The Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP)
International Biennial Castle Conference
Call for Proposals
Pausing At the Threshold:
Opportunity through, with, and for Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices
Opportunity through, with, and for Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices
Call Details:
Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP), a special interest group of AERA, invites you to participate in the 2022 Castle Conference. All proposals are welcomed, and membership in S-STEP is not required for proposal submission. If you are interested in opportunities to interact with educators who are working on the problems of education through the study of their own practices, then the Castle Conference is an event for you.
To engage in S-STEP is to engage in a search for pedagogic turning points or threshold opportunities that can enrich personal understanding of practice through raising new possibilities, perspectives, and discourses (Hamilton et al., 2020). The theme for the Castle 2022 biennial meeting asks self-study researchers to mindfully pause and purposefully reflect as to how we might realize the contributions the Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education (S-STTEP) community has made, is making, and could make to different communities and audiences. Drawing from the metaphors of threshold and becoming, we invite the S-STTEP community to explore the “powerful potential for speaking and contributing” (Berry, 2020, p. 4) to teacher education and to broader communities of practice and audiences.
Figuratively, a threshold …. signifies a place of transition or turning point. It can be a productive place, a space of tension, and also of
potential and opportunity. For the work of S-STTEP, this threshold moment represents both enduring and new challenges …. the current
pressing issue for the S-STTEP community--and what may be seen as its threshold of opportunity -- is in realizing its powerful potential for speaking and contributing to different communities and audiences. While the benefit of self-study in supporting teacher educators to recognize and value their own professional knowledge continues to serve a vital purpose, there are others external to the self-study community who can profit from the knowledge and understandings developed through self-studies of practice. (Berry, 2020, p. 4)
Recognizing that our individual S-STEP researcher identities are always becoming (Berry, 2020) we wonder how and in what ways our collective S-STEP identity may be ever emergent and always becoming. Drawing from the work of Deluze and Guattari (1987), the metaphor of becoming “represents multiple and constantly emerging selves, located within complex, ever-changing contexts” (Berry, 2020, p. 8). We envision the 2022 Castle Conference as a dynamic nexus of S-STEP past and the present; of being and becoming; of teaching and learning; of research and scholarship; of creating and sharing; of the here and there; of me and you--and we. Together, may we provoke, challenge and illuminate the threshold(s) of opportunity/ies for S-STTEP in teaching, teacher education, and beyond.
The S-STEP community has long valued the collaborative, intimate, and interactive nature of relationships within the practice of self-study as researcher practitioners bring forward the past, acknowledge the present, and re-imagine possibilities for the future. Simply put, collaboration is built into the foundations of self-study research design and practice. It is with this in mind that we look to our AERA S-STEP SIG and in partnership, call self-study researchers to consider ways we can seek out deliberate connection and reconnection for envisioning collaborations within and beyond institutional, geographical, theoretical, and disciplinary boundaries for purposes of generating new understandings. We invite self-study researchers to consider the following:
While proposals that address the conference theme are encouraged, we welcome all proposals utilizing self-study research design/practice in rigorous and thought-provoking ways. Proposals and accepted papers will be double-blind reviewed.
Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP), a special interest group of AERA, invites you to participate in the 2022 Castle Conference. All proposals are welcomed, and membership in S-STEP is not required for proposal submission. If you are interested in opportunities to interact with educators who are working on the problems of education through the study of their own practices, then the Castle Conference is an event for you.
To engage in S-STEP is to engage in a search for pedagogic turning points or threshold opportunities that can enrich personal understanding of practice through raising new possibilities, perspectives, and discourses (Hamilton et al., 2020). The theme for the Castle 2022 biennial meeting asks self-study researchers to mindfully pause and purposefully reflect as to how we might realize the contributions the Self-Study of Teaching and Teacher Education (S-STTEP) community has made, is making, and could make to different communities and audiences. Drawing from the metaphors of threshold and becoming, we invite the S-STTEP community to explore the “powerful potential for speaking and contributing” (Berry, 2020, p. 4) to teacher education and to broader communities of practice and audiences.
Figuratively, a threshold …. signifies a place of transition or turning point. It can be a productive place, a space of tension, and also of
potential and opportunity. For the work of S-STTEP, this threshold moment represents both enduring and new challenges …. the current
pressing issue for the S-STTEP community--and what may be seen as its threshold of opportunity -- is in realizing its powerful potential for speaking and contributing to different communities and audiences. While the benefit of self-study in supporting teacher educators to recognize and value their own professional knowledge continues to serve a vital purpose, there are others external to the self-study community who can profit from the knowledge and understandings developed through self-studies of practice. (Berry, 2020, p. 4)
Recognizing that our individual S-STEP researcher identities are always becoming (Berry, 2020) we wonder how and in what ways our collective S-STEP identity may be ever emergent and always becoming. Drawing from the work of Deluze and Guattari (1987), the metaphor of becoming “represents multiple and constantly emerging selves, located within complex, ever-changing contexts” (Berry, 2020, p. 8). We envision the 2022 Castle Conference as a dynamic nexus of S-STEP past and the present; of being and becoming; of teaching and learning; of research and scholarship; of creating and sharing; of the here and there; of me and you--and we. Together, may we provoke, challenge and illuminate the threshold(s) of opportunity/ies for S-STTEP in teaching, teacher education, and beyond.
The S-STEP community has long valued the collaborative, intimate, and interactive nature of relationships within the practice of self-study as researcher practitioners bring forward the past, acknowledge the present, and re-imagine possibilities for the future. Simply put, collaboration is built into the foundations of self-study research design and practice. It is with this in mind that we look to our AERA S-STEP SIG and in partnership, call self-study researchers to consider ways we can seek out deliberate connection and reconnection for envisioning collaborations within and beyond institutional, geographical, theoretical, and disciplinary boundaries for purposes of generating new understandings. We invite self-study researchers to consider the following:
- How can we position, reposition, reframe, re-imagine, integrate new learnings from the past, present, and future?
- What inspires you to pause, deliberate, consider, or take a mindful stance to determine new or enduring practices?
- What opportunities are you considering, contemplating, exploring, or embracing to contribute to different communities and audiences?
While proposals that address the conference theme are encouraged, we welcome all proposals utilizing self-study research design/practice in rigorous and thought-provoking ways. Proposals and accepted papers will be double-blind reviewed.
Tips for a successful submission:
The Castle Conference invites contributions that purposely utilize self-study research design/practice to inform and rethink teaching and teacher education.
We encourage authors to ensure they are grounding their research in current self-study publications as well as the more seminal S-STEP literature. The journal “Studying Teacher Education” is a good place to become familiar with or to remain up to date on current research within the self-study community. Authors may also consider reviewing volumes in the “Self-study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices” series from Springer Publishing. Another useful resource is the online collection of proceedings from the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) International Biennial Conference (The Castle Conference).
Please share this call for proposals with all who may be interested. All information about the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices Biennial Castle Conference can be found at https://www.castleconference.com/. On the website, you may also find links to conference-specific newsletters and subscribe to receive Castle Conference newsletter updates. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at CastleConference.SSTEP@gmail.com.
The Castle Conference invites contributions that purposely utilize self-study research design/practice to inform and rethink teaching and teacher education.
We encourage authors to ensure they are grounding their research in current self-study publications as well as the more seminal S-STEP literature. The journal “Studying Teacher Education” is a good place to become familiar with or to remain up to date on current research within the self-study community. Authors may also consider reviewing volumes in the “Self-study of Teaching and Teacher Education Practices” series from Springer Publishing. Another useful resource is the online collection of proceedings from the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP) International Biennial Conference (The Castle Conference).
Please share this call for proposals with all who may be interested. All information about the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices Biennial Castle Conference can be found at https://www.castleconference.com/. On the website, you may also find links to conference-specific newsletters and subscribe to receive Castle Conference newsletter updates. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us at CastleConference.SSTEP@gmail.com.
Proposal Submission Details:
Write and save your proposal as a word document. (Important, save as a .doc not .docx document). The maximum length of the proposal is 1,000 words, not including the references. Please do not include any identifying information on this document. Instead, the document should just focus on the narrative of your proposal and be written using the following headings.
Important Dates (Tentative):
- Context of the Study (Should include positioning the authors/study in terms of theoretical framework, research literature connection, and physical contexts of the study.)
- Aim/Objectives of the study (Should include the problem, purpose, and/or questions of the study.)
- Method(s) (Should include participants, data sources, data analysis, strategies and techniques with attention to issues of trustworthiness.)
- Outcomes (Should include findings, discussion, and conclusions. If you are submitting a proposal for a study in progress, you should clearly address anticipated outcomes in this section.)
- References (These are not included in the word count for the proposal body, but are to be included in this document.)
Important Dates (Tentative):
- September 1, 2021 - Proposal submission opens
- September 30, 2021 - Proposals Due (1,000 words maximum, not counting references)
- October 7, 2021 - Authors receive proposals for double-blind peer review
- November 1, 2021 - Proposal reviews due (from reviewers)
- November 15, 2021 - Notification of acceptance to authors
- January 31, 2022 - First draft of conference paper due (4,000 words maximum, not counting references)
Please note that we are using a double review process to prepare the papers for Castle 14. Your abstract must be accepted BEFORE you submit a full paper.
Lead authors and experienced Castle delegates will be asked to review a proposal in the first round of reviews.
Lead authors and experienced Castle delegates will be asked to review a proposal in the first round of reviews.