The position of student teacher practitioner research in teacher education: teacher educators’ perspectives

Teacher education institutes generally assume that practitioner research in teacher education contributes to student teachers’ professional development as well as to school development and generalizable knowledge. As a consequence, the position of student teacher research in teacher education and its goals have become unclear. In this interview study, teacher educators’ perspectives on the goals of practitioner research for student teachers and the relations between these goals were investigated. Teacher educators shared the view that practitioner research can contribute to novice teachers’ professional development, particularly to the development of an inquiry stance. Teacher educators also mentioned several professional development goals and school development goals. The relations between these goals could be characterized as connections and consequences. Teacher educators mainly connected professional development goals and perceived school development goals as a possible consequence of professional development. This study can inform the discussion on the position of student teacher research in teacher education.