Welcome to the Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices [S-STEP] special interest group.

Self-study research emerged from groundbreaking work done in the early 1990s by a group of teacher educators who founded the S-STEP special interest group of the AERA. Since then, the field of self-study research and the self-study research community have continued to evolve and grow in new ways across wide-ranging educational and professional contexts.

Self-study research is initiated and conducted by teacher educators, teachers, and other practitioners who study their own practice to contribute to professional learning, ways of knowing, and knowledge generation. Self-study research design has come to entail specific methodological components, including self-reflexivity, interaction with others, systematic and transparent process, and improvement-aimed exemplars. While the groundwork established by the S-STEP community serves as a touchstone and vital resource, self-study research design and practice continues to evolve because of the ongoing developments envisioned and enacted by the community.

From the time of the S-STEP’s formation as a special interest group, professional support, scholarly partnerships, and friendships within the community have contributed significantly to its growth, sustainability, and impact. The S-STEP SIG is always very active at the AERA Annual Meetings. The SIG-sponsored sessions, social events, and annual business meeting give members opportunities to meet and discuss issues of self-study design, publishing, ethics, and best practices.

For the AERA Annual Meeting, the S-STEP SIG invites proposals for papers, roundtables, and symposia/sessions that purposefully employ self-study research design/practice to inform and rethink professional learning and knowledge of/for practice. Authors are encouraged to ensure they are grounding their research in current self-study publications as well as the more seminal work. The journal, “Studying Teacher Education”, is a good place to start 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. 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).

Also, proposals are invited for the biennial Castle Conference, which is a four-day conference, dating from 1996. This conference provides a safe space for creating a learning community of self-study researchers who are willing to ask questions, take risks experimenting with innovative approaches, and examine and reframe their views. 

If you consider yourself to be a teacher educator or practitioner of another profession and are interested in opportunities to interact with other educators from a range of disciplines, theoretical orientations, and educational practice settings who are working on the problems of education through the study of their own practices, then the S-STEP SIG is for you.

We look forward to our work together and thank you for your interest and scholarship in S-STEP.

SIG Officers

Valerie A. Allison, Chair, S-STEP

Christi Edge, Past Chair

Monica Taylor, Chair-Elect

Mary Rice, Secretary/Communications Director

Melissa Newberry, Treasurer

Laura Kennedy & Katie Whitley, AERA 2025 Program Chairs

Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan, Historian

Megumi Nishida, Co-Historian

Lara Ervin-Kassab, Web Director

Kerrijo Ellis, Social Media Manager

Travel Support Committee Co-Chairs: Stefinee Pinnegar & Eliza Pinnegar