Project

Teacher educators’ competences to deal with diversity: A South African and Flemish study

Code
3G047820
Duration
01 January 2020 → 31 December 2022
Funding
Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO)
Research disciplines
  • Social sciences
    • In service and workplace training
    • Teacher education and professional development of educators
    • Continuing education and lifelong learning
    • Inclusive and special education
    • Teacher training
 
Project description

Targeting key challenges the young field of research on teacher educators is confronted with, this project focuses on advancing theoretical and empirical knowledge on teacher educators’ competences to deal with diversity. First, this project combines two theoretical perspectives in an integrated conceptual framework to enhance understanding on teacher educators’ competences to deal with diversity: (1) the theoretical framework on teacher competences of Blömeke e.a. and (2) Bourdieu’s sociological theory on habitus, capital and field. Second, and in relation to this conceptual framework, the three inter-related research objectives (RO) are put forward. This research project aims to study: (1) teacher educators’ competences to deal with diversity (RO1); (2) the dynamic relations between teacher educators’ habitus, capital and field and teacher educators’ competences to deal with diversity (RO2); and (3) the development of teacher educators’ competences to deal with diversity by means of an intervention (RO3). Third, three empirical studies are proposed: (1) a large scale-survey study (n=1200) (Study 1); (2) a qualitative multiple case study (n=24) (Study 2), and (3) a mixed method intervention study (n=24) (Study 3). The complementarity of the involved project partners in this project is of pivotal importance. In this respect, this FWO-NRF project leans on the partners’ complementary expertise on a theoretical level, a methodological level, a staff level and a thematic level.