Full Circle

Sometimes, we forget the reasons why we start on a journey--if we have any.  We may have a wonderful time and never need to remember why.  Other times, like a gift, those reasons are gently brought to our remembrance emerging unexpectedly in the depths of all our experiences--to make us feel fully reaffirmed.  When I began this journey in August 2012, very simply, I was searching for a way to become a better teacher--to improve my practice and my self-concept to impact my students learning.  Certainly, you might say, that there are simpler ways to achieve this.  And, you might be right.  But I know now, they wouldn’t be as profound.

Several weeks ago, I came full-circle to the reasons why I am doing this.  This came as a result of meeting with a teacher-researcher I had tracked down and simultaneously been referred to.  I called her in her home town of Kuoppio, told her who I was and who had referred me to her, that I had read some of her research and that I was hoping to meet her.  She was surprised.  Humble, gentle, and kind.  Weeks later found us together, in Jyvaskyla, where she had come to collaborate with another teacher she is writing a book with.

I expected to be able to ask her questions, but instead she was intensely interested in my work.  And foundationally, this was important to give--for our relationship and for her to understand my background knowledge and the intent and outcomes of my research.  I will always hold in my memory her words of fascination praising my understanding of research-based teacher education in Finland, “How long have you been studying this?”  When you admire someone, it’s hard not to remain untouched by their praise.

On a side note (and as attempt to record impressions and reflections for myself), I have realized that so much of my learning in Finland, like any situation, depends on my relationship to the person I am hoping to learn from.  And when I may not articulate all the right questions in the moment I’m given, because I have developed that relationship, I will always have a colleague I can write to when I return to the United States and remember that essential question I forgot to ask.  And, hopefully, vice versa.  My learning will not stop when I leave.

The conversation finally turned to why we were now sitting face-to-face and why she was essential to my work.  While all Finnish teachers are trained with research competencies, not all teachers in Finland choose to do research--this is one particular potential outcome, but not the primary goal of teacher training.  One product of my research plan is a case study of three teacher researchers; the goal of this case study is to understand why a teacher chooses to conduct research, how this impacts their practice in the classroom and how their teacher training impacts their ability to conduct research.  She is one of the teacher researchers.

Deep down in conversations about teacher education, educational researchers talk about things such as practical knowledge and tacit knowledge or personality and intelligence or agentic principles.  They argue about the teacher competencies necessary to develop in specific educational contexts and whether or not teachers should be allowed to function independently in practice.  They talk about things like morality and ethics and emotion and challenge.  They talk about selecting for personalities who will care about teaching and remain as teachers for the long-term.  And as a result, they talk about creating a respected profession that will draw candidates to an intellectually challenging career.

In my heart, I believe that teachers who choose to conduct research have an intrinsically unique set of motivational values and beliefs about education and the principles of education.  My case study is designed to elucidate this assumed phenomenon.  What causes a teacher to pursue research and why?

While I was talking to Elina, she said to me, as if speaking from my own heart, the implicit motivation she has for doing research is because it improves her self-concept or her belief in her own self-efficacy as a teacher.  This in turn impacts her students’ self-concept and their learning.  When she feels confident as a teacher, it can be seen affectively in her students.  And, she said to me, “I felt that when you began sharing about your interest in teacher research that this was the reason you were interested in teacher research from the very beginning--how a teacher can support her pupils learning and self-concept and how this is connected to a teacher's own self concept and her own professional growth.”  There it was, full circle, reaffirming.