Abstract:
As an educator I am responsible for my professional development and the professional
development of all educators with whom I have scholarly encounters. These encounters involve
making a difference in the professional lives of other members of society, for example, in an
educational setting with a view to transforming such a society, and transforming the society
beyond the boundaries of educational settings. Educators in educational settings, such as
schools, universities, and Further Education Colleges should serve their institutions as agents
of transformation. As a specialist in educator professional development, specifically in the
context of higher education, I look into my contribution to empowering these educators who
operate within a micro-education society and to empowering myself. Therefore the point of
departure for my research projects in general and the one reported in this article is the self –
my preferences in terms of how I approach facilitating the professional development of different
groups of educators and monitoring mine. An array of attributes, values, virtues, constructed
meaning, competencies, etc. constitutes the self. Data obtained by means of a thinking style
questionnaire, the Herrmann Brain Dominance Instrument (HBDI), serves as part of the
baseline data for exploring my teaching practice that revolves around educator professional
development. Only some baseline data concerning the self are reported in this article. Some
baseline data relate to other individuals – all involved in transforming themselves, their
practices and society in some way as an individual self. This, however, is not reported in this
article. The focus here is an autobiographical perspective on my thinking style preferences that
inform my involvement in educator professional development. The outcome of the analysis of
the baseline data pertaining to me includes a mixed-methods approach that complements the
continuous action research on the professional development of the self over a period of more
than ten years. The data reported present a small-scale collection of quantitative and qualitative
data. This small-scale view of who I am as education specialist provides evidence that
I have specific thinking preferences and avoidances in my teaching practice in general and
facilitating professional development interventions in particular.
