Cinderella Academics: Teacher Educators in the Academy

Teacher educators are a diverse and essential part of the university workforce particularly in post-1992 universities in England. The majority of teacher educators have enjoyed successful careers as teachers and senior leaders in schools. However, their transition from school to university is fraught with difficulties. Inadequate induction to academia, particularly to academic research, coupled with their lack of experience of conducting research, renders them vulnerable within the performative culture of universities (Ellis, McNicholl, Blake, & McNally, 2014). The research landscape within higher education in England is competitive between and within universities. Research is a key element of teacher education (e.g., Burn & Mutton, 2013) and so it is vital that teacher educators engage with and become research active to advance knowledge of all aspects of education. However, new teacher educators are insufficiently supported to start their research journeys within higher education, leaving them on the margins of academe. This chapter reveals the findings of in-depth qualitative semi-structured interviews conducted in one university in North-West England illustrating the dilemma of teacher educators in higher education. The participants in the study explicate the ways in which their presence could be legitimated, for example, through the support of a mentor to lift their status to become research active academics and gain recognition and legitimation in academe.