Our paper refers to a study conducted within a cooperation of four University Colleges of Teacher Education in Austria. This study was based on an initiative of the rectorates of the University Colleges of Teacher Education in Austria to conduct research on the further professional development of teachers. Given the potential influence that teacher training has on teachers and thus indirectly on students, it is extremely important that this work is of high quality (Snoek, Swennen & van der Klink 2011). The background of the four researchers involved is in teacher education and teacher training. The question was how persons who themselves work as trainers perceive and describe their role. Based on interviews with teacher trainers, and after discursive validation with those responsible for personnel and institutional development, the following project goals were elaborated: (1) to obtain information on the perception of the understanding of the role of persons working in the further education of teachers and from their perception to gain insights on factors benefitting or hindering their own further education, (2) to secure possible support offers for further education (train-the-trainer formats) and (3) to determine possible strategies for the recruitment of future trainers.

The statements in Austria´s National Education Report 2018 and the commentary on TALIS 2018 suggest that the field of in-service teacher training should be examined more closely (Müller et al. 2019; Müller 2019). It emphasizes research on continuing education and further training with a focus on personal and institutional interactions. Findings from this should be used for planning further and advanced training, as the skills and practices of teacher training providers are still completely unexplored in Austria (Müller et al. 2019; Lipowsky & Rzejak 2015).

Competent in-service teacher training is required for successful professionalization processes, but it is still unclear who the people are who are expected to combine expertise in science, subject didactics and process support. Hence, this paper focuses on the role of in-service teacher trainers, in order to gain an exploratory study of the characteristics of the understanding of that role and possibly identify any related (role) conflicts. Based on the statements of interviewed trainers, a better understanding of the area of further training, which thus far has been little researched compared to the first phase of teacher´s professional development training, should be developed in the sense of a reconstruction of the perception of the role.

The role of teachers working in in-service teacher training is not defined, and such teachers mostly are referred to as "Teacher Educators" (European Commission 2013). In contrast to other countries (NL, GB), these teacher-educators are not members of a recognized profession in German-speaking countries and so far do not have their own professional association. However, it is important for them to develop a professional identity in order to play and fulfill their role (MacPhail et al. 2019). Murray (2014) still speaks of the missing status of an established anchoring of the profession.

There is little scientific knowledge about the training of teacher trainers; few know about this occupation and thus have little access to the field. Hence, there is high heterogeneity of prior experience: most are teachers, who have undergone further training. Furthermore, there are researchers from the university sector, but also experts and people with other professional qualifications and subject-specific practical experience (Schratz 2015; Jorzik & Schratz 2015; Kraler 2015; Murray 2015; Zehetmeier 2017). The explorative study presented below focuses on the roles and expectations of people working in teacher training. The central research question is: "What understanding do teachers of the participating university colleges have of their professional role in the further training of teachers?"

The qualitative method was chosen to record the experiences and opinions of the persons involved in teacher training. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the following aspects forming the basis of the survey: 1) access to further training; motivation for teachers, 2) experience with further training or success conditions, 3) own role; self-image and expectations of others and 4) recruiting; ideal typical role. Interview partners were selected at the four University Colleges of Teacher Education respecting ethical guidelines, taking into account the greatest possible heterogeneity (in the sense of a theoretical sampling) along with several variables of the teacher trainers surveyed: gender (m, f, diverse), seniority (low, medium and high experience), employment status (fully employed teachers, co-employed teachers, external teachers), target group (generalists, i.e. those who teach teachers of all school types; general educators and experts for a specific content). The goal was to capture as many different perspectives as possible. These 14 interviews were conducted, transcribed and analysed using MaxQDA18. The material was inductively formed into categories. The analysis unit was each text passage that contained content. For this purpose, main categories and subcategories were formed (Mayring 2010). In several joint project meetings of the project employees, category schemes and codings were discussed in detail and revised accordingly. In this contribution, the two categories of role understanding and role conflict are discussed. The following sub-categories were found in the material: role conflict, understanding of roles, for example feeling like a coach, companion, motivator, moderator; multiple roles; experts; knowledge transfer agents. School management conflict with teacher trainers, envy of and by colleagues, conflict between teachers and teacher trainers.

The data shows that respondents see themselves as companions, coaches and experts in learning processes. Many of the respondents see themselves as service providers and representatives of the University College of Teacher Education as part of their employment relationship. In addition to these perspectives, the teacher trainers report on the assumption of several roles, whereby the relationship to the outside (to the schools themselves) is considered essential. There are numerous statements by the respondents regarding possible role conflicts. The group of co-employed teachers indicates that there are conflicts that also result from the fact that these persons have two superiors whose expectations they have to bring into line. A conflict of power along hierarchy levels can also lead to organizational and scheduling challenges. Many reported that they experience the envy of colleagues. More than half of the respondents reported specific challenges associated with training other teachers as teachers. Many of the respondents mentioned formal opportunities for meeting colleagues and talking to them about their work (see Czerniawski et al. 2017; MacPhail et al. 2019; Goodwin et al. 2014). No irregularities were reported in respect of gender, length of service and employment status. This study aims to generate further research in this field and the knowledge gained should be used in the selection and support of trainers. This might contribute to this “hidden profession” (Murray 2015) being recognized in future and being given due importance. This should lead towards professionalizing the role of teacher training in German-speaking countries. From an international perspective, teacher educators already have a much higher reputation in other countries than in Austria, and research by and about these persons seems to be more valued there (see MacPhail et al. 2019, The MOFET Institute). This is consistent with our findings.

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