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Narrative Strategies in Educational Research: Reflections on a Critical Autoethnography
Abstract
This article consists of critical reflections on an inclusion story I wrote about my own practice as a local education authority educational psychologist in the United Kingdom. The aim is to shed light on the process of producing stories and possibly also on criteria for judging them. As a critical reflective practitioner, I saw myself as writing an autoethnographic story of "resistance" but also one of "hope without illusions". In an extended commentary on samples of writing, I address issues to do with form and style in relation to the overall purpose of the story and the intended audiences. A number of concepts are identified that were found useful in constructing a narrative: life-world; hegemony and discourse; aesthetic merit; reflexivity; polyvocality; autobiography/autoethnography; confession.
... For critical researchers, (social) reality is governed by hidden power structures that oppress, exploit and minimize the creative potential of people. Self or others, individuals, cultures and societies alike can be on either end of this oppression, as the victims or as the conscious or unconscious perpetrators of unjust power configurations (Grant & Giddings, 2002;Quicke, 2010). ...
... Consequently, autoethnographers close to this paradigm study the individual in relation to social groups and the power relations between. Studying these contexts allows them to write stories of resistance (Quicke, 2010) where the author is the oppressed and the hope is that this will inspire others to write themselves out of their own oppression and thus heal themselves through the process of autoethnography (Tolich, 2010). ...
... K. Smith & Deemer, 2000;Tuckett, 2005). Autoethnographers, particularly those embracing postmodern philosophies, are engaging in an extensive debate about alternative criteria for autoethnography that stay true to their convictions (Bochner, 2000;Clough, 2000;Collinson & Hockey, 2005;Denzin, 2006;Ellis, 2000;Gannon, 2006;Gingrich-Philbrook, 2005;Holt, 2008;Koro-Ljungberg, 2010;Quicke, 2010;Sparkes, 2000). Broadly speaking, there are two different ideas suggested; whilst some are radically arguing against the use or establishment of any kind of criteria, others are searching for criteria that are closer to their ontological and epistemic beliefs. ...
... There are a few additional personal circumstances and experiences that I draw on in relation to specific theories and practices throughout the present study. In the context of its methodology and methods, this is corresponding, yet alternative concepts and tools suitable to qualitative research (Bochner, 2000;Collinson & Hockey, 2005;Denzin, 2006;Emdin & Lehner, 2006;Gingrich-Philbrook, 2005;Koro-Ljungberg, 2010;Quicke, 2010;Sparkes, 2000). The continuously increasing variety of approaches encompassed by the term qualitative research drives the development of ever new concepts and criteria in this regard. ...
... It is also implicit in any literature review, and inherent to autoethnography, for example, wherever personal and cultural experience are correlated and compared to cultural experience using literature or other methods (Ellis, Adams, Bochner, 2010). It is similarly implicit in critical inquiry and critical autoethnography, given that the necessary basis of critique is the comparison of one situation, phenomenon, theory, practice, and value, with another (Denzin, Lincoln, & Smith, 2008;Grant & Giddings, 2002;Nicholls, 2009aNicholls, , 2009bNicholls, , 2009cQuicke, 2010). Émile Durkheim, one of the founders of modern sociology, even argued that 'the comparative method', and by extension, 'comparative sociology is not a special branch of sociology; it is sociology itself' (Durkheim, 1982, pp. ...
Physiotherapy and Fundamental Ethics engages the field of physiotherapy through a critique of its contemporary foundations from the perspective of the ethics philosophy of Emmannuel Levinas, in order to develop novel approaches to physiotherapy practice. Physiotherapy is a well-established healthcare profession, practiced in healthcare systems around the world. Despite its success, modern healthcare more generally faces a number of significant challenges, including increasing financial burdens, an increasingly ageing and chronically ill population, ongoing technological innovation, and diminishing trust in conventional healthcare. Ways in which physiotherapy could respond to these challenges and adapt to future needs are being explored. One approach entails a thorough reassessment of the profession's status quo and its subsequent development, drawing on hitherto unexamined philosophies, methodologies, and practices. This study seeks to contribute to these efforts by drawing on a range of traditions that have not yet been introduced to the profession, but appear to hold great potential for its critical reassessment and development.
... They expound that the term was originally used to describe cultural studies of one's own people, yet has grown to refer to stories that feature the self or include the researcher as a character. While its practice "has not been common within education its value and the perception of its worth is changing" (Dyson 2007: 36) and various scholars have engaged with it since (see Hamilton et al. 2008;Quicke 2010;Méndez 2013). It is now a recognised and well-developed research approach (Creswell 2002;Denzin and Lincoln 2000;Bochner 1996, 2000). ...
... This type of performative autoethnography/writing is used to re-centre "incoherence and fragmentation to foster questioning among readers and encourage further dialogue drawing on one's personal experiences and outlooks" (Mitra 2010: 3). Further, by writing about scholarship in the form of a story, this might help the reader to sense that the author was a genuine participant in the life-world of the participants/students, thus encouraging authenticity and trustworthiness (Quicke 2010). ...
Adopting innovative, scholarly and reflective approaches to teaching practices can be a challenging task, yet students in our digital, information-rich age demand these skills from modern educators. This issue is addressed by exploring a case study regarding simulated pedagogies in the classroom environment using an autoethnographic approach. An educator reflects on and draws insights from her manifold roles and finds that while simulated games are not a panacea for higher education and can present varied challenges for students, educators and operators, they offer pedagogical value through learner engagement. This chapter also presents a call for increased dialogue about different teaching practices and experiences within the broader education sector to help bridge any perceived gaps between more industry-focussed practitioners and academia.
... Charmaz and Mitchell (1996) propose that one of the advantages of autoethnography is that it creates a voice that allows the reader to develop a better understanding of the situation that is being researched. This stance is echoed by Quicke (2010) and Sikes (2005) who state that autoethnography allows the reader to achieve a sense of feel and place of the life-world of the researcher. Storytellers use the concept of life-world to write hope-without-illusion stories (Quicke, 2010). ...
... This stance is echoed by Quicke (2010) and Sikes (2005) who state that autoethnography allows the reader to achieve a sense of feel and place of the life-world of the researcher. Storytellers use the concept of life-world to write hope-without-illusion stories (Quicke, 2010). ...
At birth every human being is at the starting point of many different journeys:
journeys of discovery and change, and journeys of mental and physical growth.
Most children follow a similar path of physical and mental growth to adulthood,
achieving predetermined milestones at approximately the same age. But what
happens to a child who cannot follow this path, a child born without a map? How do
the diagnosis and subsequent educational journey of the child affect the parents of
that child, parents who find themselves disabled by their experiences of parenthood
and life?
This study is an autoethnography. It was undertaken to reflect on the physical and
emotional journey two parents experienced in finding an educational niche for their
son who was diagnosed with Pervasive Developmental Delay – Not Otherwise
Specified (PDD-NOS), an Autism Spectrum Disorder. In an attempt to engage and
involve the non-academic audience, while at the same time addressing the analytical
needs of the researcher audience, evocative autoethnographic co-constructed
narratives were combined with analytic autoethnography.
Not only did I aim to fill in some of the gaps in researcher knowledge about South
African parents’ experiences in finding educational support for their children with
pervasive developmental delays, but I also wanted to provide knowledge, hope and
encouragement to other parents, especially those parents who are at the start of a
journey leading to a brighter future for their child with special needs.
... Autoethnography provides a way for us to not only critically reflect on our own perceptions but to be up front and explicit about how we perform our work. Autoethnography has flourished as a research methodology in recent years and it has effectively been used to explore academic life and aspects of pedagogy (Pelais, 2003;Quicke, 2012;Jones, 2011). Autoethnography invites the researcher to reflect inward and outward, while imaginatively and creatively examining their life experiences (Camargo-Borges, 2018;Mizzi, 2010). ...
Engagement is an important issue for students, since many feel isolated or cutoff from others. For doctoral students in particular, research has suggested that writing can produce or evoke these feelings. One reason for this is because writing occupies a vital and complex role in a doctoral student's career. It is one of the main ways in which doctoral students are assessed, contribute to knowledge creation, and engage in the conversations of their disciplines. In this paper we argue that doctoral writing is inextricably linked to doctoral engagement and, as such, ought to be recognised as such. We also suggest that creativity not only plays a crucial role in the process of writing and research, but also has potential for fostering doctoral engagement. Using autoethnography and arts-based methods (collage and narratives), we (a doctoral student and doctoral supervisor) share examples of experiences with creativity, writing and engagement. We also share examples of pedagogical interventions we have used in our workshops and classes with doctoral writers. While engaging in creative practice is not without its challenges, we conclude by suggesting that it is valuable and has potential for fostering doctoral engagement.
... They were situated in the larger context of current academic articles with the literature review (Hughes et al., 2012). To ensure rigour, validity, and reliability, data were analyzed using a coding strategy to determine trends and themes (Le Roux, 2016;Quicke, 2010;Richardson, 2016). Although autoethnography can be understood as similar to some Indigenous methodologies (Kovach, 2021), the methodology in this article is in the Western autoethnography tradition, and the epistemology is subjective and phenomenological (Bohac Clark, 2019). ...
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has calls to action for the inclusion of Indigenous knowledges and teaching practices in classrooms. Western educators have different degrees of willingness, understanding, and skill in teaching Indigenous concepts and their teaching practices can be superficial. Highlighting autoethnographic accounts of learning from Blackfoot Elders through Indigenous land-based pedagogy with current literature review data, I argue that Western educators must understand that the more-than-human entities are animate and have agency in teaching and healing people. Findings suggest that all students benefit from the wise teaching practices of inviting the more-than-human as co-teachers. Key words: Indigenous education, Indigenous land-based pedagogy, Blackfoot, more-than-human, autoethnography La Commission de vérité et de réconciliation du Canada a lancé des appels à l'action pour l'intégration des connaissances et des pratiques d'enseignement autochtones dans les salles de classe. Les éducateurs occidentaux n'ont pas tous la même volonté, la même compréhension et les mêmes compétences pour enseigner les concepts autochtones, et leurs pratiques d'enseignement peuvent être superficielles. En mettant en évidence les récits autoethnographiques de l'apprentissage auprès des aînés pieds-noirs par le biais d'une pédagogie autochtone basée sur la terre, ainsi que les données d’une analyse documentaire actuelle, je soutiens que les éducateurs occidentaux doivent comprendre que les entités plus qu'humaines sont animées et ont un pouvoir d'action dans l'enseignement et dans la guérison des personnes. Les résultats suggèrent que tous les élèves bénéficient des pratiques d'enseignement sages qui consistent à inviter les entités plus qu'humaines en tant que co-enseignants. Mots clés : éducation autochtone, pédagogie autochtone basée sur la terre, Pieds-Noirs, plus-que-humain, autoethnographie
... Rather than mainly adhering to canonical research norms, turning to ethnography has allowed numerous scholars to attain an alternative mode of research, deemed as subversive in its ability to challenge the borders of the canon. This is because through systematically analyzing one's personal experience (auto), autoethnography is able to shed light on personal and identity narratives that have otherwise been labeled as nonconformist by alienating research practices (Bochner & Ellis, 2016;Mirhosseini, 2018;Quicke, 2010). In light of this, Bochner and Ellis (2016) write, "Autoethnography struck a chord in students and seasoned scholars whose personal connection to research (and the people they studied) had been stifled and inhibited-if not crushed-by discredited methodological directives and inhibiting writing conventions" (p. ...
The pluralization of English has enabled the use of its varieties in cultural contexts that are not traditionally associated with the language. Yet, the inequality of Englishes remains a main characteristic of globalizing and localizing the language. The spread of English use in Kuwait was a result of establishing reconfigured imperial relations during the British protectorate era. Mediated by language ideologies, the English language has ‘settled’ Kuwait’s local linguistic ecology, and its spread remains sustained by the imposition of colonial practices and ideologies through contemporary processes of capitalist globalization. I argue that the pluralization of English in Kuwait’s nuanced experience typifies a mechanism to (un)consciously enable globally-formed power relations between local ‘native’ and ‘nonnative’ speakers, rendering it unequal. In this article, I lay bare the impact of the phenomenon of Unequal Englishes on my life as a Kuwaiti English language teacher (KELT). Through writing two personal epiphanies, I conducted a critical autoethnographic study in response to my trajectory of English speaking and teaching. Anderson’s (1983, 2006) imagined community concept and Phillipson’s (1992) native speaker fallacy constituted the theoretical framework of the study, which ultimately explored the perpetuation of unequal power dynamics between ‘native’ and ‘nonnative’ English speaking teachers in Kuwait. Keywords: Unequal Englishes, power relations, Kuwait, KELT, imagined community, native-speakerism, autoethnography.
... This study was rooted in the qualitative research design, phenomenology (Ellis & Bochner, 2000) and it adopted auto-ethnographic reflections in data collection (e.g., Nethsinghe & Southcott, 2015;Ellis, et al., 2011;Quicke, 2010). Auto-ethnographic narration is how people describe their lived experiences and circumstances. ...
... institutional contexts through which our journeys working in marketing academia have unfolded over the past decade. This kind of collaborative writing aims to create polyvocality (Quicke, 2010) that brings us to the third step of synthesis presented in the findings section. My thesis set out to explore marketing practices in a small high-tech firm using an ethnographic approach. ...
Mainstream marketing management is a disciplinary field essentially unruffled by ideological reflection. In this paper, we approach the subjectifying power of marketing ideology through Louis Althusser’s work on interpellation, the process by which ideology calls its willing subjects into ideological belief and practice. Through our autoethnographic accounts, we develop a counterposition to the epistemic ideology of normative mainstream marketing management by accounting for misinterpellation to its ideology. Where interpellation outlines how a hegemonic marketing management ideology compels individuals to perform within the ideological apparatus as good educators and researcher subjects, the notion of misinterpellation opens avenues for conceiving resistance within the breaks in ideology to which all subjects are hailed.
... 4), which usually results in a research report that is itself a narrative. Narrative forms of inquiry have since become part of the methodological repertoire for both collaborative action research and self-study (Bullough & Pinnegar, 2001;Feldman, 2003Feldman, , 2007Heikkinen, Huttunen, & Syrjälä, 2007;Quicke, 2010;Stuart, 2012;Walker, 2007). ...
This chapter explores educational action research from its inception in the early twentieth century as a form of applied social science research in response to poverty, racism, and fascism to its decline in the post-war period (Era 1). The second era began with the development of curriculum action research in the UK and the work of the Writing Projects in the USA and continues to the present, joined by critical action research and self-study of teacher education practices. The third era focuses on technical problem solving to improve student learning as measured by high-stakes examinations. The chapter ends with a call for action researchers to learn from the past so that it can continue to be a way to reduce inequities and support social justice.
... Autoethnography is different from a biography; because it is a research method in which selected lived experiences are the focus, which connect the person to the cultural, social and political, placing the self within a social context (Reed-Danahay, 1997;Hamilton, Smith & Worthington, 2008;Bartleet & Ellis, 2009). These selected experiences would be examined vigorously in order to lead to a greater understanding about the development of the researcher as a critical-reflexive practitioner (Cunningham & Jones, 2005;de F. Afonso, & Taylor, 2009;Quicke, 2010). Roberts (2004) defined the process of writing an autoethnography as "researching identity construction" (p.3). ...
In this autoethnographical study, I examine how my identities were influenced by Confucianism. Two main Confucian concepts were examined: “self-perfection,” and “filial piety and submissiveness.” As a migrant who left Macau for Australia at fifteen, I have been immersed in diverse cultural climates, experienced gender bias, identity crisis and racial discrimination. I consider all experiences as essential steps of my evolution with ethnographic, interpretative, phenomenological and narrative understandings. This paper introduces the term “seasonal fluctuations” as a way to describe the changing meanings of my lived experiences that were interrogated by my three distinctive personalities: The Writer, The Interpreter and The Observer. This triple hermeneutics is borrowed from Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis. For me, my gender, birth place and birth order had pre-determined my fate before learning took place. The Confucian values that my family and I adopted further shaped my identities. Issues of gender equity and social justice had been discussed in the interrogation of my story, my identities remain fluid. Finally, the challenges and benefits of conducting an autoethnography were discussed. I acknowledge that qualitative research can have a transformative influence on the individuals conducting the inquiry, as we reflect on our participation in the world around ourselves.
... In its diversity auto-ethnography aims at change, transformation, liberation, breaking taboos, politicizing, personal change and theory-development (Alexander, 2013;Allen-Collinson, 2013;Anderson, 2006a;Anderson and Glass-Coffin, 2013;Bartleet, 2013;Boylorn and Orbe, 2014a;Chang, 2013;Chang et al., 2013;Denzin, 2013;Douglas and Carless, 2013;Holman Jones et al., 2013b;Quicke, 2010;Tedlock, 2013). Auto-ethnography is an attempt of re-enchantment of the world (Brinkmann, 2012) against the ongoing processes of rationalisation. ...
The double meaning of ‘rumbling on’ indicates what this thesis is about. It means that something ceaselessly carries on and apparently is unstoppable. ‘Rumbling on’ also means that things are fussed around or doctored with. ‘Performativity’ is the thing that rumbles on and is rumbled on. Generally speaking ‘performativity’ refers to a way of formulating and implementing policy in which efficiency is leading and substance hardly matters. Performa-tivity is also known as New Public Management; a management-philosophy which champi-ons and advances efficiency within organizations by means of budgetary and performance-oriented control.
Research into policymaking from the position of the observing participant
I did research into the way policy evolved in the University of Applied Sciences (UAS) I work for. At the time of the research I worked as an adviser to the Executive Board. I was curious about which and how policy evolve. My curiosity was nourished by my paradoxical experience - in different positions within the UAS - that apparently ‘we’ never do the right things, yet ‘we’ are highly ranked in national rankings and still ‘we’ often accomplish something else as intended. I became curious about what really happens, about how and which things evolve in daily practice.
The policymaking I did research into was about a project on identity-management, about the drawing up of performance agreements with the Ministry of Education and about an explor-ative discussion about the organization of constructive dissent. Constructive dissent is a concept that also came up from the Ministry of Education.
In this policymaking I was intensively involved as programme, project and discussion lead-er. Therefore my research is done from the position of observing participant. This kind of research has its own methodological background and elaboration. In a broad sense this kind of research is labelled as social constructionist, reflexive, narrative, auto-ethnographic or insider research. My research is done from a complex responsive process perspective (Stacey, Griffin, Shaw), research which can be qualified as insider research. This specific perspective has been developed at the University of Hertfordshire (UK). In 2010 this kind of research has been introduced in the PhD school of Management of the Open University in Heerlen (NL).
Radically reflexive research: theoretical orientations – criteria of scientificality – ethi-cal responsibility
The specific methodological background demands other than the usual criteria to be able to speak of a scientific approach. Validity and generalizability are normally demanded, how-ever for this kind of research different criteria are appropriate. In chapters 1 and 2 I elabo-rate extensively on the demands for this kind of research in order to gain a certificate of scientificality.
To comprehend these different criteria it must be clarified that research from a complex responsive process perspective opts for a different idea about the status of reality (ontology) and the way this reality is understood (epistemology). Shortly, from this perspective it comes down to the proposition that the way reality is perceived has consequences for what is reality is. Reality is not approached as something of its own. The way of perceiving reali-ty evolves out of the many interactions among people. In these interactions social patterns evolve which produce more or less shared meanings and thus become real. From the phi-losophy of science this perspective is termed as a social realistic point of view.
Nourished from a pragmatic-philosophical basis (Mead) and by analogy of a complexity approach (Prigogine) from a complex responsive process perspective it is postulated that our social reality continuously changes, and is unpredictable and uncertain. Our social reali-ty does not evolve in a rational and planned way, but crystallizes so to speak ‘behind our back’ out of our many interactions (Elias). The interactions are approached as permeated by the micro-political actions of all involved (Foucault); in the many interactions micro-power is always at issue.
Three narratives are the empirical basis of my research. As an observing participant I de-scribe what evolved regarding the mentioned before subjects in a specific group of people which is involved. In the narratives policymaking becomes apparent. More specific: I de-scribe what happens in the interactions and to which results these interactions lead. Subse-quently the narratives are made reflexive by analysing them by using existing literature on the subjects, amongst others for to demonstrate what from a complex responsive process perspective can be understood differently. In the three narratives it becomes clear that re-sults do not evolve in a rationally planned way, but are the result of emerging developments within the group of the involved people. The results cannot be reduced in a causal or linear fashion from the way they evolve. Moreover, I am part in this emergence because my re-search is not done from an outsider’s position but from an insider’s position.
Regarding the narratives emergence also reflects the analyses and reflexive labour. As my research progressed three themes became apparent. These are themes which apparently play there part in the UAS I work with regard to policymaking, with regard to way I practise my role as adviser and with regard to themes which are connected to Higher Education. Being reflexive towards what thematically presents itself in an emerging way, contributes to learn to understand something different about my daily practice. As such my movement of thought is part of the practised research methodology.
Taken everything together makes that I qualify my research as radically reflexive. Radically reflexive research aims at clarifying the taken for granted assumptions of the researcher, within existing scientific literature and within local situations. However, this clarification is not meant to promote a radical change of the course, but enables to make apparent what could have been possible and what is excluded in the course of things.
Logically the fact that a local situation is researched into by a participating insider demands for different criteria than validity and generalizability. By means of the discussions and experiences within the tradition of auto-ethnographic research I formulated different crite-ria.
1. The research should testify of an analytical and reflexive approach of the narratives, in which the partiality of the researcher and his or her development in thinking must become apparent.
2. The researcher should as an observing participant be a full member of the different com-munities he or she researches into. The position of insider must be certain.
3. The narratives should offer a clear, stimulating, challenging, careful and enriching per-spective on situations and social interactions about which is reported. For the involved in the situations the narratives should be plausible from the perspective of the researcher.
4. The research should be transferable, implying that the analyses, the reflections and the findings should resonate with the reader, and with people which more or less are working in comparable situations.
Due to the insider’s position of the researcher the attention being paid to ethical responsibil-ities should be considerable. The people concerned must have consented to being present in the narratives, they must have had an opportunity to take notice of the narratives and if wished for to propose corrections. Moreover, personal privacy and discretion concerning some issues must be guaranteed. Of course there also is a responsibility for the reader: the reader should appreciate the care and openness of all the involved instead of depreciating the course of things.
With the different theoretical orientations, the criteria for scientificality and the acknowl-edged ethical responsibility the context is sketched for the chapters in which the narratives are point of departure.
The taken for granted assumptions of the researcher
It is logic at the start of radically reflexive research to consider two subjects. First of all the taken for granted assumptions of the researcher. Who is he or she and who does the research and with what kind of opinions and experiences? Secondly the question is by what he or she is troubled in his or her local situation and why?
In chapter 3 I give a sketch of my social genesis, of my – rather philosophical – perspective on my existence, my career, the choices I made at different times and of what I experience as problematic in my work at the time of starting my research. After all, within a radically reflexive approach that which is assumed to be the matter (ontology) is seen as connected to the way it is perceived or experienced by somebody (epistemology). And the way somebody perceives does not come out of the blue, but entails a social history.
Roughly speaking I present myself as someone who in due course of his life has developed an allergy for unsubstantial authority, as someone who in his career as a manager always kept a bit of an ambivalent attitude with regard to the appreciation and effectiveness of a manager and as someone who with regard to an organizational philosophy is inspired by ideas about co-creativity and wisdom of the crowd. Therefore from my perspective the en-gagement of employees with their organization is important with regard to the chances on success of changes within organizations. In former projects in which I had the lead I tried to arrange engagement and also now engagement is an evident point of departure for me. From my perspective in the UAS I work for I notice a constant wavering between a top down and bottom up approach with regard to policymaking.
The research into what happens in situations and what is produced in policymaking is the subject of the next three chapters of which the narratives are the point of departure. In the narratives, the analyses and the reflections it becomes apparent in which way my taken for granted assumptions play their role in what happens. Only that already is an element of un-predictability that clarifies that policymaking is no rational and planned act.
Making sense of an internal branding project
To innovate the marketing policy a project was started with as a point of departure that the marketing of an organization only makes sense if internally is lived up what is promised in the outside world. Therefore the first objective of the project became to articulate the actual present brand values, to be followed by trying to raise awareness of the employees of what connected everybody (process of internal branding). The raised awareness would help to reinforce the identity of the UAS and amongst others help to secure and to reinforce the market position.
In the narrative (chapter 4) I recount how within a period of 10 weeks the coordination team of the project drew up conclusions and recommendations for the Executive Board. These conclusions and recommendations concerned an evaluation of the effectiveness of the pro-ject, after two years of the start of the project. To what degree the brand values were recog-nized and shared ? And were they experienced as steering? These were the basic questions for the evaluation.
In the narrative becomes apparent how in the ongoing interactions among the members of the coordination team an amount of interpretations about the evaluation were construed. In due course the interpretations which were attributed to the evaluation shifted with regard to content and implication. A eye catching shift was for instance that the members of the team started to talk about core values instead of brand values. A shift which in principle substan-tially increased the normative impact of the project.
Although the different members of the coordination team had different opinions and differ-ent interests, after 10 weeks there was a shared set of conclusions and recommendations. Moreover, the consensus had evolved in rather great harmony. Because conclusions and recommendations are a matter of policymaking it was interesting to analyse and to reflect upon what had happened. With for me as a researcher and adviser an important note, namely that we had drawn recommendations and conclusions in which at least partly I could not find me, but had agreed to. Moreover, I already had some serious doubts about the meaning-fulness and attainability of this sort of projects. Apparently the recommendations and con-clusions had organized themselves.
To explain why after 10 weeks we shared recommendations and conclusions I went into psychology. Concepts like social contagion and the avoidance of cognitive dissonance clari-fy how in cooperation among people something common evolves without control or plan-ning of the people involved. Moreover, one can speak of interdependency which stimulates to make compromises, in which is calculated what will be attainable for the others involved and more specific for the client (in this case the Executive Board). Social contagion and cognitive dissonance clarify what is to be found about responsivity and interdependency in the work of Elias and Mead. The recommendations and conclusions entail traces of micro-political processes; they testify from ongoing negotiations about what would be presented as ‘the truth’.
For me a question about the nature of my position became a hot issue. After all, I had some doubts about the project, I had some strong opinions about how to develop policy and I - despite ‘myself’- participated in this project and agreed to a lot of things. Reflecting on these questions it appeared that everybody, neither I, despite my co-creative intentions, do not control interactions nor control why I am asked to do some tasks. A complex responsive process perspective helped to clarify what is happening. The question was raised whether if I functioned as a corporate jester within the UAS, the one who combines being recalcitrant and flexible and thus employable in some sort of projects. A next project helped to clarify this issue.
Drawing up performance agreements
Together with a colleague I was asked to organize the drawing up of performance agree-ments. Performance agreements are agreements which every UAS had to make with the Secretary of State of Education in 2012. Under pain of a budgetary reduction every UAS had to formulate (and realize) an amount of ambitions with regard to the quality of education, the personnel and the profiling of the UAS within the own region. As such these perfor-mance agreements are rather coercive with regard to the policymaking of a UAS.
In the narrative (in chapter 5) about the months in which the performance agreements were drawn up, I recount the internal political - sometimes Babylonian - process within senior management, as far as experienced by me. Moreover, it becomes apparent in which way the organization with regard to the available information and the existing policy related to what was demanded by the performance agreements. In the way these topics were handled mutual relations and the process of decision making became visible, a way of decision making sometimes supported by lucky coincidences. In the narrative is to observe which folds are smoothed over in the final document regarding the performance agreements.
With respect to my position and my acting I again asked the question if in my work as an adviser traits of a jestership were to be recognized. To explore I related my work to the work of a consultant, a profession which evolved from the beginning of the twentieth centu-ry. I explored and criticized the role of an adviser from a complex responsive process per-spective. In the process of drawing up the agreements complex responsivity became appar-ent by mapping which unforeseen occurrences and the way micro-power within interde-pendent relations, ‘helped’ to bring about the final results. The perspective on the efforts of a jester was accentuated. In a foolish and unpredictable world - in which Higher Education is subjected to a way of producing education comparable to the way McDonalds produces food - the jester appeared of use as a non-threatening mediator among a lot of different points of view. Although, by reading about the presence of a bricoleur new questions about my jestership evolved. In chapter 7 I will come back to that.
Consent about dissent
The intensive journalistic and political attention paid to mismanagement in amongst others some educational institutions put the subject of jestership also on the agenda of the Execu-tive Board. An appointment of me as a Corporate Critical Friend was considered, as one of the possibilities to prevent abuses. For different reasons this idea was abandoned.
In the narrative (in chapter 6) I recount about what discussions arose about the idea of con-structive dissent. Stimulating constructing dissent is a topic which is put on the agenda by the Ministry of Education in order to prevent mismanagement in Higher Education. The discussions were held within the Executive Board, within in and sometimes together with a think tank which I organized to that purpose. It appeared to be easier to discuss about the necessity of dissent, than to have a dissenting discussion about a topic. Hierarchy, power and strategy remained present in every conversation. From an exploration of literature I learned that the approach of power issues from the tradition of Critical Management Studies is rather unilateral and linear. As if management is the big wrongdoer and every times finds ways to push through its interests. From an analysis and a reflection from a complex re-sponsive process perspective it became clear that management is no monolithic entity and as everybody wrestles with the style of management which is imposed by for instance the performance agreements. This wrestling happens all the time and an important conclusion is that one should find more opportunity to dwell on what we ‘actually’ are doing.
The final
The analyses and reflections upon the narratives stimulated to understand differently the daily practice of my work. To learn to understand differently - movement of thought – is as indicated part of the research methodology. The acquired insight is presented at the end (in chapter 7) with the purpose of describing what is going on in my job. Apart from that I ac-count for the research and the used methodology.
In my research it became clear that within the UAS in different places people wrestle with what I called performativity. The unilateral emphasis on efficiency as the controlling prin-ciple is debated and no fixed matter. Moreover, it appeared that management is no mono-lithic entity and different of the involved colleagues wrestle to render meaning to the poli-cy. A need is articulated to dwell on what is happening. To interrupt once and a while daily business could help.
Apart from that I conclude that my responsibilities have less the traits of a jestership but more affinity with what is described as a bricoleur. A bricoleur is a handyman within an organization which on a pragmatic base is able to connect different opinions. However, an important addition compared with existing literature is, that a bricoleur should be blessed with quite some irony to put into perspective the different points of view, and the unilateral emphasis on efficiency related to performativity.
It appeared that performativity is a debated way of policymaking because it is experienced as a meaningless intrusion. Therefore I was able to connect my research with a nationwide discussion about educational reform. I did this by holding up to the light the plans of the association “Beter Onderwijs Nederland” to conclude that these plans are only a continua-tion and intensification of the performativity cult, in which the importance of the voice of professionals in the debate is denied and subscribed to in a paradoxical way.
With regard to policymaking I conclude that policy evolves in an unpredictable way. If in-tended policy should become reality than I suggest that for managers it is far more im-portant to participate in the daily micro-political reality than to spread some blueprints from behind their desks.
... The researcher/teacher is self-critical, a learner with learners, continually reflective and willing to openly admit instabilities, 'messiness' and even crisis in the evolving relationships between researcher and participants. As models for this kind of approach, I draw on anthropologists such as Peter Metcalf (2002) and researchers in the field of education like Peter Clough (1999), Tina Cook (2009) and John Quicke (2010). ...
The first section of this paper is a discussion of the paradoxes contained in definitionsof the word 'community' and deliberately foregrounds and makes problematicconflicting meanings before arguing for a third definition and practice of community.This third definition and practice celebrates and even transcends contradictions withinan active learning model of education in the community, aimed at tackling inequalityand prejudice. The second section offers an autocritical narrative account of aneducation in the community project that illustrates how such a practice of communitymaking can be achieved within an educational framework in which pupil is teacher andteacher is pupil and in which an imaginative, creative approach is deployed toconstruct a community making practice. The paper draws on understandings fromcommunity development, inclusive and creative education, emancipatory actionresearch, postcolonial and post-structuralist theory.
... The acceptance of research focused on making meaning through self-study and autoethnography is evidenced by the growing body of research and representation of these methods in education literature (Ellis, Adams & Bochner 2011;Quicke 2010;Wall 2006). This interest may indicate discontent and dissatisfaction with the dominant modes of research and prevailing approaches for presenting research (Leavy 2009;Quaye 2007). ...
The stories of our lives are important. They are a fundamental way in which we know ourselves and are known by others. However, in educational worlds our stories are often pushed to one side, repressed or denied. This chapter seeks to privilege accounts of personal and educational experiences to productively challenge potentially deadening educational discourses. It draws on personal narratives from several contexts in my educational and life history. Aspects of identity, life-history, and personal and professional stories are examined through a process of self-study where creative artefacts made and collected over time (stories, poems, photos and paintings) are revisited, evoking memories, questions and contemplation. These artefacts act as objects to think with and as catalysts for ongoing personal and professional inquiry. They are heavy in emotion and invite authentic, honest connection with experiences.
... (Cupane, as cited in Taylor, 2012) important means for thinking through multiple dimensions of life-worlds (Quicke, 2010). ...
This article explores experiences that have influenced my choices for becoming a teacher and then researcher. I used autoethnography as a research method to explore significant moments in my life during the years of both my primary and secondary education. The cumulative power of these life vignettes have been researched to understand the diverse emotional, complex and multilayered experiences of my formative years of childhood and how such emotions may have shaped my career choices and who I am at this very moment. This paper meticulously collected artifacts such as personal photos, newspapers, transcribed recordings of moments of intense emotions and memories as sources of data that supported a journey of growth. These data were analysed using thematic analysis and compared with my own written recollections, together with visual representations of emotions found in photographs of my life journey. Findings of this study revealed a journey of “self” that has explored and documented an understanding of the motivations of myself as a teacher-researcher to become the person I am. Today, my intrinsic interest in emotional intelligence area of research motivated me to explore the genesis of my own experiences and successes. In this autoethnography I become a learner, analysing my life data searching for themes such as self-awareness, perseverance, resilience, empathy, motivation and social skills, all found in the repertoire of a person’s emotional intelligence.
This paper examines the involvement of sixteen undergraduate students across four disciplines in a practice-led research project to create the “Once Upon a Time in Palestine” XR documentary by exploring how they performed when given complex challenges, to create this novel and complex practice-led research project. The students were trained and mentored but also were trusted to work under minimal supervision. This created a high level of engagement with the expectation of high-quality output and presented the students with opportunities not afforded to them within the rigid structure of their academic programs. This paper examines the engagement of the students, and their willingness to learn new technologies and apply this learning to produce high quality output under tight deadlines with minimal supervision and the value of interdisciplinary collaboration across multiple fields of study. The paper concludes that while there was a steep learning curve, the students were able to achieve high-level engagement and produce professional results within the specified deadlines, using the latest technological advances in the field, while learning new skills outside their academic program and also enhancing the outcome of the successful project.
Forming the basis for a provocative dialogue and written to illuminate teaching stories often pushed to the margins, this chapter provides a counter-narrative to the discourse surrounding leaky teacher-of-color pipelines and the national teacher crisis. Employing a critical race analytical lens, critical auto-ethnographic approach, and narrated through prose, five female educators committed to social justice share how they rely on unique and intersecting identities to sustain themselves in contested school spaces, while simultaneously exploring the cultural wealth they and their students bring into those spaces. Their collective stories reveal important lessons essential to our understanding of how to develop teachers for social justice. They also provide insight for those who teach in schools and classrooms meant to educate our most vulnerable and under-served students, and may answer the question, Why doesn't anyone want to teach anymore?
This article explores experiences that have influenced my choices for becoming a teacher and then researcher. I used autoethnography as a research method to explore significant moments in my life during the years of both my primary and secondary education. The cumulative power of these life vignettes have been researched to understand the diverse emotional, complex and multilayered experiences of my formative years of childhood and how such emotions may have shaped my career choices and who I am at this very moment. This paper meticulously collected artifacts such as personal photos, newspapers, transcribed recordings of moments of intense emotions and memories as sources of data that supported a journey of growth. These data were analysed using thematic analysis and compared with my own written recollections, together with visual representations of emotions found in photographs of my life journey. Findings of this study revealed a journey of "self" that has explored and documented an understanding of the motivations of myself as a teacher-researcher to become the person I am. Today, my intrinsic interest in emotional intelligence area of research motivated me to explore the genesis of my own experiences and successes. In this autoethnography I become a learner, analysing my life data searching for themes such as self-awareness, perseverance, resilience, empathy, motivation and social skills, all found in the repertoire of a person's emotional intelligence.
Forming the basis for a provocative dialogue and written to illuminate teaching stories often pushed to the margins, this chapter provides a counter-narrative to the discourse surrounding leaky teacher-ofcolor pipelines and the national teacher crisis. Employing a critical race analytical lens, critical autoethnographic approach, and narrated through prose, five female educators committed to social justice share how they rely on unique and intersecting identities to sustain themselves in contested school spaces, while simultaneously exploring the cultural wealth they and their students bring into those spaces. Their collective stories reveal important lessons essential to our understanding of how to develop teachers for social justice. They also provide insight for those who teach in schools and classrooms meant to educate our most vulnerable and under-served students, and may answer the question, Why doesn't anyone want to teach anymore?
The extent to which critical pedagogy disrupts the relations of dominance inside postsecondary classrooms, or empowers students to take socially just action beyond the classroom has been debated and challenged for decades. Through the use of métissage, an interpretive inquiry method that affords collaborative interrogation of individual narrative writings, we five participants in the same critical pedagogy course conducted a post-course inquiry project in order to explore what we had learned through the course. Through this inquiry project, we have come to a deeper understanding of critical pedagogy praxis. Ultimately, what we learned through the use of this inquiry method maintains important implications for postsecondary educators.
An auto-ethnography and then analyses of narratives and ethnographies of other construction professionals are used to argue that reproduction of knowledge and expertise development is constrained by both normative professional thinking and a discourse of economic constraint generated by a highly competitive marketplace with a focus on time, cost, and quality trade-offs. The analysis of construction professionals’ narratives suggests that expertise development in construction is essentially an incremental process built on scenarios and influenced mostly by context and people, discourses of practices, legalities and professional expectations. Sometimes that incrementalism is distorted through radical innovation, but that is rare. Construction expertise in these stories is reproduced from base level learning and grows through practice. Practitioners, it is argued, accumulate knowledge and expertise, but the practice that emanates remains bounded within prevailing discourse which itself changes incrementally.
This study explores how my musical background, teaching and performance skills, understandings, and knowledge acquired from both formal and informal influence has shaped myself as musician, teacher and researcher. The study reveals various learning cultures and social networks that frame my multiple professional identities that have themselves developed from my understandings of being a performer, an educator and researcher. This study explores three aspects to my being: personal identity, professional identity and my perception of the impact this has on my students through my teaching and performing. An autoethnographical method is used to investigate my background that is initially formed by the different modes of music education I received. The study reveals significant influences and formative experiences that impact knowledge and skill accumulation, shaping what informs my own practice as a musician, teacher and researcher. It reveals ongoing exploration, reflection and personal negotiations in maintaining ones’ development of performance and personal creative processes, whilst functioning as a facilitator and educator to others. This study offers insights into how cultural backgrounds, social contexts, teachers and peers influence others.
In this paper I explore how my musical background, teaching skills, understanding and knowledge as well as music-making abilities and skills, have formed my current self as musician, teacher and researcher. An autoethnographical method is used to investigate my background, including the different modes of music education I received. From this qualitative study, it was possible to find that my interests along with the methods of interpretations I practice in the field of multicultural music are influenced by and formulated through my appreciation and understandings of and beliefs gained from education. Most importantly, they are shaped by the social context, cultural placing, and life experiences.
As countries become increasingly multicultural, it can be argued that the authentic teaching and learning of multicultural music in educational settings is essential. Crucial to this is the provision of cultural context to retain as much of the original meaning of the music as possible. This paper discusses the main arguments for authenticity in multicultural music and the implications for its learning and teaching. Researchers argue that the formal aspect of music transmission has been overlooked in multicultural music teaching and learning. The intention of the author is to introduce the concept of Proximal Simulation and its constituting elements, namely Authentic Performance Conventions; Authentic Audiation; Authentic Sensory Experiences and Emotions, and offer suggestions for safeguarding musical traditions through Authentic Transmission (teaching and learning) practices. This discussion also explores the qualities of the ‘Transcontextualisation’ theory proposed by musicologist Osamu Yamaguti in 1994, in the contexts of multicultural music performance and transmission.
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Autoethnography as a relatively new methodological approach or genre has spread widely in qualitative research in the last decades. Among other qualitative methodologies, it questions scientific “truths” and “facts” by claiming the inherently biographical nature of research and focusing on the socio-culturally situated subject of the researcher. In spite of its spreading use especially in post-structuralist research, autoethnography has received serious critiques because of its subjectivism and questionable scientific nature, its methodological uncertainty and ethically problematic character. Moreover, from a critical, neo-Marxist or Marxist approach it can be criticized for its self-centred and/or post-structuralist approach that prevents research from contributing to social transformation. This chapter aims at reinforcing the scientific legitimacy and importance of this genre, not hiding the justifiable problems related to it. In this chapter, the author will present an autoethnographic study that is a reinterpretation of his previous school ethnography from the point of view of his gay identity. By re-telling the story of the study, he will develop a queer Marxist narrative, and will offer some epistemological, methodological and hermeneutical reflections on critical autoethnography.
An alternative formulation of the actor in educational action research is shown to refresh notions of theory within initial teacher education. Methodologically, the actor is depicted as identifying with ongoing cultural adjustments through reflective data. Specifically, the paper considers the experience of mature trainee teachers in the United Kingdom, who participated in employment-based models of training. Initially, trainees were drawn to meeting the immediate demands of practice in specific locations. Capacity in practice more generally accrued through later exposure to analytical approaches. The paper documents collaborative action research by teacher educators focusing on the changing demands of their development work with the trainees. The resultant struggle of professional identity for tutors is seen as productive, adjusting educative processes to new circumstances. The actor of action research so equipped mobilises a conception of theory supportive of more responsive subjective modes within wider professional functionality.
This article will be a reflective report, made by participants, facilitators and tutors, on the first stage of a project entitled ‘Mentalentity’, which had as its brief the promotion of positive attitudes to mental health among men in rural areas. The arts ‘product’ is a 25‐minute film made by a group of men in South Armagh using an action learning and action research approach. The project is a paradigm of ‘action research’ using arts‐based methods also, in that none of the men had ever been involved in filmmaking and had to learn a wide range of skills to convert the knowledge they were reflecting on into an arts product; avoiding the sensationalising of a very complex subject and, equally, the earnestness sometimes associated with ‘awareness raising’ projects. The project is funded by a statutory agency, the Southern Investing for Health Partnership, and is being implemented by two voluntary groups, Men Aware (South Armagh) and the pan‐disability group Out and About, working with Queen’s University, School of Education, Open Learning Programme, which facilitated and accredited the project, and the Nerve Centre, an internationally renowned independent arts organisation that specialises in music, multimedia, and the moving image. The article will relate the project to a range of arts‐based projects undertaken by the contributors and will contextualise this work within the research in such fields as inclusive participative and emancipatory research, qualitative research methodologies, active learning pedagogy, arts‐based pedagogy, social/relational model disability and cutting‐edge ‘psychosocial’ models in mental health.
This paper presents a critical autoethnographic reflection upon a study that I had previously conducted. The original study reports on research conducted in two classes at a Japanese university on the students' attitudes towards different forms of addressing a foreign teacher in a conversational English class. The research incorporated a visualisation exercise with a free writing response in an attempt to investigate indirectly student attitudes to various forms of address. The results were inconclusive with respect to the original research objectives, because none of the proposed forms of address was found to be universally acceptable in either class. A report on the research was written, but never published. Two years later, I reflexively interrogated the text of the original report in an attempt to explore the values and beliefs that influenced the design, implementation and reporting of the original research. Thus the original research report became the data for the current study. This paper demonstrates the process that I undertook in critically reflecting upon my own research by presenting the original report (written two years ago), providing notes on my critical reflection upon that research and then discussing the implications of this approach. The paper highlights the mutability of researcher values and beliefs.
The purpose of this article is to critique representation and legitimation as they relate to the peer review process for an autoethnographic manuscript. Using a conversation derived from seven reviewers' comments pertaining to one autoethnographic manuscript, issues relating to (a) the use of verification strategies in autoethnographic studies; and, (b) the use of self as the only data source are discussed. As such, this paper can be considered as an autoethnographic writing story. The problematic nature of autoethnography, which is located at the boundaries of scientific research, is examined by linking the author's experiences of the review process with dominant research perspectives. Suggestions for investigators wishing to produce autoethnographic accounts are outlined along with a call for the development of appropriate evaluative criteria for such work.
In this 1989 book Rorty argues that thinkers such as Nietzsche, Freud, and Wittgenstein have enabled societies to see themselves as historical contingencies, rather than as expressions of underlying, ahistorical human nature or as realizations of suprahistorical goals. This ironic perspective on the human condition is valuable on a private level, although it cannot advance the social or political goals of liberalism. In fact Rorty believes that it is literature not philosophy that can do this, by promoting a genuine sense of human solidarity. A truly liberal culture, acutely aware of its own historical contingency, would fuse the private, individual freedom of the ironic, philosophical perspective with the public project of human solidarity as it is engendered through the insights and sensibilities of great writers. The book has a characteristically wide range of reference from philosophy through social theory to literary criticism. It confirms Rorty's status as a uniquely subtle theorist, whose writing will prove absorbing to academic and nonacademic readers alike.
This book consists of a number of case studies about interventions in schools to promote the inclusion of pupils referred to a local authority Educational Psychology Service (EPS) in the north of England. The aim is to provide accounts which do not shirk from describing ‘failures’ as well as ‘successes’ and which reflect the general ‘messiness’ of this kind of work. They are written as ‘stories’ from the point of view of an educational psychologist who regards himself as a critical reflective practitioner whose professional practice is grounded in a democratic, inclusive philosophy. The methodology of the book draws on the qualitative research tradition in social science and education, in particular ethnography and action research, and makes a unique contribution to the role of ‘storying’ in this kind of research. The author feels that his approach represents a challenge to conventional constraints on research in his own profession which prevent the development of a more open dialogue about the role and purpose of psychological interventions to promote inclusion. The worked examples of practical strategies in mainstream provide insights which should be of interest to all support professionals, teachers, educationalists and others concerned with inclusion of pupils described as having ‘special educational needs’.
The quality of teaching depends to a large extent on the opportunities provided for teachers to teach. Personal factors are important, as are the design and adequacy of learning tasks; but teacher interests and motivation, and social, political and economic factors have to be taken into consideration in ascertaining quality. 'Teacher Skills and Strategies' includes new and recent material on 'creative' teaching and the management of the teacher role, stress among teachers and the effect of the 1988 Education reform Act on classroom teaching. Peter Woods explores strategies in this new context, integrating them into a theoretical model based on 'opportunities to teach and learn'.
Drawing on recent developments in complexity theory, ecology, and hermeneutics, Brent Davis and Dennis Sumara present an "enactivist" model of cognition and contrast it to popular notions of what it means to learn and think that pervade formal education. They illustrate their model by drawing from their experiences during a year-long study in a small, inner-city elementary school. According to this model, cognition does not occur in individual minds or brains, but in the possibility for shared action. An enactivist theory of cognition, the authors suggest, requires teachers and teacher educators to reconceive the practice of teaching by blurring the lines between knower and known, teacher and student, school and community.
In this article I suggest that qualitative researchers broaden the narrative strategies we employ so our texts are built more in relation to fiction and storytelling, rather than in response to logical empiricism. My point is not so much to criticize the work of others, but rather to open up a space in social science texts for a more protean and engaged portrayal of those lives we observe and live. My stimulus is a concern with the defensive posture many of us have assumed with regard to the utilization of the narrative voice. Furthermore, I am concerned that a new orthodoxy will arise where we simply replace one narrative voice with another. My assumption is that the creation of innovative narrative strategies is made that much more difficult when the author assumes a defensive posture; rather than write in relation to empiricist norms authors need to transgress those norms and invent writing strategies. In what follows, I briefly discuss the crisis in representation and I consider the responses the crisis has elicited. I then delineate my concerns with the responses and outline subsequent steps that might be taken if we want to move beyond current narrative formats.
Narrative research writing often seeks to create a sense of feel and place. The aim is to convince an audience that the researcher has ‘been there’ and that they could have been there too. This article presents a story about a visit to a secondary special school for boys judged to have emotional and behavioural difficulties, and then goes on to discuss issues around ‘othering’ experienced by the author when writing it. The problems of first visits and the way in which personal identities influence perceptions of research settings are considered with reference to othering. The article concludes with the suggestion that, when the intention has been to work ‘ againstOthering, forsocial justice’ (Fine, 1994: 81), maybe one has to recognize that some concerns can probably not be relieved, and to ‘simply attempt to do the best [I] can’ (Smith and Deemer, 2000: 891).
Along with the narrative turn in social sciences, the quality of research has become a more and more intricate issue. Action research reports are often narratives, located in the context of the evolving experiences of those involved. In this paper, the problem of quality in action research narratives is addressed, and some principles for assessing the quality of narrative research reports are proposed. The issue is explored both at a theoretical‐conceptual level and through a number of practical cases from the narrative‐biographical research project TeacherLife. As narrative researchers, the authors are not willing to accept an extremely relativistic stand. They argue the need for conceptual tools to grasp the problem of quality of narratives, but tools different from the traditional concepts of validity and reliability, which harbour markedly positivistic connotations. They propose five principles for judging the quality of action research from a narrative point of view. According to these principles, a good action research narrative firstly acknowledges the past course of events that have shaped the present practices (the principle of historical continuity). Secondly and thirdly, it is reflexive (the principle of reflexivity) and elaborates the story dialectically (the principle of dialectics). Fourthly, a decisive criterion for successful action research is that it produces some useable practices that, in one way or another, can be regarded as useful (the principle of workability). The authors agree with Aristotle, who claims that a good narrative involves a balance between ‘logos’, ‘ethos’ and ‘pathos’. They place emphasis on ‘ethos’ and ‘pathos’ through a principle of evocativeness. These criteria are not proposing as an established checklist, and the authors point to the overlap between some of them. They are drawn from experience in supervising action research projects, evaluating narrative reports and encouraging people to write authentic narratives of their research work.
[1] This paper grew out of a discussion at the CARN mini‐conference in Chelmsford, UK, on 26 February, 1993
In what sense is it helpful to argue that the truth criteria for research reports can be understood through analogies with creative narratives, such as novel and short stories? One argument is that both are founded on the notion of constructing the ‘authentic’ voices of those whose world is presented in the narrative. Problems with the concept of authenticity are explored, and a further analogy is presented, between the principles of action research and those of ‘modernist’ fiction, in order to show how narratives can avoid simply reproducing the authoritarian texts of realist fiction and of hierarchically organised research.
This paper draws on research which took an auto/biographical and narrative approach in order to investigate mainstream teachers’ and teaching assistants’ experiences and understandings of inclusion. Throughout the 2003/04 academic year, three researchers made three visits to one primary and one secondary school to talk with individuals and groups. The research involved the stories collected as ‘data’ and our stories as researchers. This paper draws on both sets of stories and considers the researchers’ experiences of ‘doing’ and being involved in narrative research, as well as affording some glimpses into the stories of inclusion that they collected.
In this article, the author reflects on his participation in a project in democratic educational renewal in an inner‐city high school in Cincinnati, Ohio in the 1990s. He frames the case study within a number of broader questions in democratic educational research and theory having to do with the need to construct narratives of hope without illusion. Such research narratives, he argues, are rooted in a recognition that culture is contested and thus open rather than determined. Progressive stories open up possibilities for critical reflection and strategic action at various sites, and they cross the borders between ‘insider’ and ‘outsider’ accounts. To develop these ideas, he draws on a number of poststructural theorists, including most notably Gramsci and Foucault. He situates the case study within the context of an analysis of the new cultural politics of: corporate‐sponsored school reform, the surveillance and policing of urban youth, and the ‘othering’ of progressives voices in urban education.
This paper explores the recent debates on ethnographic writing by explicating four types of reflexivity: confessional, theoretical, textual, and deconstructive. It then illustrates how the author has incorporated such reflexive practices into his recent ethnographies. The paper generally advocates blending autobiography and ethnography into a ''cultural Marxist'' standpoint. This perspective also draws upon multiple epistemologies and feminist notions of science, and it highlights the importance of writing in ordinary language. Such narrative experimentation aims to replace the old scientific ethnographic realist narrative style with a more reflexive realist narrative style. The author argues that reflexive epistemological and narrative practices will make ethnography a more engaging, useful, public storytelling genre.
This self‐reflexive personal narrative charts the autoethnographic journey of an adult educator, exploring her own practices, values and beliefs about teaching. Drawing upon postmodern scholarship in reflexive literary methodologies, the author uses personal memoirs as a research text for engaging in a process of interpretation and re‐interpretation, creating new and/or altered readings that may offer the possibility for personal and professional transformation. Six stories—both past and present—are remembered and written into an evocative text designed to created a shared textual space for readers to interpret and explore in the context of their own social and cultural experiences. Its conclusion invites teachers to consider how self‐reflexive writing can result in the production of new or altered narratives that have the potential for engaging both self and others in generative change.
This paper is based on the assumption that action research always affects the micropolitical balance characteristic of a certain school setting. The authors claim that micropolitics, that is the patterns of formal power and informal influence, has largely been neglected in the literature on action research in schools. This means that action researchers appear to be ‘micropolitically illiterate’. Firstly in the paper the authors present the concept of micropolitics and a model consisting of three arenas for understanding micropolitics in schools. Thereafter they exemplify the different aspects and expressions of micropolitics by referring to their own action research projects. The focus is particularly on initiative to and engagement with action research. Finally they reflect on some micropolitical dilemmas characteristic of action research and the contradictory role of the action researcher.
The analysis of assessment policy and practice from a critical/poststructuralist perspective is comparatively rare in education assessment writing. This paper is such an engagement. Texts derived from an earlier empirical study of assessment dialogue in infant classrooms were re-examined using a critical discourse analysis. While the approach was exploratory, the methodology and its outcomes are relevant to policy theory. The analysis examines two main aspects of classroom discourse? the performative, in relation to speech acts and metaphor? both for what they do in constructing personal and social realities for infant subjects. The discussion uses the concept of intertextuality to explore discourse relationships and change; it also considers the nature of dominant discourses and policy contestation. Questions about agency are raised. The complexity of policy as ‘effect’ is demonstrated.
This paper explores the central place of stories and narratives in action research practices and accounts to argue that it is hard to imagine how we might do or write about action research in a non‐storied way. The paper argues that good stories help us to think well and more wisely about ourselves and our practice. An historical example is chosen to illustrate the compelling potential of stories about real people and real lives, followed by a teasing out of six methodological issues that arise.
In the 1980s and 1990s our understanding of disability has matured and evolved. This . . . collection of essays by Michael Oliver discusses recent and perennial issues—such as the fundamental principles of disability, citizenship and community care, social policy and welfare, education, rehabilitation, the politics of new social movements and the international context. Interwoven as these issues are with the personal biography of the author, they reflect some of the major concerns which confront disabled people. The book thus represents both a personal journey of exploration and an attempt to take further our theoretical understanding of disability. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
In this article the extent to which stories and personal narratives can and should be used to inform education policy is examined. A range of studies describable as story or personal narrative is investigated. They include life-studies, life-writing, life history, narrative analysis, and the representation of lives. We use ‘auto/biography’ as a convenient way of grouping this range under one term. It points to the many and varied ways that accounts of self interrelate and intertwine with accounts of others. That is, auto/biography illuminates the social context of individual lives. At the same time it allows room for unique, personal stories to be told. We do not explicitly discuss all the different forms of auto/biography. Rather, we investigate the epistemology underlying the personal story in the context of social action. We discuss the circumstances in which a story may validly be used by educational policy makers and give some examples of how they have done so in the past.
This paper explores the impact of the 1988 Education Reform Act in England Wales on education ideologies. In particular it considers the changing narratives of the pupil being brought about through profiling, testing and streaming. Using Foucault's notion of 'moral technologies', the paper examines the regulation of pupil behaviour and the construction of pupil identity through systems of classification and grading. This argument is supported by school-based research into the use of testing and profiling by teachers. The paper concludes that the pedagogic aspirations of child centredness and the National Curriculum converge in the everyday practices of primary school teachers.
Ethnography derives from traditional anthropology, where time in the field is needed to discern both the depth and complexity of social structures and relations. Funding bodies, seeking quick completion, might see ethnographies as unlikely to satisfy 'value for money' criteria, in spite of the rewards to be gained from time-consuming 'thick description', and rich analysis that gets close to the lived experience of participants in social settings. However, ethnographic time need not only be perceived of as a lengthy and sustained period in the field prior to writing. The authors suggest that there are different forms of ethnographic research time, each with specific features, and drawing on their experience of ethnographic research they exemplify them. They conclude by suggesting that the selection of the appropriate form is dependent on the contingent circumstances of the research and the main purpose of the research, and suggest strategies for developing this work in contemporary circumstances.
Designing and carrying out effective and valid research are the desired goals of all researchers, and demonstrating the trustworthiness of one's dissertation research is a requirement for all doctoral candidates. For qualitative researchers, reaching the desired goal and meeting the requirement of trustworthiness become particularly problematic due to the considerable debate about what it means to do valid research in the field of qualitative inquiry. This article reviews the various approaches to the validity problem in the hope of turning this debate into a dialogue. Validity is traced from its origins in the realist ontology and foundational epistemology of quantitative inquiry to its reformulations within the lifeworld ontology and non-foundationalism of interpretive human inquiry. Various recent qualitative approaches to validity are considered, and interpretive reconfigurations of validity are reviewed. Interpretive approaches to validity are synthesized as ethical and substantive procedures of validation.
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