Over the last ten years there has been increasing global interest in the evolution and re-conceptualisation of the role of teacher educators (Ben Peretz, 2012; Tatto and Menter, 2019; Mayer et al, 2021), although little has been captured on their developing role in Kazakhstan . This paper will present the use of an innovative research tool, the use of Lego Serious Play as a manipulative, to capture and represent the professional development experiences of teacher educators in a women's pedagogic university in Kazakhstan.

Much established research on teacher educators emphasises the complexity of the work and multiple skills needed, but equally also identifies a range of issues and tensions faced by teacher educators. For example the dual transition that teacher educators make into university life and lack of induction into new roles. Often teacher educators move into universities after teaching in schools, so they have to make the transition from school to university and a further transition from a predominantly teaching role to a wider academic role which includes research. Swennen et al. (2010) identify four main roles or sub-identities which teacher educators adopt: schoolteacher, teacher in higher education, teacher of teachers and researcher. They argue that, in many cases, teacher educators have to transform themselves in order to take on certain identities, especially the researcher role. Such transformations and landmarks undertaken by teacher educators are the focus of this study.

 Research questions and objectives

This research builds on an earlier study in the UK (Griffiths and Thompson, 2010) which investigated the transition of early career teacher educators into higher education and research. This research investigates similar themes but in the context of Kazakh teacher preparation and examines a cohort of early to mid-career teacher educators using Lego Serious Play as a methdologial tool to stimulate reflection, discussion and exploration. Research questions included:

• What are the key landmarks in teacher educators’ professional and academic development?
• How effective are manipulatives as a methodological tool to illuminate teacher educators’ experiences and development?

The objectives of the study were to analyse and compare the career experiences of teacher educators; in particular, to identify stages of development, landmark events and critical incidents and contextual factors affecting professional learning and academic identities.

Theoretical framework

The overarching theoretical framework used in the study is socio-cultural learning, in recognition that the specific context in which teacher educators work and their relationships within this are of vital importance in the process of learning (Lave & Wenger, 1991). Eraut’s (2007) research on contextual and learning factors in the workplace is used to identify key factors affecting teacher educators’ professional learning and any differences between the contexts. Lave and Wenger's (1991) model of legitimate peripheral participation was useful for studying teacher educators' induction and development over time. Whilst emerging studies on the use of Lego Serious Play (James 2013; Mc Cusker, 2020) as a research tool provide the foundation for its methodological use in this work. 

Research methods Creative research methods are a rapidly developing area of social enquiry and are informing an evolving visual culture in research (Deaney & Wilson, 2011, Kara, 2021) ).The use of Lego Serious Play (Roos and Victor, 2018) as a research method alongside qualitative interviews was adapted from a teaching and learning strategy often used in business contexts. Models were created by participants (6 teacher educators) using prompt questions and specially selected Lego bricks to explore critical incidents, aspirations, challenges and contexts. An embedded case study approach (Cohen et al., 2007; Yin, 2002) was used with purposive sampling to identify six early and mid-career teacher educators . Participants were asked to explore their professional biographies, academic and research landmarks and barriers and successes using the Lego sets. These were then used as a basis for discussion and exploration in the interviews. Participants were asked to reflect on the use of manipulative as a research tool. Confidentiality was assured and all names have been removed from examples and interview extracts to protect anonymity and, where used, photographs of models do not include the identity of the participant. .

Research findings Significant and transformational landmarks have been initially identified after the first set of workshops with Lego Serious Play, with development in teaching seen as largely positive, while research development (and associated identities) as much more varied. Teacher educators who were further on in their careers saw research development as transformative personally as well as academically. In analysing findings, we continue to draw particularly on Swennen et al.’s (2010) identification of teacher educators’ sub-identities. Lego Serious Play is found to be a rich data source to identify and explore landmarks, positive features and barriers to development. Enhanced verbal input resulted from using manipulatives to represent highs and lows of experience, including the visual representation of emotion and challenge. Questions have arisen about the most effective use of the models. This is a useful research tool and we argue that it is particularly suitable for researching teacher educators’ identities, but it needs further clarification and earlier guidelines for use. The findings make a strong contribution to the growing body of European research on teacher educators’ professional development both in general and in the specific case of those working in pedagogical contexts in Kazakhstan.

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