Working the Third Space: Reformulating Practice in the Transition from Classroom Teacher to Teacher Educator

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy

Teacher educators’ working lives and identities remain under-researched in teacher education studies. This paper reports a collaborative narrative inquiry by three early career teacher educators who transition from school-based classroom practice to university teacher education roles. The authors examine technical “official stories” shaped by standards-based policies on teacher professionalism and propose “working the third space” to reframe teacher educators’ efforts. The article challenges reductive transfer narratives by articulating teacher education as a third space practice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages17

Reading Time43 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Transition into teacher education in higher education

Complexity of becoming a teacher educator

Paper focus and inquiry approach

Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 46 Issue 1 | Article 3 | | --- | --- | | 2021
Working the Third Space: Reformulating Practice in the Transition from Classroom Teacher to Teacher Educator
Fleur Diamond
Monash University, Australia, [fleur.diamond@monash.edu](fleur.diamond@monash.edu)
Stephanie Wescott
Monash University, Australia, [Stephanie.Wescott@monash.edu](Stephanie.Wescott@monash.edu)
Kristen Molloy
[kristen.d.molloy@gmail.com](kristen.d.molloy@gmail.com)
Follow this and additional works at: [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte)
Part of the Higher Education and Teaching Commons | | Recommended Citation Diamond, F., Wescott, S., & Molloy, K. (2021) . Working the Third Space: Reformulating Practice in the Transition from Classroom Teacher to Teacher Educator. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 46(1) . [http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.202v46n1.3](http://dx.doi.org/10.14221/ajte.202v46n1.3) [This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[ ](This Journal Article is posted at Research Online.)[https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss1/3](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol46/iss1/3) Working the Third Space: Reformulating Practice in the Transition from Classroom Teacher to Teacher Educator Fleur Diamond Monash University Stephanie Wescott Monash University Kristen Molloy Abstract: The working lives and identities ofteacher educators remain an under-researched aspect of teacher education. This paper reportson a collaborative narrative inquiry by three early career teacher educators as they made the transition from classroom practice in schools, to teacher education in a university setting. The authors confronted technical understandings, or ‘official stories’(Zukas & Malcolm, 2019) ofwhat it means to prepare prospective teachers, derived from contemporary standards-based policies about teacher professionalism. The paper proposes the concept of ‘working the third space’ as a way offraming teacher educators ’ efforts to draw upon classroom teaching experience while challenging reductive understandings of teachers’ work. We argue that understanding teacher education as a ‘third space’practice speaks back to narrow discourses of teacher education that frames it as the unproblematic transfer ofpractice from experienced to novice practitioner. Keywords: teacher education; teacher educators; professional identity; practice; third space Introduction Teacher educators remain an under-researched professional group (Martinez, 2008; Murray & Kosnik, 2011; Murray & Male, 2005; Ritter, 2007) . A common pathway into teacher education in a university setting is to take up a post after a career in classroom teaching. This move is often made alongside, or after, postgraduate studies in education (Berry, 2007, 2008 ; Dinkelman, Margolis & Sikkenga, 2006, 2006a; Murray & Male, 2005; Ritter, 2007) . Prior research on teacher educators’ transitions into careers in higher education has found that the process is beset with institutional and policy assumptions that the transition from classroom teacher to teacher educator will be relatively unproblematic. The literature notes that practice as a teacher may be considered sufficient preparation for practice as a teacher educator, despite evidence that teacher education demands overlapping yet distinct skills and capacities (Dinkelman et al., 2006; Korthagen et al., 2005; Ritter, 2007; Zeichner, 2005) . These assumptions are abetted by policy and media-political discourses that position teaching as reducible to techniques and the delivery of curriculum content (Berry, 2007; Korthagen et al., 2005; Loughran, 2006, 2011; Ritter, 2007; Zeichner, 2005 , 2014) . In these‘common sense’ understandings of teacher education and how one becomes a teacher educator, it is implied that the focus of teacher education is the transmission of teaching practices and

FAQs

What does the paper investigate about the transition from classroom teacher to teacher educator?

It examines how three early career teacher educators make the transition from classroom practice to university teacher education and how they draw on “practice” while questioning reductive understandings of teacher education.

What are “official stories” in the authors’ argument?

The paper contrasts technical “official stories” derived from standards-based policies about teacher professionalism with the complex and ambiguous status of “practice” in teacher education.

How does the concept of “working the third space” change how teacher education is understood?

It reframes teacher educators’ efforts as third space practice, speaking back to narrow discourses that portray teacher education as a simple, unproblematic transfer from experienced to novice practitioners.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Franzy