Teacher educators are central to shaping the values, practices, and identities of future teachers, yet their own professional learning often remains fragmented, informal, and under-theorised (Czerniawski et al., 2017; Kelchtermans et al., 2018). In Ireland, the Teaching Council’s Céim standards position Global Citizenship Education (GCE) as a core component of all initial teacher education (ITE) programmes (Teaching Council, 2020). However, embedding critical GCE, understood as justice-oriented, reflexive, and committed to interrogating inequities (Andreotti, 2011; Bosio, 2023), presents significant challenges for teacher educators. These challenges are particularly acute when educators must navigate tensions between institutional requirements, personal values, and evolving professional identities (O’Gallchóir et al., 2025).

These tensions raise wider questions about future educational outcomes. Specifically, how can teacher educators, and by extension future teachers, be supported to develop the reflective, justice-oriented, and adaptive competences required for young people to thrive in increasingly uncertain futures shaped by climate change, technological disruption, and persistent global inequities? We contend that self-awareness is foundational to critical GCE, as it enables educators to interrogate their own identities, assumptions, and positionalities in relation to global power structures, cultural difference, and social justice (Byker & Xu, 2019; O’Flaherty et al., 2025). As pedagogical and ethical leaders, teacher educators must engage in this work in order to model reflexivity, cultivate psychologically safe spaces for critical inquiry, and prepare future teachers to act responsibly within complex and inequitable global contexts.

Despite its importance, there remains limited understanding of how teacher educators are supported to develop self-awareness as an ethical and pedagogical foundation for critical GCE. This study responds to this gap by exploring how teacher educators experience professional learning focused on cultivating self-awareness within an international community of practice (CoP). The research draws on two interlinked collaborative self-studies involving teacher educators and allied professionals across Ireland, Australia, and psychotherapy contexts. These diverse positionalities offer rich insight into how self-awareness, facilitation, and professional identity intersect in GCE-oriented professional learning.

The study addresses two research aims: (1) to examine how self-awareness functions as both a personal and pedagogical imperative for teacher educators engaged in critical GCE; and (2) to explore the role of facilitation in creating conditions of psychological safety, trust, and adaptive learning within communities of practice.

This study draws on two interlinked collaborative self-studies (n = 6) conducted within an international community of practice focused on critical Global Citizenship Education. Participants included teacher educators and allied professionals from Ireland, Australia, and psychotherapy contexts, bringing diverse disciplinary backgrounds, institutional roles, and professional trajectories. This diversity enabled exploration of self-awareness and facilitation across multiple positionalities and educational contexts. Methodologically, the research is grounded in collaborative self-study (Ovens & Fletcher, 2014; Bowles et al., 2023), a qualitative approach that foregrounds reflexivity, relationality, and the co-construction of professional knowledge. The design was guided by LaBoskey’s (2004) five principles of quality in self-study research: self-initiated and focused inquiry; improvement-aimed practice; interactive and collaborative processes; use of multiple qualitative methods; and transparent, systematic analysis. Data were generated through multiple sources, including community of practice transcripts, reflective writings, and semi-structured interviews. These data sources captured participants’ evolving understandings of self-awareness, facilitation, identity, and vulnerability over time. Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022, 2024) was employed to analyse the data, allowing for iterative engagement with meaning-making processes and recognition of the researchers’ own positionalities within the research. Analysis focused on identifying patterns across individual and collective experiences, with particular attention to how facilitation practices shaped psychological safety, trust, and adaptive learning within the CoP. Throughout the research process, critical reflexivity was maintained through dialogic analysis, peer debriefing, and ongoing interrogation of assumptions. This methodological approach enabled a nuanced examination of professional learning as a relational, emotionally engaged, and ethically complex practice situated within broader institutional and policy contexts.

Findings highlight three interconnected themes. First, self-awareness emerged as central to teacher educator identity and practice. Participants described evolving professional identities, often shaped by non-linear or serendipitous entry into teacher education (Goodwin et al., 2014; Guberman et al., 2020). Self-awareness enabled recognition of the interplay between personal values, positionality, vulnerability, and pedagogical decision-making (Byker & Xu, 2019; Mwebi & Brigham, 2009). While autonomy was described as “gold” in navigating institutional constraints, participants also acknowledged ongoing tensions between compliance and professional agency. Second, facilitation within communities of practice was identified as a multidimensional and relational practice. Effective facilitation combined emotional intelligence, pedagogical framing, and vulnerability to create psychologically safe environments (Edmondson, 2019) that legitimised discomfort as a site of learning (Arao & Clemens, 2013). Three interrelated domains of facilitation competence were identified: knowledge (e.g., reflective practice, emotional literacy, generative design), skills (e.g., holding safe spaces, deep listening, adaptive dialogue), and attitudes (e.g., humility, openness, curiosity, commitment to equity). Facilitation challenges included emotional labour, role ambiguity, balancing structure with flexibility, and accommodating diverse reflective styles. Third, professional learning was experienced as a relational and vulnerable practice. Participants emphasised the importance of intentional spaces that support emotional awareness, shared vulnerability, and reflexivity (Freire, 1970; hooks, 1994). Although emotionally demanding, these processes were transformative, enabling participants to challenge assumptions, confront inequities, and cultivate empathy and cultural responsiveness. Overall, the study positions self-awareness as foundational to critical GCE and facilitation as a specialised professional competence. It calls for institutional recognition of these practices through sustained support, time allocation, and professional development structures that value relational, justice-oriented teacher educator learning.

Andreotti, V. (2011). (Towards) decoloniality and diversality in global citizenship education. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 9(3–4), 381–397. https://doi.org/10.1080/14767724.2011.605323 Arao, B., & Clemens, K. (2013). From safe spaces to brave spaces: A new way to frame dialogue around diversity and social justice. In L.M. Landreman (Ed.), The art of effective facilitation: Reflections from social justice educators (pp. 135–150). Routledge. Bosio, E. (2023). Global citizenship education as a reflective dialogic pedagogy. Citizenship Teaching & Learning, 18(2), 177–194. https://doi.org/10.1386/ctl_00119_1 Bowles, R., Sweeney, T., & Coulter, M. (2023). Using Collaborative self-study to support professional learning in initial teacher education: developing pedagogy through Meaningful Physical Education. European Journal of Teacher Education, 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2023.2282369 Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2024). A critical review of the reporting of reflexive thematic analysis in health promotion international. Health Promotion International, 39(3). https://doi.org/10.1093/heapro/daae049 Byker, E. J., & Xu, T. (2019). Developing global competencies through international teaching: Using critical cosmopolitan theory to compare study abroad programmes. Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 31(2), 105–120. https://doi.org/10.36366/frontiers.v31i2.457 Czerniawski, G., Guberman, A., & MacPhail, A. (2017). The professional developmental needs of higher education-based teacher educators: An international comparative needs analysis. European Journal of Teacher Education, 40(1), 127–140. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2016.1246528 Edmondson, A.C. (2019). The fearless organization: Creating psychological safety in the workplace for learning, innovation, and growth. Wiley. Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the oppressed. Continuum. Goodwin, A.L., Smith, L., Souto-Manning, M., Cheruvu, R., Tan, M.Y., Reed, R., & Taveras, L. (2014). What should teacher educators know and Be able to do? Perspectives from practicing teacher educators. Journal of Teacher Education, 65(4), 284-302. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487114535266 Guberman, A., Ulvik, M., MacPhail, A., & Oolbekkink-Marchand, H. (2020). Teacher educators’ professional trajectories. European Journal of Teacher Education, 44(4), 468–485. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2020.1793948 hooks, b. (1994). Teaching to transgress: Education as the practice of freedom. Routledge. Kelchtermans, G., Smith, K., & Vanderlinde, R. (2018). Towards an ‘international forum for teacher educator development.’ European Journal of Teacher Education, 41(1), 120–134. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2017.1372743 Kopish, M.A. (2017). Global citizenship education and the development of globally competent teacher candidates. Journal of International Social Studies, 7(2), 20–59. LaBoskey, V.K. (2004). The methodology of self-study and its theoretical underpinnings. In J. Loughran, M. L. Hamilton, V. K. LaBoskey, & T. Russell (Eds.), International handbook of self-study of teaching and teacher education practices, 817–869. Springer. Teaching Council. (2020). Céim: Standards for initial teacher education. https://www.teachingcouncil.ie/en/publications/ite-professional-accreditation/ceim-standards-for-initial-teacher-education.pdf UNESCO. (2016). Global citizenship education: Topics and learning objectives. UNESCO.