Christopher Spencer

In this paper the authors share experiences from teacher education in the UK and Denmark. They apply methodologies for supporting teacher students from initial exposure to the classroom setting, through training programmes and into the early stages of their professional work. They use Frankl’s notion of meaning making through encountering and doing deeds as eminent ways of creating meaning in education. They demonstrate how two similar but also different methods i.e. narrative inquiry and self- study can create basis for exposing meaning-making among teacher students and teacher educators. They conclude that within education meaning is created in the engagement with the world and the persons inhabiting this world.

In offering a reflection on my original 2008 study, “Teacher educator, go educate thyself: who teaches the teachers of teachers? Establishing a Model of Professional Formation for Teacher Educators in Further Education Colleges, I offer a reflection on dialogue held with educators of teachers in the UK, Canada, Holland, Australia and the USA. This process has led to insights into how they view the existence of Standards for Teacher Educators (or their absence) in relation to identifying appropriate opportunities for continuing personal and professional development. In particular, this reflective study considers how to maintain and continue to develop professional skills and knowledge.