College Teacher Educators Becoming Researchers: Stories From A Public Sector Teacher Education Institution From Northern Pakistan

In higher education institutions, conducting research, alongside teaching, is an integral part of work. However, in the elementary teacher education colleges in Pakistan, this role and responsibility of the teacher educators may be mired by a number of factors. This qualitative study, therefore, aimed at documenting the change process of teacher educators' practises while initiating their roles as researchers in an elementary college of education in one of the remotest regions of Pakistan. In the college, there were 16 teacher educators. Purposive sampling approach, the researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 10 research respondents (5 males and 5 females) and two Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with all the teacher educators (16 participants). The main findings of the study elucidated that external factors such as the need for programme accreditation and its requirements were the key driving force for teacher educators assuming the role of researchers. In doing so, supportive leadership, use of available human resources, and use of internal and external support played an important role in making teacher educators take the role of researchers. The findings have pertinent implications for teacher educators' role in similar settings.