PhD Research to Explore Influences on, and Possibilities for, a Teacher Educator

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UKZN staff member Dr Bridget Campbell, graduated with a PhD in Education following research about how she can use her past experiences and influences on her teaching to explore possibilities for her future practice.

She contends that those who are teaching teachers can intentionally change the way in which they conduct their lectures by firstly getting to understand why they do what they do in the classroom, secondly by getting to know their students and to then use this to knowledge to change how they teach.

Her research offers those who lecture student teachers of English a process by which they may reconceptualise what it means to teach literature, literary texts as well as language and literacy in ways that are responsive to the students’ lives, as they prepare student teachers for contemporary classrooms both nationally and internationally.

One of Campbell’s examiners stated that her research could be seen by some as revolutionary in the studies on English teaching pedagogy and a must read for young teachers and teacher educators who are interested in teaching in ways that are culturally relevant.

Campbell recalls one of her major research highlights as getting to know more about her students’ lives and experiences and then witnessing the positive ways in which the students responded to her as she began to understand them better.

When asked for the message that she would like to send to people in her life her response was: ‘Thank you to my family – I could not have achieved this without you all. Special thanks to my long suffering husband Tim for his support and encouragement and for not allowing me to give up. To Professor Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan thank you for your patience and guidance,’ said Campbell.

Her advice to other researchers is ‘Trust yourself and have faith in your supervisor. Expect an extremely emotional and difficult journey but persevere as the end result makes it all worthwhile.’

Words by: Melissa Mungroo

Photograph by Rajesh Jantilal