teacher educators’ professional development, and (2) to stimulate reflection on the process of international collaboration among teacher educators. The session will include two short presentations, followed by an interactive activity designed by one of the research groups, and then two further presentations. The discussant will conclude by reflecting on the contributions and initiating a discussion on the insights of the study, and the value of cross-national collaboration among teacher educators.

Teacher educators’ professional identity is multilayered and often implicitly enacted in everyday practice (Rushton et al., 2023; Ahmad et al., 2019; Hökkä et al., 2017). Developing explicit awareness of this identity is, however, essential for ongoing professional learning and for strengthening teacher educators’ professional agency (Cochran-Smith et al., 2022; Paredes, 2020). Supporting teacher educators in making their professional identity visible and open to reflection is therefore crucial. Visual and dialogical approaches have been identified as promising means for articulating and reflecting on professional identity (Calvo, 2017; Foster-Fisher et al., 2005). This symposium contribution reports on a project conducted within an international InFo-TED Academy group in 2025. The project integrates three interconnected strands: teacher educators’ professional identity; reflective dialogue; and visualization. It explores how the visualization of professional identity, combined with structured reflective dialogue, can enhance identity awareness and support teacher educators’ professional development and agency. Central to this contribution is a workshop design in which participants create a personal visual representation of their professional identity as teacher educators, reflect on guiding prompts, and engage in peer dialogue about their visualizations. The workshop has two main aims: (a) to deepen participants’ reflection on their professional identity through visualization and dialogue and (b) to collect feedback on prototype prompts designed to scaffold reflective dialogue. The workshop consists of three phases. In the introductory phase, participants individually create a visualization of their professional identity, supported by a concise set of reflective questions. In the dialogue phase, participants discuss their visualizations in small groups, focusing on how professional identity is represented and using prototype dialogue prompts. In the final phase, participants’ experiences are situated within a theoretical framework that emphasizes the role of collective reflection on professional identity in professional development and agency. Participants are also invited to consider how the approach could be applied in their own contexts, including teacher educator professional development and teacher education programs. To examine the added value of the approach and refine the workshop design, the workshop was piloted during Augustus-December 2025 with groups of teacher educators in three countries (Belgium, Norway, The Netherlands). During the symposium, we present insights from these pilots, focusing on participants’ experiences with visualization and dialogue and on the prompts perceived as most supportive of reflection. These findings inform further refinement of the workshop and contribute to an emerging research agenda on visual and dialogical approaches to teacher educators’ professional identity development.

Ahmad, H., Shah, S. R., Latada, F., & Wahab, M. N. (2019). Teacher identity development in professional learning: An overview of theoretical frameworks. Bulletin of Advanced English Studies, 3(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.31559/baes2019.3.1.1 Bawankule, A. (2023). The role of mindmaps and visualizing personal futures to support identity development in informal maker education. (Doctoral dissertation, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign). Calvo, M. (2017), Reflective Drawing as a Tool for Reflection in Design Research. Int J Art Des Educ, 36: 261-272. https://doi.org/10.1111/jade.12161 Cochran-Smith, M., Craig, C. J., Orland-Barak, L., Cole, C., & Hill-Jackson, V. (2022). Agents, Agency, and Teacher Education. Journal of Teacher Education, 73(5), 445-448. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224871221123724 Foster-Fishman, P., Nowell, B., Deacon, Z., Nievar, M. A., & McCann, P. (2005). Using methods that matter: The impact of reflection, dialogue, and voice. American journal of community psychology, 36(3), 275-291. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-005-8626-y

Professional identity is a central aspect of educators’ professional development. Existing conceptualizations of professional identity frequently struggle to capture its dynamic, relational and context-sensitive nature. In response, this study introduces the Professional Identity (PI) Cube, a dialogical tool designed to address the complex nature of professional identity. Identity can be understood as the human capacity to differentiate and to assemble, or, as Jenkins (2008, p. 5) describes it, to know “‘who’s who’ (and hence ‘what’s what’)”. This broad definition enables us to conceptualize teacher educators as a professional group that shares the craft of teaching while simultaneously negotiating diverse roles, contexts and trajectories. From this perspective, professional identity is viewed as continuously evolving rather than as a fixed or stable construct. This presentation reports on a collaborative project involving six teacher educators working across European contexts, cultures and educational traditions. Adopting a relational ontological perspective, the project explores teacher educator professional identity development through dialogue. To support this inquiry, we designed the PI Cube, which builds on Davey’s (2013) five lenses for describing professional identity: becoming, doing, knowing, being and belonging. To extend this framework, we introduced a sixth, open lens that emerges through participants’ dialogue across the other five lenses. This open lens is highly personal, context-dependent and temporally situated, allowing it to change and unfold over time. The PI Cube was piloted in three workshop itineraries. First, the research team used the tool to explore their own professional identities. Second, teacher educator colleagues in Estonia engaged with the PI Cube. Third, the tool was used with 80 Basque student teachers. Findings from this final pilot indicate the value of engaging teacher educators in explicit professional identity work, particularly in relation to teaching about professional identity in teacher education (Loughran, 2014; Murray & Male, 2005) and in connecting practical and theoretical experiences (Graus et al., 2022). Building on these insights, the next phase of the project (2026) focuses on an in-depth exploration of the dialogue between the five predefined lenses and the unfolding open lens. The guiding analytical questions are: What leads to the emergence and visualization of the open lens? How does visualization as a mode of expression expand understandings of professional identity? Data will be generated through PI Cube workshops with teacher educators and student teachers, supported by a semi-structured survey and visual artefacts of participants’ cubes. Ethical approval has been applied for at NTNU, Norway.

Davey, R., & Davey, R. (2013). The professional identity of teacher educators: career on the cusp? (1st ed.). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203584934 Graus, M., van de Broek, A., Hennissen, P., & Schils, T. (2022). Disentangling aspects of teacher identity learning from reflective blogs: The development of a category system. Teaching and Teacher Education, 111, 103624. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103624 Jenkins, Richard. Social Identity. 3rd ed. London: Routledge, 2008. Web. Loughran, J. (2014). Professionally Developing as a Teacher Educator. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(4), 271-283. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487114533386 Murray, J., & Male, T. (2005). Becoming a teacher educator: evidence from the field. Teaching and Teacher Education, 21(2), 125-142. https://doi.org/http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2004.12.006

Across Europe, the transition into the role of Teacher Educator (TE) remains a largely under-researched professional shift, with many describing teacher education as a “hidden profession.” The move from school teaching into teacher education entails not only new responsibilities but also the development of a re-imagined professional identity, negotiated within distinct institutional, cultural, and national landscapes. This study investigates these transitions and explores how beginning TEs understand, navigate, and position themselves within new communities of practice. Building on established scholarship in teacher educator identity formation and professional growth (Berry, 2009; Izadinia, 2014; Czerniawski et al., 2017; Korthagen, 2016), the study recognises that becoming a TE is seldom linear. It often involves tensions between prior identities and emerging expectations, requiring individuals to renegotiate professional values, pedagogical orientations, and their sense of legitimacy. International comparative work (Van der Klink et al., 2017) further informs our exploration of how these identity trajectories differ across European contexts, particularly between school-based TEs and institute-based TEs. The research employs qualitative methods, drawing on reflective blogs and podcasts generated by Teacher Educators from five countries in the InFo-TED network. This enables rich insight into lived experiences, capturing transitional milestones, critical incidents, and perceived gaps in induction and ongoing professional learning. Thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2012) is used to identify cross-national patterns and divergences. Emerging findings reveal the centrality of formal and informal communities of practice in scaffolding the early stages of TE identity development. These communities support the acquisition of tacit knowledge, help individuals articulate their developing TE persona, and provide validation during periods of uncertainty. Our analysis suggests that sustained participation in such communities is a key indicator of professional confidence and longer-term establishment within the TE field. The study highlights ongoing challenges, including the lack of coherent induction pathways, limited recognition of the TE role within some national systems, and the uneven provision of structured professional development. These findings align with issues raised in the collaborative proposal discussions amongst the author team and emphasize the need for systemic approaches to supporting new TEs throughout their careers. We conclude by advocating for career-long professional development frameworks, enhanced visibility for Teacher Educators as a distinct professional group, and the cultivation of transnational networks that foster shared learning and professional renewal. The study contributes to a growing European conversation on strengthening the TE profession and calls for institutions and policymakers to prioritise sustainable, relational models of support.

Berry, A. (2009) Professional self‐understanding as expertise in teaching about teaching. Teachers and Teaching: theory and practice, 15(2), 305-318. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540600902875365 Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2012). Thematic analysis. In H. Cooper, P. M. Camic, D. L. Long, A. T. Panter, D. Rindskopf, & K. J. Sher (Eds.), APA handbook of research methods in psychology, Vol. 2. Research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, neuropsychological, and biological (pp. 57–71). American Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/13620-004 Czerniawski, G., Guberman, A., & MacPhail, A. (2017). The professional developmental needs of higher education-based teacher educators: an international comparative needs analysis. European Journal of Teacher Education, 40(1), 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2016.1246528. Izadinia, M. (2014). Teacher educators’ identity: a review of literature. European Journal of Teacher Education, 37(4), 426–441. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2014.947025. Korthagen, F. A. J. (2016). Pedagogy of Teacher Education. In J. Loughran, & M. L. Hamilton (Hrsg.), International Handbook of Teacher Education. (S. 311–346). Springer Singapore. Van der Klink, M., Kools, Q., Avissar, G., White, S., & Sakata, T. (2017). Professional development of teacher educators: what do they do? Findings from an explorative international study. Professional Development in Education, 43(2), 163–178. https://doi.org/10.1080/19415257.2015.1114506.

Research indicates that increasingly teacher education has become a profession under pressure. These pressures are caused by teacher shortages and the high quality demands placed on teacher education (Flores, 2023). In this context, it is vital to engage with the quality of teacher educators however this occupational group is difficult to define and identify (White, 2019; Van der Klink et al., 2017). Therefore, in this study we aimed to gain insight into the professional roles of teacher educators, the possible combination of roles, and the shifts in these professional roles. In their 2015 review study Dengerink et al. (2015) studied the professional roles of teacher educators and the characterization of these roles. They included empirical studies published until 2011. This research grew out of a need to reexamine the changing roles of teacher educators and to contribute to an evolving understanding of teacher education in a world in transition. Our main research question was: What are the roles of teacher educators in their current practice in five cross-national contexts (the Netherlands, Norway, Estonia, Scotland and the US)? What new professional roles do teacher educators identify as relevant for their practice? Based on the work of Dengerink et al (2015) we developed a semi-structured survey. The quality of the survey was extensively discussed among the 5 researchers and piloted in each national context. Ethical approval for the survey was granted by NTNU, Norway. The survey was spread to higher education based and school-based teacher educators in five different national contexts, resulting in an overall response of over 500. Both quantitative and qualitative analyses were performed to come to results. Main findings show a considerable diversity in combination of roles. First, all teacher educators indicated that they performed multiple roles in their current work practice. Second, there were differences between institute-based and school-based teacher educators, with the first performing more diverse roles than the second. Third, there were significant differences between countries, one important difference related to the professional role of researcher which was most prominent in Norway and least prominent in the Netherlands. Finally, based on the open questions, we found a large variety of roles including teacher educators indicating that increasingly they play a role in induction and professional development of in-service teachers. In our discussion we focus on future research we aim to perform and implications of this study for the professional development of teacher educators.

Dengerink, J., Lunenberg, M., & Korthagen, F. (2015). The professional teacher educator: Six roles. Beiträge zur Lehrerinnen-und Lehrerbildung, 33(3), 334-344. Flores, M. A. (2023). Teacher education in times of crisis: enhancing or deprofessionalising the teaching profession?. European Journal of Teacher Education, 46(2), 199-202. Van der Klink, M., Kools, Q., Avissar, G., White, S., & Sakata, T. (2017). Professional development of teacher educators: What do they do? Findings from an explorative international study. Professional development in education, 43(2), 163-178. White, S., 2019. Teacher educators for new times? Redefining an important occupational group. Journal of Education for Teaching, 45(2), 200-213.