Continuing the conversations as we re-image-ine work in the field of teacher education.

The field of teacher education is a politicised and contested space in both Australia and overseas. In the Australian context, the teacher education space is impacted by reform at both government and institutional levels, with those who work in the field carrying out complex roles while attempting to meet the needs of a variety of stakeholders. This workshop draws on and extends a research project “Seeing inside the field” which examined how those who work inside the field of teacher education perceive aspects of their practice. The project identifies how they represent and understand the nature of their work and the forces which mediate that work. Using arts-informed and phenomenological approaches, we invited colleagues, recruited via a combination of snowball and typical case sampling, to share images and text. The visual image and an accompanying short written text represented the lived experience of their work in teacher education. Our research provides insight into the complex work of those in teacher education and interrogates the ways their experiences relate to the broader field and narratives around teacher education. In this participatory workshop, which can be attended in-person or online, we will draw on data from our research to illustrate how our colleagues described the troublesome, delightful, ambiguous, and hopeful aspects of their work. Participants in the workshop will then engage in arts-informed approaches to explore and represent their practice as academics in response to a number of prompts. This work may take the form of drawing, photography, sculpture, performance, collage and/or text. We will collaborate across an online platform to share responses and reflect on the work generated during this workshop. Create, engage, share and re-image-ine the work of teacher education.