| Summary: | This dissertation collects my five self-studies to make meaning of my doctoral project. I explore the path to empowerment in becoming a hybrid educator through the Self- Study of Teacher Education Practices (S-STEP/self-study) methodology. In each study, I explored my professional context with various qualitative methods. I am a Japanese immigrant educator educated and trained in Japan and Iceland. My self-study began when I experienced a professional identity crisis at an Icelandic preschool in October 2014. In Iceland, children’s freedom in play is respected. However, my teaching was rooted in Japanese teacher-centered approaches, which keep students firmly under the educator’s control. I was confused by this jarring cultural difference, I expanded my self-study experience in Iceland to Japan, where I supported the development of Japanese teachers’ professional learning community using self- study. To theoretically underpin my professional knowledge, I categorized three types of professional knowledge: Concept-based knowledge, pedagogy-based knowledge, and identity-based knowledge. Concept-based knowledge is developed based upon Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy. In pedagogy-based knowledge, concepts of culturally responsive teaching, core reflection, and funds of knowledge are explored to contextualize my inclusive pedagogy in my self-studies. Finally, identity-based knowledge describes the transition of professional identities from an immigrant educator to a hybrid educator. Based on these varieties of knowledge, my professional identity has shifted, developed, and even kept transforming. For data collection and analysis, I used narrative as an overarching method. I kept a reflective journal throughout my practice in Iceland and Japan and used it to create ten reflective short stories. I created concept maps to organize, reflect, explore, and make connections between concepts. Teaching materials, field notes, interview transcripts, photos, emails, SMS, and Japanese Haiku poems are also included in my data. In ...
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