Who Does Self-Study and Why?

Abstract

This editorial draws on Brandon Butler and Angela Branyon’s chapter in the International Handbook of Self-study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices for inspiration. As Butler and Branyon added, the work of self-study now extends beyond those contexts. Published self-studies now include teacher educators working in other contexts (e.g., school-based), and individuals whose primary role is not teacher education, but nevertheless whose work has an educational focus, including doctoral supervisors, administrators, and deans. While the ‘who’ of self-study is changing, the ‘why’ of self-study remains constant. Self-study offers a means for better understanding one’s self as educator and the relationship between self and practice; ‘as we study our practice and develop a deeper understanding of it, we become increasingly responsible for it’ (Pinnegar et al., 2020, p. 124). Our responsibility includes both the immediate and personal, as well as sharing and testing what we have learned with others, as Butler and Branyon (2020) describe: