Becoming a teacher educator through being a student teacher: an autoethnography in the practicum

This In Practice paper reports on an autoethnographic study based on the author’s 12-week teaching practicum experience in two secondary schools in an initial teacher education programme to professionally develop himself as a teacher educator. As a novice teacher educator, the author took on the role as a student teacher in the practicum. Through ongoing dialogues with different stakeholders in schools and the author’s own reflective self, the practicum experience provided an opportunity for the author to understand the tension between theory and practice, learn to give feedback as a teaching practicum supervisor and facilitate the development of schools. This paper offers implications on the benefits of engaging in self-study such as autoethnography in the school context for novice teacher educators to understand the educational reality and professional lives of schoolteachers as well as professionally develop themselves in their teacher education career.