Els Consuegra

How to become a broker: the role of teacher educators in developing collaborative teacher research teams

ABSRACT This study explores how teacher educators involved in developing collaborative teacher research teams of pre-service and in-service teachers perceive their new role. Ten teacher educators in 9 teams were involved in a 1-year teacher research cycle. Thematic analysis was performed on the transcriptions of audio-taped group sessions, video diaries of the teacher educators, and field notes of the researcher. Three recurrent sub-roles of teacher educators as brokers between theory and practice were confirmed: researcher, coach, and mentor. A 4th sub-role as “learner” emerged from the data, stressing the preoccupation of teacher educators with their own professional development. The dynamics of teacher research teams shape the way teacher educators grow into their role as brokers: Teams with a high research disposition and self-regulation provide a better learning environment for teacher educators. We argue for the development of a systematic support programme for teacher educators who take on the role of broker.

The Relationship Between Youngsters’ Gender Role Attitudes and Individual, Home, and School Characteristics

Because of the importance of gender role attitudes (GRA) for both academic and social outcomes, it is crucial to understand how GRA is constructed and changes over time. A systematic literature review was conducted to look into the relationship between youngsters’ GRA and individual, home, and school characteristics. Thirty-five international studies were identified through searches in different databases. The review reveals that the studies mostly apply a deterministic view to studying the construction of GRA, focusing predominantly on parent–child transmission. Effects of the school environment and individuals’ own life experiences are under-studied. Also, data are mostly cross-sectional and leave little room for investigating evolutions of GRA over time. Suggestions for future research are formulated focusing on (a) a life-course approach that considers GRA as situated, experience-related, and therefore changing over time and (b) an intersectionality-informed approach investigating GRA at the intersects of multiple diversity dimensions.