A Collaborative and Poetic Self-Study of Transformative Learning, Professional Identity, and Teaching in Academe

ABSTRACT This self-study of teacher education practices (S-STEP) is a collaborative analytical autoethnography (CAAE) of four colleagues, represented in the text as the Poet and alter ego ‘Other’, alongside three critical friends. We drew on an arts-based approach, merging three genres: poetry, theatre, and narrative (story-telling). With this teacher self-study CAAE, our purpose was to investigate vulnerable self and professional identity as teachers of pre-service practitioners and research scholars imbued with the philosophy of transformative learning. The conceptual model developed for this process represents the flow among professional identity, teaching practice, and transformative learning. Our self-study narratives suggest an evolution of professional identity in three critical periods: early adolescence, interest; late adolescence, commitment; and adulthood, practice. Our CAAE S-STEP contributes to the literature by providing an innovative example of an arts-based approach employing poetry as a dialogic process for teacher educator self-study, to improve teaching practices. Here, we have expanded poetic inquiry to a poly-voiced Greek play with poetry threading throughout the play as a reflexive dialogue with Other. In addition, this study of teacher education incorporates a trans-disciplinary, multi-vocal dialogic approach to collaborative reflection of teachers of pre-service professionals (teachers, social workers, and health promotion practitioners) that supports both individual and collective perspectives, with significant implications for local, regional, and international collaborations.