“Building bridges” between school and teacher education

The epistemic boundary work of hybrid educators

Abstract

This article explores how teacher educators create knowledge relations between schools and higher education-based teacher education by foregrounding the work of hybrid educators. With employment both as schoolteachers and as teacher educators, hybrid educators provide an interesting case to study the work of professionals who are associated with an expectation of “building bridges” between two knowledge domains. Based on observational data and interviews with hybrid educators and teacher education leaders, the findings illuminate different epistemic aspects of hybrid educators’ boundary work as they work to connect with—or disconnect from—theory and research, how they mobilise school-based knowledge, how they create knowledge relations, and how they negotiate tensions. The findings identify the importance of clarifying demands and expectations for those working at teacher education boundaries, and to include hybrid educators in established research practices on campus. The article discusses the potential in better utilising the different expertise that hybrid educators bring to campus-based teacher education.