Mapping Professional Development Trajectories: A Collaborative Autoethnography of Three Women Language Teacher Educators

This collaborative autoethnography (CAE) describes our trajectories as student teachers, language teachers at different levels, and teacher educators and researchers at an Ecuadorian university. Our interactions especially delve into our positionality as women, grappling with the challenges of balancing professional demands with marriage and/or parenting. We frame and interpret our experiences using the sociocultural perspective and the language teacher cognition model. As the participants of this research study, we compile our experiences while reflecting on and describing our journeys for professional development, pinpointing all the different roles performed that can be complex and exhausting but also rewarding. The analysis also reveals how we support each other in our workplace and personal life in this remarkable journey of self-discovery and personal and professional growth, which encompasses various experiences and challenges to managing both work and home while pursuing the achievement of success. This CAE seeks to shed light on the difficulties faced by teacher educators in achieving study-work-life balance and stability.