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Narrative inquiry: Designing the processes, pathways and patterns of change
Abstract
Narrative inquiry, as a component of systems design, provides a method of exploring systemic change and the design of educational systems from the perspectives of the facilitator of the change process, the invested participant in the change process, and the resistive participant in the change process. Systems design furnishes the construct within which to consider change, while narrative inquiry facilitates the design conversations that develop the processes, pathways and patterns that lead to the unfolding idealized school as a socially constructed reality of the participants.
Rather than deal with discrete events individually, the personal stories that evolve in narrative inquiry allow people to build larger frames of reference and examine underlying assumptions and beliefs that guide our actions. Stories recreate experience in ways that allow the personal, cultural, and historical ground to remain present. As a relationship method, it emphasizes the human connections consistent with the interrelatedness found within members of a school. Using a three-dimensional change model and narrative inquiry, this paper addresses the question: How can the stories embedded in the history context and culture of a school inform the change process? How can narrative inquiry mediate the process of moving across boundaries to the educational future? How can narrative inquiry identify symbolic boundaries that exist within an educational organization? Copyright
... The method used in analysing the transcripts was narrative inquiry. Narrative inquiry is defined by Gill (2001), following MacIntyre (1997, 2016, who proposes that to learn about an organisation we must hear the stories individuals tell about that organisation. This approach, derived from management studies and research on schools, can be productively applied to foreign students in North Korea because their Korean interlocutors are working as an organised team acting according to protocol. ...
... As a former foreign student, I myself took part in a dialogic process hearing and discussing the stories of the foreign students to construct shared meaning. The methodology applied here is thus collaborative and participatory (Gill 2001). This collaborative research approach developed through the process of data collection as the foreign students were intellectually curious and enthusiastically worked with me to reflect upon the pool of experiences as foreign students in North Korea. ...
... The end point of narrative inquiry was to piece together the 'larger story' that emerged from participant narratives (Gill 2001). As the foreign students' most vivid memories of their time in North Korea were mostly related to the tongsuksaeng and their teachers, this larger story naturally coalesced around the social control which exerted a constant gravitational pull on their social interactions. ...
North Korea is well-known for the intense social control it imposes upon its citizens and foreign visitors. This social control serves to circumscribe interactions between the two groups, limit the flow of information in either direction which may be detrimental to North Korea’s propaganda narrative, and maintain North Korea’s isolation from the outside world. Foreign students in Pyongyang are not exempt from such social control. However, they are granted opportunities allowing them to experience the country more comprehensively such as freedom of movement within the city and the chance to live alongside local students and interact extensively with their teachers. By probing the experiences of four former foreign students of Kim Il Sung University to examine what their social interactions reveal about North Korean social control, its mechanisms and limitations, this article attributes agency to people living under North Korea’s system and complicates dominant paradigms of totalitarianism.
... Data acquired through narrative research is generally open to interpretation which "develops through collaboration of researcher and respondent or storyteller and listener" (Joyce, 2015, p. 40). Introduced by Connelly and Clandinin (1990), narrative inquiry is used to understand personal human perspectives in an effort to build larger frames of reference to assess assumptions, guide action, and initiate social and cultural change (Gill, 2001). Further, narrative inquiry facilitates researcher-participant conversations and addresses and develops the processes and patterns that socially construct participants' perceptions of reality (Gill, 2001). ...
... Introduced by Connelly and Clandinin (1990), narrative inquiry is used to understand personal human perspectives in an effort to build larger frames of reference to assess assumptions, guide action, and initiate social and cultural change (Gill, 2001). Further, narrative inquiry facilitates researcher-participant conversations and addresses and develops the processes and patterns that socially construct participants' perceptions of reality (Gill, 2001). By using narrative inquiry as a method for telling and retelling the stories of novice and experienced teachers, researchers have the opportunity to discover meaning through patterns, motifs, and archetypes (Clandinin, 2007) in order to unearth new ways of knowing in teaching and learning (Witherell and Noddings, 1991;Clandinin and Connelly, 1996;Connelly and Clandinin, 1999;Clandinin et al., 2006). ...
Framed by symbolic interactionism, this study used narrative inquiry to share a teacher’s story about her decision to pursue and depart the teaching profession within four years of graduating from a traditional undergraduate preparation program in the Midwest United States. The participant, “Banjo,” participated in a qualitative analysis that consisted of four interviews conducted during the first year following her departure from the field. Findings revealed several conflicts surrounding Banjo’s sense of pre- and in-service teacher identity and teacher preparation experiences that ultimately influenced her decision to leave the teaching profession. Banjo’s story provides critical insights about how to prevent similar challenges among early-career practitioners and facilitate progressive change in preservice teacher education writ large.
... Drawing from literature in Organizational Studies, several recent studies do report about agency arising from narrative reconstruction (Hartz & Steger, 2010;Maclean et al., 2018;Squire, 2012;Van Wyk, 2015;Watson & Watson, 2012). Discussing school organizations, Gill (2001) says that narrative inquiry 'facilitates the design conversations that develop the processes, pathways and patterns that lead to the unfolding idealized school' (p. 336). ...
... In fact, totalizing narrative truths can have the detrimental effect of placing characters into stereotypes, objects rather than subjects, who are unable to change. According to Gill (2001), entrenched guiding narratives effectually produce myopia, even causing people to dismiss 'viable solutions because those solutions appear counterintuitive to the accepted patterns of behavior and thought' (p. 339). ...
Internationalization is a key development strategy for universities in Thailand. This has meant a surge in international program offerings and the establishment of international colleges on many campuses. However, what distinguishes an International Education (IE) in the Thai context is a tricky question. Most often, it is described by what it is not: not Thai. The complex adaptation of IE is rooted in historical narratives of independence, the adoption of western symbols, and the distancing from backward ways of life associated with the Thai countryside. This case study describes a rural-based university that made internationalization central to its organizational identity. The researcher uses narrative inquiry to examine the stories told by the university executive about the organization’s positioning regarding internationalization. The narrative is analyzed against a historical and socio-cultural framework. The results show that Thai culture and the distinct geographical location are integral to the rural-based university’s approach to IE. It is argued that this demonstrates a more inclusive vision of IE in Thai higher education and offers a counter-narrative to Thainess as irreconcilable with internationalization.
... In this section we introduce the narrative inquiry methodology (Clandinin & Rosiek, 2007;Gill, 2001) used in this research and provide details of the case organizations. ...
... To address our research question of how do organizations reframe waste as being a source of value in a Circular Economy, we investigated how organizations responded to diverse pressures to reduce waste in their production processes. Our approach used narrative inquiry (Clandinin & Rosiek, 2007;Gill, 2001) to investigate the meanings and interpretations the organizational decision-makers we interviewed enacted in their new business models that arose as a result of addressing these pressures. ...
Traditionally, wasted resources are considered a burden that imposes a cost on organizations. However, ecological sustainability principles underpinning the linked discourses of industrial ecology and the Circular Economy conceptualize waste as intrinsically valuable. Our research identified exemplar business organizations that had each changed their business models to resolve the tension of waste as a burden and/or resource. Synthesizing these cases, we found these organizations applied systems thinking to reframe their product and service offerings and developed material circular flows in their business models. Analysis of how our exemplar organizations changed their business models to tackle pressing sustainability issues and to resolve the burden–resource tension show that the focus of change is on reconceptualizing their understanding of the role of waste in the value chain of their products and services. This altered understanding of waste as a resource across their value networks initiated negotiations with their existing suppliers to also modify their supply chain practices.
... In this section, I introduce my interpretation of narrative inquiry (Clandinin and Rosiek 2007;Gill 2001) and the sense-making approach that I used to explore the meanings that are created in conversational interviews. I then outline my method and introduce the organisation from which the narrative of this paper is taken. ...
... People tell stories that both constitute and represent them in relation to their situations, where their 'narratives provide meaning by describing and creating a relationship between ideas which we act on' (Hansen 2006(Hansen , 1049. Gill (2001) asserts that the purpose of narrative inquiry is to reconstruct the meaning of change processes that individuals and groups undergo. For Gill, narrative inquiry is also a method for exploring systemic change within social systems, which are conceptualised as systems of communication. ...
This paper closely examines how a particular individual makes sense of sustainability and how detailed analysis of enactments of sustainability at the individual level can contribute to understanding organisational-level enactment of sustainability practices. Taking a narrative approach, this paper selects and analyses one interview to understand how that person is responding to sustainability initiatives in her organisation. The findings suggest that the complex processes of meaning construction that underpin the enactment of sustainability involve identity validation, narrative support and reduction of polysemy. The paper argues that to boost the chances of success when implementing sustainability, organisations need to establish discursive space to engage with and support these three processes of sense-making. Methodologically, the paper demonstrates how a single interview/narrative can be analysed to progress the understanding of a complex, ambiguous and paradoxical problem like sustainability.
... Recorrendo à metáfora da história, esta metodologia analisa a forma como indivíduos ou grupos se posicionam face a eventos e ações, possibilitando capturar processos de representação social, como sentimentos, imagens e tempo. Conforme recomendado por Gill (2001) esta abordagem é complementada com outras metodologias que permitam ultrapassar algumas limitações próprias da subjetividade da narrativa. ...
In this article we encourage conflict sensitive attitudes and multicultural awareness based on the potential for creative responses. Through digital media art and serious games strategies we seek to create safe areas for dialogue, debate, and awareness of hate speech. These solutions will be even more effective if they are based on the understanding of how different forms of expression emerge, interact, and potentially dissipate in the virtual environment. Grounded on the possibilities of digital media art, through a practice-based research methodology, we explore the process of creating a gamified counter-narrative, designed with the objective of responding to hate speech, and, at the same time, capable of providing an experience of aesthetic enjoyment. Foreseeing the establishment of a collaborative network with the educational community and the non-specialized public (parents, youth, associations, educators), this project is also based on the key concepts of media and information literacy, which are important not only to understand and analyze the phenomenon of online hate speech, but also to develop strategies and tools that allow the containment of this type of speech.
... During the interviews, we let the managers act as free storytellers (Cladinin and Connelly 2000) as much as possible. In this case, collecting open-ended stories about leadership were considered to support a receptiveness for the links between experience and meanings related to leadership and the particularities of the contexts in which these meanings are constructed (Cladinin and Connelly 2000;Gill 2001;Alvesson and Sköldberg 2017). Instead of following a detailed interview guide, we probed the managers to tell their stories across a number of interrelated themes, as subsequently outlined: ...
... During the interviews, we let the managers act as free storytellers (Cladinin and Connelly 2000) as much as possible. In this case, collecting open-ended stories about leadership were considered to support a receptiveness for the links between experience and meanings related to leadership and the particularities of the contexts in which these meanings are constructed (Cladinin and Connelly 2000;Gill 2001;Alvesson and Sköldberg 2017). Instead of following a detailed interview guide, we probed the managers to tell their stories across a number of interrelated themes, as subsequently outlined: ...
Leadership has increasingly been advocated as a potent organizing practice, linked positively to several performance dimensions as well as successful organizational development and change. Despite these alleged promises, the specific characteristics of leadership processes as they unfold in a construction context have not been fully captured by construction researchers. This paper is predicated on an identified lack of methodological richness underlying leadership studies in construction. While a growing number of contributions have quantitatively tested the ideas and models of leadership scholars, few have qualitatively explored the experiences and interpretations of
the actual people that practice leadership in their daily work in construction companies. Drawing on a rich qualitative interview study, this paper analyzes open-ended stories about leadership in the largest construction companies in Sweden. The findings show how leadership styles have been shaped to align with traditional work and organizing principles, but also how they, by the same token, pose a seemingly unresolved tension with change initiatives that seek to reorganize to improve organizational performance. Altogether, these findings indicate that there are grounds to question the transformative potential of leadership in construction companies, as practiced today. The paper concludes by outlining
the practical implications of these findings, together with some analytical generalizations that can serve as pointers for a strengthened leadership agenda in construction research, one that is characterized by an increased methodological richness and accentuated focus on the context-specific aspects of leadership.
... In sociology and psychology, the question of textual objectivity has been challenged by social constructionism (Gergen, 1998) and is encouraging many to examine language. Stories are presumed to provide a holistic context that allows individuals to reflect and reconstruct their personal, historical, and cultural experiences (Gill, 2001). ...
... This may be followed by interpretation of the meanings of the data and critical reflections upon the purposes and motivations of social actions and human interaction with others and with artefacts. Such engagement allows individuals to reflect and reconstruct their personal, historical and cultural experiences (Gill, 2001). ...
This book explores how global organisations and institutions manage Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) across their operations and within different cultural and value settings. It blends empirical evidence from collaborative research with original practical insights.
In addition, the book demonstrates how the idea of narratives can be used as an approach to achieving EDI goals, presenting powerful stories on EDI implementation and challenges stemming from EDI-related abuses. Taken together, the book’s respective chapters depict the complexity of EDI in a nuanced way, reflecting the disparate realities of those involved in its implementation. The combination of academic research and insights from practitioners in the field give the book a unique position in the global management literature on EDI, while also yielding a wealth of valuable lessons and conclusions.
... Data acquired through narrative research is generally open to interpretation which "develops through collaboration of researcher and respondent or story teller and listener" (Joyce, 2015, p. 40). Since its first introduction, researchers used narrative inquiry as a method for understanding personal human perspectives in an effort to build larger frames of reference to assess assumptions and guide action (Gill, 2001). Clandinin and Connelly, the first researchers to use narrative inquiry, strove to present the realities of everyday teacher experiences and amplify "voices that may have otherwise remained silent" (Wang & Geale, 2015, p. 195). ...
This study examined the factors attributed to 10 teacher candidates’ perceptions of self-efficacy throughout their student teaching experiences. Dissimilar to the majority of studies which assess teacher self-efficacy quantitatively, this study used narrative inquiry to meet three aims: First, to understand the variables attributed to teacher self-efficacy among a group of secondary content area teacher candidates; second, to examine candidates’ student teaching experiences; and third, to inform teacher educators regarding recurrent themes of teacher preparation which may influence the self-efficacy of teacher candidates. The study’s findings provide insight for teacher educators to consider strategies for enhancing teacher preparation including, but not limited to 1) increased opportunities for preservice teachers to apply pedagogy; 2) the implementation of classroom management strategy coursework into teacher education curricula; and 3) incorporated opportunities to explore the extensive demands of the teaching profession, ranging from time management to dealing with difficult parents. This study proposes that teacher preparation can influence content area teacher candidates’ self-efficacy beliefs, and creates a paradigm for future qualitative studies exploring the relationship between teacher preparation and teacher self-efficacy.
... Our strategy was to approach their experience of work using an open-ended and explorative approach, in which the interviewees are seen more as storytellers than Standardizing the free and independent professional respondents (Holloway and Jefferson, 2008). An open-ended approach is appropriate when trying to capture the complex social realities of situated contexts (Cladinin and Connelly, 2000;Gill, 2001;Alvesson and Sk€ oldberg, 2017), particularly when the topic area is new (Eisenhart, 1989). An important methodological point is the recognition that such open-ended stories would provide new insights for construction research (L€ owstedt and R€ ais€ anen, 2012; Sergeeva and Green, 2019). ...
Research concerned with standardization of the construction process has generally considered the challenges from only rational and instrumental perspectives. The purpose of this paper is to foreground a social perspective of this challenge. Specifically, the work of construction site managers is explored through a professional work lens in order to emphasize significant misalignments with the principles of standardized production in the construction industry.
Data are drawn from a longitudinal (2014–ongoing) case study of site managers’ work in a large Swedish construction company. The research design is characterized by an explorative approach, altogether consisting of 44 in-depth interviews at the site manager level (28) and at other managerial levels (16). All the interviews were transcribed verbatim and analyzed particularly to highlight two contrasting dominant discourses: “standardized construction production” and “site manager work.”
The findings show that site manager’s work is enmeshed with a particular type of professional expertise and identity that is ideologically crafted around a proclivity for free and independent work. It is outlined in detail how these social dimensions of work are enacted to form an ongoing (and successful) resistance to organizational initiatives that are based on principles of standardization.
This study improves our understanding of an unresolved social challenge that impedes the transformation toward more standardized construction production. It adds new perspectives and value to current research by reminding that (and how) significant changes in production processes also seriously implicate professional work.
... Narrative inquiry is understood to be a set of interdisciplinary approaches to qualitative research that focuses on personal stories in context and the meanings that are derived from those stories that unfold in the interstices of participant/researcher relationships (Clandinin, 2012;Connelly & Clandinin, 1990;Freeman, 2007). It is about the lives of individuals as revealed by their own experiential stories and the events and processes that have shaped these stories (Gill, 2001;Polkinghorne, 1998). These stories often contain themes, symbols, and motifs that can be explored collaboratively, and from which meaning can be garnered (Riessman, 1993). ...
A problem in teacher education is how to make learning about inclusive education meaningful so that it is more than just another idea for pre-service teachers to study and has deep and lasting effects on their practice as educators. One innovative approach developed at Deakin University is the provision of the Teaching for Diversity Workshop, involving a series of embodied drama-based activities, in which pre-service teachers encounter issues of inclusion and disability through working with not only academics but also people with disabilities, who become their lead teachers and mentors. This article is about the development and enacting of this with actors from Fusion Theatre in Melbourne, Australia. This article, through the voice of its creator, Jo Raphael, details a series of narrative vignettes that were selected following conversations between the co-authors as they reflected on the workshop as a learning encounter. Using the ideas of “fellow-feeling” from Max Scheler and “alterity” from Emmanuel Levinas, the article considers the genesis of the workshop and theorises the high level of student engagement and ethical commitment evident in the workshops, including joyful laughter, embodied participation, positive risk-taking, acclamations of beauty and a palpable shift from apprehension at the beginning to high levels of interaction. Thus, there was considerable disruption of students’ beliefs about disability as agency was distributed to those with disabilities. It is clear from the data that participatory and embodied approaches in teacher education, including the use of applied drama approaches, are highly effective for overcoming barriers and promoting inclusivity.
... También se pueden investigar las experiencias de otros, como alumnos, colegas y/o padres de familia. En estos casos, los docentes pueden identificar similitudes y diferencias en la percepción de algún fenómeno educativo (Gill, 2001). Por ejemplo, Lachuk y Gomez (2011) examinaron la experiencia de tres alumnos y encontraron que la relación entre el entorno familiar de los alumnos y su desempeño en el aula era más estrecha de lo que podía percibirse a primera vista. ...
El propósito de este libro es contribuir a la discusión sobre el desarrollo profesional continuo de los docentes y sugerir estrategias que enriquezcan a los docentes, sus alumnos y sus escuelas. Contiene tres partes. En la primera se analiza la literatura y las políticas educativas relacionadas con el desarrollo profesional docente. En la segunda parte se presentan los resultados de un estudio sobre las necesidades e intereses de desarrollo profesional de los docentes de inglés de secundaria en Tamaulipas. En la tercera parte se presenta una experiencia a través de la cual se integró y orientó a un grupo de cuatro docentes y un asesor técnico pedagógico al proceso de hacer investigación narrativa. Esta parte también incluye las narraciones de los participantes de la experiencia.
... This may be followed by interpretation of the meanings of the data and critical reflections upon the purposes and motivations of social actions and human interaction with others and with artefacts. Such engagement allows individuals to reflect and reconstruct their personal, historical and cultural experiences (Gill, 2001). ...
The introduction discusses the reason for the book, its development rationale and outlines the context of the chapters.
... This may be followed by interpretation of the meanings of the data and critical reflections upon the purposes and motivations of social actions and human interaction with others and with artefacts. Such engagement allows individuals to reflect and reconstruct their personal, historical and cultural experiences (Gill, 2001). ...
This short literature review considers the academic literature that nests diversity management within an international context. It covers the issues in a general way before foregrounding the literature in diversity management and how this might be implemented in organisations. Its function is to give an overview which is built upon in the next chapter.
... This may be followed by interpretation of the meanings of the data and critical reflections upon the purposes and motivations of social actions and human interaction with others and with artefacts. Such engagement allows individuals to reflect and reconstruct their personal, historical and cultural experiences (Gill, 2001). ...
Compassion is not the entirety of justice; but it both contain a powerful, if partial, vision of just distribution and provide imperfect citizens with an essential bridge from self-interest to just conduct (Nussbaum, M. C., Social Philosophy and Policy 13:27–58, 1996, 38).
... The narrative approach to the analysis of interviews applied in the four investigations hereby presented is posited to have the ability to capture social representations 'in the making'. Narrative analysis is well suited to study subjectivity and identity largely because of the importance given to imagination and the human involvement in constructing a story, allowing an analysis of how culturally contingent and historically contingent the terms, beliefs and issues narrators address are (Rosenwald and Ochberg 1992;Riessman, 1998;Gill 2001). ...
This contribution presents the results of four researches with young migrants that took place in Italy between 2006 and 2014. The four research projects were concerned with the promotion of young people’s personal narratives to support a phenomenological description of their semantics of social participation. The researches cover a period characterised by economic crisis, the rise and fall of xenophobic political parties and a continuing debate around migration and inclusion in different social contexts. Data consists of young migrants’ narratives, promoted and collected in 62 focus group and 118 individual interviews. The discussion will introduce ‘school activism’ as the context of participation in political movements and campaigning of young migrants. School activism is an example and the context of the development of trusting relationships with peers, where positions of marginalisation are rejected and identities are negotiated and co-constructed around the person through dialogue. Participants’ narratives suggest that cultural essentialism can generate important problems of ineffective educational treatment of cultural identity. These problems can become particularly relevant during adolescence, an age in which the construction of identity may be seen as challenging. At the same time, young migrants and children of migrants’ narratives construct identities that through school activism position their authors at the center of rich networks of political participation and peer relationships.
... Data acquired through narrative research is generally open to interpretation which "develops through collaboration of researcher and respondent or story teller and listener" (Joyce, 2015, p. 40). Since its first introduction, researchers used narrative inquiry as a method for understanding personal human perspectives in an effort to build larger frames of reference to assess assumptions and guide action (Gill, 2001). Clandinin and Connelly, the first researchers to use narrative inquiry, strove to present the realities of everyday teacher experiences and amplify "voices that may have otherwise remained silent" (Wang & Geale, 2015, p. 195). ...
The purpose of this study was to examine the factors attributed to teacher candidates’ perceptions of self-efficacy throughout their student teaching semesters. This study used a narrative inquiry methodology to enhance the researcher’s understanding of variables attributed to teacher self-efficacy among a group of secondary content area teacher candidates. In this study, the purpose of using a narrative inquiry methodology was to share the stories of content area teacher candidates’ student teaching experiences and inform teacher educators about the extent to which teacher education preparation affects the self-efficacy of beginning content area teachers, as well as which recurrent elements of teacher education affect the self-efficacy of beginning teachers, regardless of their respective content areas. The findings of this study suggest that teacher education preparation affects the self-efficacy of secondary teacher candidates across the content areas; accordingly, the findings of this study provide insight for teacher educators to consider the areas where teacher education programs are failing to provide adequate preparation. The 10 teacher candidates who participated in this study emphasized the value of adequate preparation throughout their teacher education programs to help inform their student teaching experiences. In order to feel prepared for student teaching and effective as teacher candidates, the 10 participants referenced the following areas as requiring further implementation within teacher education curricula: increased opportunities to apply the practical application of their teaching skills prior to the student teaching experience, the incorporation of classroom management strategy coursework into their curriculum, and opportunities to explore the extensive demands of the teaching profession ranging from time management to dealing with difficult parents, to name a few.
... We draw from the theory of narrative inquiry (e.g., Clandinin & Rosiek, 2007;Gill, 2001), investigating implicit meaning construction and explicit processes of knowledge acquisition in the generation and enactment of effective ecological solutions. Our starting point is that farmers within Landcare, as with organisations and organisational members more generally, are situated within "meaning systems" that are represented by socially endorsed narrative constructions of reality (Bruner, 1991). ...
In this article, we explore organising narratives that underpin the generation of effective ecological solutions. We examine the processes of meaning construction in relation to the development of sustainable land management practices in the Landcare organisation in Australia. Meaning construction is situated in a variety of contexts that are themselves strongly influenced by a meta-narrative, which Taylor has labelled the “modern social imaginary”: A shared system of meanings that captures the imaginations of individuals and shapes their social groupings and society. The shift in meaning construction is reflected in the emergence of a narrative of “ecological repair” that involved a process of learning and knowledge development we have labelled protracted sense-making. Our research findings have led us to conclude that the development of successful ecological solutions require an active rewriting of the social imaginary.
... Narrative selects particular aspects of reality in order to tell a compelling story. Stories are shaped by a particular social context, and told through the interpretive lens of the narrator, which makes it impossible to tell value-neutral stories; rather the personal cultural and historical ground (of participants and researcher) is always present (Gill 2001;Fischer 2003;Lukic 2007;Riessman 2008;Barrett & Stauffer 2009). This paper suggests that ecological reasoning supposes a methodology that is attentive to language, situated, propositional, reflexive, explicitly value-laden and watchful for inconsistencies. ...
This paper uses a process of ecological reasoning to challenge normative concepts of sustainable urbanism. Ecological metaphor is often applied in a normative manner, with the assumption that ecologically derived design concepts are wholly positive and ‘sustainable’; however, this is not necessarily the case. Through a detailed case study of Hong Kong, we reveal that the interpretive nature of ecological urbanism can produce a variety of outcomes to either contribute to, by explicating and imagining, or undermine sustainability endeavours, by misleading or obscuring. Employing a situated narrative technique we challenge established ecological design concepts, such as ‘self-sufficiency’ and ‘eco-efficiency’, with their cultural residuals of individualistic, mechanistic values. In their place, the notion of autopoiesis is proposed, reconceptualising Hong Kong as an interactive network of agents working to regain sovereignty over production, distribution and consumption patterns. The implications of this research demonstrate the importance of criticality, reflexivity and situated engagement in conceiving, communicating and transforming sustainability concepts. We argue that it is this process, rather than the concepts themselves, that underpins the vitality of ecological urbanism.
... También se pueden investigar las experiencias de otros, como alumnos, colegas y/o padres de familia. En estos casos, los docentes pueden identificar similitudes y diferencias en la percepción de algún fenómeno educativo (Gill, 2001). Por ejemplo, Lachuk y Gomez (2011 examinaron la experiencia de tres alumnos y encontraron que la relación entre el entorno familiar de los alumnos y su desempeño en el aula era más estrecha de lo que podía percibirse a primera vista. ...
Toda reforma educativa debe tener, como eje central, el rol del docente. Son los docentes quienes dirigen las acciones educativas a los objetivos y valores del currículo; y son los docentes quienes acompañan a los alumnos en los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje. Estas labores profesionales generalmente se realizan en medio de constantes cambios sociales, para un alumnado cada vez más diverso. De ahí que los docentes necesiten desarrollar competencias adicionales a las adquiridas en su formación inicial. Su desarrollo continuo es un reto para el sistema educativo en su conjunto. Los docentes deben cambiar, y al mismo tiempo convertirse en agentes de cambio. Este doble rol, como sujetos y objetos de cambio, es un campo de creciente interés.
El propósito de este libro es contribuir a la discusión sobre el desarrollo profesional continuo de los docentes y sugerir estrategias que enriquezcan a los docentes, sus alumnos y sus escuelas. Contiene tres partes. En la primeara se analiza la literatura y las políticas educativas relacionadas con el desarrollo profesional docente. En la segunda parte se presentan los resultados de un estudio sobre las necesidades e intereses de desarrollo profesional de los docentes de inglés de secundaria en Tamaulipas. En la tercera parte se presenta una experiencia a través de la cual se integró y orientó a un grupo de cuatro docentes y un asesor técnico pedagógico al proceso de hacer investigación narrativa. Esta parte también incluye las narraciones de los seis docentes de educación secundaria que participaron en la experiencia.
... In this study, the method used may compromise participants' ability to reflect and report emotional strategies as well as their discussion of coping strategies. Nevertheless, this approach to data collection has gained recognition as offering the potential to provide a holistic context that allows individuals to reflect and reconstruct their experiences and address ambiguity, complexity, and dynamism, as was the goal in this study (Gill, 2001;Ja¨rvinen, 2004). Narrative inquiry has been used to gain understanding of experiences as diverse as those of nurses who encounter unexpected deaths of patients in their care, grandparents who raised their grandchildren, gay and lesbians, and mothers whose children were removed from their custody (Backhouse and Graham, 2013;Estefan and Roughley, 2012;Mayes and Llewellyn, 2012;Palese et al., 2014) and thus was deemed appropriate for this study. ...
This article reports and illustrates challenges encountered by those who were born and raised in an insular Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community and opted to transition to the modern world. Based on content analysis of the narratives shared by means of in-depth interviews with 19 men and women from the NY metropolitan area, social, intellectual, legal, logistic, and financial challenges were identified. Reported strategies for coping with these challenges included reaching compromises and reasoning, relocating to a different geographical area, often to states with a small Jewish population, pretending, developing a “thick skin,” catching up and reinventing. These findings are discussed using a stress and copying conceptual framework. Implications for practice and directions for future research are suggested.
... During the interviews that lasted between 1--2 hours, the respondents were asked to describe their professional background, and then prompted to give a retrospective account of organizational changes during their time at Alpha. They were encouraged to "tell their own stories" of organizational events, according to their own perceived time lines (Cladinin and Conelley, 2000;Gill, 2001). ...
A social identity lens and theories of self-reinforcement are used to explore identity work and processes of identification at the micro-level in a large construction company. Rich data from a qualitative case study show that a strong collective identification is self-defining for the vast majority of managers in the organization, regardless of their role and function. This collective identification revolved around the trade of ‘being a construction worker’,associated with the traits of being practically oriented and of having a long professional background in construction. This collective identification seems to reinforce itself by a combination of pulling and pushing movements and/or ‘being blind’ vis-a`-vis those that stand outside its self-defining core, content, and behaviours. The results of the study suggest that self-defining at the individual and group levels has implications for organizational performance and outcomes. It is also suggested that the use of a social identity lens can help increase understanding of interpersonal relations, collaboration, and change initiatives in the construction industry.
... Narrative inquiry captures the human experience and is a method for exploring systemic change and the design of educational systems from the perspectives of the facilitator of the change process. (Gill, 2001) Richardson (2000) states self is always present, no matter how much we try to suppress it. People who write are always writing about their lives, even when they disguise this through the omniscient voice of science or scholarship creature to environment connection emerged. ...
This qualitative study described non-science undergraduate majors' responses to controversial issues embedded in an introductory level environmental science course in a liberal arts college located in the southeastern United States. Participants enrolled in this 12-week summer course were both traditional college-age (late teens to early twenties) and non-traditional age student (thirties to fifties). Approximately 76 percent were female. Students demonstrated various lifestyles (e.g., gay, single-parent, living at home), socioeconomic statuses (e.g., middle-income, low income), employment (e.g., employed, unemployed, ex-military) and ethnicities. The structure of the environmental science course was consistent with the science education reform movement standards applied to K-12 public schools, but not yet pervasive in higher education. Some of the reform techniques included use of open discussion format, cooperative learning, field trips, classroom demonstration, and v
arious media. The theoretical framework for the study was using controversial issues in science to stimulate cognitive dissonance, which may provide a pathway to higher level reflective thinking. Controversial issues triggering a response in students showed elements of injustice and unfairness. Examples included the CHEERS pesticide study on children in Jacksonville, Florida; human radiation experimentation, including the use of depleted uranium in military conflicts; and local groundwater cases that exhibited environmental racism. The study showed the use of controversial issues in the environmental science course stimulated reflective thinking and encouraged the expression of environmental advocacy beyond the classroom. Students expressed participation in energy and water conservation, recycling practices, political involvement, and joining environmental groups. Students shared information with outsiders, such as family, friends, and co-workers when they deemed it personally or
societally relevant (e.g., pertaining to family, health, safety, homelife, politics). Generational differences in students were observed in their openness to discuss controversial issues, ability to self-express, attitude toward the environment, quality of writing, and involvement in the educational process.
... Such an approach, 'free' storytelling without any prior reflection or preparation, has been advocated as an appropriate narrative interview technique. Rather than prompting interviewees to talk about discrete episodes or specific events, the personal stories that evolved were allowed to build on larger frames of references, to examine the underlying assumptions and beliefs that guide actions (Cladinin and Conelley, 2000;Gill, 2001). ...
What does change mean for organizational members? Although researchers have attempted to capture its intrinsic complexities, there remains uncertainty as to what change really is and how it happens. Drawing on a longitudinal interpretative case study of change in a large Swedish construction company, a narrative approach is used to elicit middle managers’ stories of change episodes over the past two decades. These stories have then been compared with the narratives of the same episodes in governing documents. We found that the lived and the formal narratives, respectively, depicted two very different interpretations and enactments of change: the former described a discontinuous process of discrete contingencies demanding immediate short-term responses whereas the latter described a proactive incremental strategic plan. A narrative approach to the study of organizational change contributes to deeper insights into the ramifications of an organization’s socio-cultural system by enabling the capture of significant variations, contradictions and tensions, both for organizational members and for the researchers who study change.
... So, for example, inquiry may facilitate what some call "design conversations" (Gill, 2001) in which multiple voices/narratives are explored through dialogue xxxiii . Other relevant ways of working can include: "dialoging" (e.g., Anderson-Wallace, Blantern, and Boydell, 2001); generating and supporting narrative multiplicity through "appreciative inquiry" (Cooperrider and Shrivastva, 1987); working with metaphors (Barrett and Cooperrider, 1990;Barrett, Thomas, and Hocevar, 1995); "re-storying" (Barry, 1997) and dynamic narrative approaches to organizational learning (Abma, 2000). ...
... Culture is intimately connected to the concept of narrative (Blyler & Perkins, 1999). The purpose of narrative inquiry is to understand experience (Clandinin & Connelly, 2000, p. 20) and to " suggest possible coherence, possible connectiveness and possible explanations " (Gill, 2001, p. 336). ...
In this qualitative study, we explored how students understood "culture." Participants defined culture and wrote narratives regarding specific cultural encounters. The sample comprised both nursing (n=14) and non-nursing (n=8) students to allow for comparison groups. Content analysis of the narratives revealed two broad paradigms of cultural understanding: essentialist and constructivist. Essentialist narratives comprised four themes: determinism (culture defied individual resistance); relativism (the possibility of making value judgments disappeared); Othering (culture was equated to exotica, and emphasized difference); and, reductionism (personhood was eclipsed by culture). In contrast, the constructivist narratives were characterized by influence (non-determinism), dynamism (culture was dynamic and evolutionary); and, relationship-building. The unintended negative consequences of essentialist notions of culture were revealed in the nursing students' narratives. Pedagogy is implicated in nursing students' essentialized understanding of culture.
... Narrative analysis can be used to record different viewpoints and interpret collected data to identify similarities and differences in experiences and actions. Stories are presumed to provide a holistic context that allows individuals to reflect and reconstruct their personal, historical, and cultural experiences (Gill, 2001). Stories are essentially individual constructs of human experience, and have limitations that may affect objectivity in presentation. ...
This bibliography outlines how the narrative approach can be used as an alternative for the study of human action. Narrative is an interpretive approach in the social sciences and involves using storytelling methodology. The story becomes an object of study, focusing on how individuals or groups make sense of events and actions in their lives. Researchers capture the informant's story through ethnographic techniques such as observation and interviews. This method is said to be well suited to study subjectivity and the influence of culture and identity on the human condition. The literature search has covered topics ranging across narrative, narrative theory, the use of storytelling and sense making. The search highlighted a growing trend in the use of the narrative approach across disciplines such as psychology, sociology, anthropology, linguistics, organisation studies and history. Key search terms used were: 'narrative', 'storytelling', 'sense making', 'narrative and organisation', 'narrative and organisation studies', 'stories', 'discourse analysis', 'organisation learning', and , organisation decision making'. Articles on historical narratives and narrative therapy in psychology were excluded, as they were not relevant to the study. Articles on organisation studies focusing on change, culture, identity and tacit knowledge transfer through story were found useful in the research. The study aims to explore the potential of narrative as a research tool for enhancing Army's understanding of knowledge acquisition in the context of Battle Command Training. This bibliography therefore provides a substantial reference point to review the literature regarding this methodology. References in the bibliography allow researchers to identify with ease the theoretical grounding to the approach, and review alternative positions to the study of narrative. The case studies included provide examples of how research is conducted within this field, and thus the bibliography can act to support researchers in developing this research tool for understanding the context of formal and informal learning within training arenas. Furthermore, it can serve as a reference point for others seeking to adopt a narrative investigation. Case studies of narrative in organisational studies demonstrate how narrative can be used to effect cultural change, transfer complex tacit knowledge through implicit communication, construct identity, aid education, contribute to sense making, act as a source of understanding, and study decision making. This review of storytelling positions narrative research largely within the postmodernist paradigm. Postmodernism came into use during the late 20th century, and questions the modernist philosophical assumptions of rationality and universal truth, and the application of scientific empirical methods to problem solving. Instead, postmodernism emphasises that knowledge is value-laden, and reality is based on multiple perspectives, with truth grounded in everyday life involving social interactions amongst individuals. Context plays a crucial role in the social construction of reality and knowledge. Its criticism of the modernist or positivist (empirical, rational) paradigm is based on the concept of social representation. Postmodernism is said to account for this limitation in modernism by acknowledging that stories told through language as the medium are constitutive of reality. Postmodernism emphasises the social nature of knowledge creation. There is some indication that the narrative approach is gradually gaining recognition in various disciplines including those outside the social sciences. The approach is said to enable capture of social representation processes such as feelings, images, and time. It offers the potential to address ambiguity, complexity, and dynamism of individual, group, and organisational phenomena. This annotated bibliography focuses focuses on the various approaches to studying narrative. It covers the approaches to narrative in an interdisciplinary manner, including the fields of psychology, sociology, linguistics, philosophy, anthropology, organisation studies, and history. Narrative is an interpretive approach in the social sciences involving storytelling methodology. The story becomes an object of study, focusing on how individuals or groups make sense of events and actions in their lives. The theoretical underpinnings to narrative approaches are outlined as are the applied benefits of story telling such as how narrative conveys tacit knowledge, how it can enable sense making, and how it constructs identity. The study aims to explore the potential of narrative as a research tool for enhancing Army's understanding of knowledge acquisition in the context of Battle Command Training. CO Def Site, Lavarack Brks
It is falling increasingly to international organisations and institutions to provide a coherent and workable global value system that embraces difference, internally and externally, with compliance expected from every level of the organisation. International human rights conventions and statutory regulations require compliance to human rights principles putting such organisations at the forefront of cultural relations. A global value framework gives them the opportunity to shake off colonial pasts and to strive to make a good business case for adherence to such principles. As principles are more challenging to enact than to formulate, to support this values portfolio, research is needed into how principles can be enacted in everyday matters of the organisation. Current literature highlights the use of storytelling as sense-making, and, as such, there is a growing trend in the use of the narrative approach across disciplines and professional sectors. Its contributors are from anthropology, education, linguistics, translation studies, literature, politics, psychology and sociology, organisational studies and history. This chapter surfaces the link between local and grand narratives through an ethno-narrative approach contextualised within a recent study of diversity (equality, diversity and inclusion) and specifically global diversity management.
The article analyzes the models and technologies of knowledge transfer, developed in the research of organizational processes at the enterprise. The practical necessity in the methods, allowing to reveal those components of knowledge, which determine the specificity and know-how of the enterprise, is shown. Proposed tools developed under the paradigm of perceived quality. Its application is aimed at identifying and transferring the knowledge of a specialist that determines his individual experience of performing specific practical activities. The process of identifying and transferring experience is interpreted as the "designing" of its perceived quality. The result of the designing is a technological tool that allows the reproduction and presentation of the most important components of the experience so as to form the corresponding perceived quality in another subject.
Farini presents the results of four empirical research projects concerning migrant children in Italy. Data consists of young migrants’ narratives, promoted and collected in 62 focus group and 118 individual interviews. Respondents in the four projects were 17–20 years old at the moment of data collection and resident in Italy for more than one year. Non-probabilistic and convenience sampling methods were used to select respondents, and narrative analysis was used to examine the data collected. The narratives produced suggest a criticism of the idea of cultural identity as an ‘essential’ identity, something given and fixed. Farini’s research approaches personal narratives as constructed through multicultural dialogue, that is, a social process rather than an object. Issues surrounding the complexity of cultural identities are visible in the data, and the possibilities of cultural hybridisation through multicultural dialogues are presented.
Chinese students are coming to study in the United States in record numbers, but our understanding as to why is limited. Through interviews conducted with Chinese students who have studied in both China and the United States, we examine why students are making the choice to come to the United States, what they hope to learn, and how they are making sense of these experiences. For some Chinese students, despite studying in the United States, they remain grounded in an understanding of school that is steeped in traditional Chinese teaching methods. They are also lodged in a construction of school that entirely defines their sense of value and their sense of work. This construction of school sets the stage for the importance of distinguishing oneself and the “work” of standing out among an enormously competitive global workforce. The “work” of standing out for Chinese students, as it is tied to one’s worth as a human being, necessitates the need for experience with Western education—education perceiv...
This article discusses the role that storytelling plays in understanding both the personal and professional self from the perspective of a paramedic. The practice of paramedicine provides individuals with a strong platform upon which storytelling can be built, with narration of work-related stories presenting opportunities for reflection on the interplay between organisational culture and self-identity. Using elements of narrative inquiry, autoethnography and critical reflection, a paramedic story is deconstructed and examined from a number of perspectives. From this narrative exploration, three distinct themes emerged and are subsequently discussed: assumptions and preconceptions, fears and insecurities, and distancing and control. The findings illustrate the benefits of exploring paramedic stories in order to recognise, transform or eliminate unhelpful assumptions relating to paramedic practice, and discover unexplored aspects of the self through analysis of story.
What kind of inquiry is management science? This paper compares two accounts — realist-oriented and constructivist-oriented — and proposes a third position. The realist view that scientific inquiry seeks knowledge of realities independent and outside of the knowing process is set against the constructivist view that scientific theorising creates accounts which develop our discourses without claiming knowledge of ‘deeper’ realities. It argues that ultimately we have no way of resolving this long-standing dispute. To move beyond the impasse it proposes a trusting constructivist position, arguing that responsible theorising requires that inquirers develop discursive accountability and that the process of inquiry matters as much as its content. Finally it explores what such a view of accountability would mean for the relationship between scientists or ‘professionals’ and users of their research findings in organisations.
This paper explores the contribution that systems thinkers could be seen as making in the (co-called) “knowledge age”. In the knowledge age, people’s skills in finding ways of developing knowledge are often highly prized. My suggestion is that it is important that acts of “knowing” developed by those who define themselves as systems thinkers become recognized as themselves being potential points of intervention in the systems being studied. (See also Romm, 1990, Romm,1995, Romm,1998; Jackson, 1993, Jackson,2000; Midgley, 1996, Midgley, 2000; Jervis, 1997; Keys, 1997; and Banathy, 1999.) Intervention effects should be considered as a matter of concern already at the moment of “comprehension” (and not only at the moment of “application”). Already at the point of aiming to develop knowledge, our possible complicity in creating realities should be regarded as a relevant concern. This affects the way in which constructions offered are treated and assessed. In line with what I call a “trusting constructivist” approach (Romm, 2001), I suggest that instead of expecting that authors try to defend themselves on the basis of the likelihood that their constructions provide us with (more) informed understanding of some posited (externally existing) realities, we can award trust on different grounds. We can make judgments in regard to people’s accountability by considering the quality of their discursive engagements with a variety of visions and concerns that might be raised by others. This has implications for the way in which we understand the status of people’s knowing endeavors.
This book combines the sociological exploration of human being in society with an examination of human knowing processes and their justification in the social fabric. It connects this to discussions around race/ethnicity, gender, and class issues. The book brings together these areas of inquiry and explores options for enhancing social research on new racism. Besides offering an in-depth comparison of different definitions of new racism, the book examines a range of research styles that have been used to approach the field, and offers suggestions as to how these can be extended. With careful reference to examples, the book spells out how researchers can take into consideration the potential social impacts of their inquiry approaches. This book provides readers with an overview of debates on new racism, and helps them reconsider methodological and epistemological debates in the social sciences and their implications for social and political practice.
There are hundreds of books on research, but in keeping with social scientific traditions, many emphasize method and neglect broader, overarching assumptions and interests. Further, most are written in ways that speak to those in the academic community and not to a wider audience of professionals and practitioners. The present text lays out relational constructionist premises and explores these in terms of their generative possibilities both for inquiry and social change work. it is applicable for professionals in the fields of social services, education, organizational consulting, community work, public policy, and healthcare. Using accessible language and extensive use of case examples, this book will help reflective practitioners or practice-oriented academics approach inquiry in ways that are coherent and consistent with a relational constructionist orientation.
Dian Marie HoskingPERSONS ACT IN OR ON ORGANIZATIONSMAINSTREAM CONSTRUCTIONSRELATIONSMAINSTREAM METHODOLOGIESCHANGENON-VARIATIONSMAIN THEMEINTRODUCING CRITICAL VARIATIONSORGANIZING AS A RELATIONAL PROCESSPREMISES: CONSTRUCTION PROCESSESACT-BUILDING BLOCKSMULTIPLE COORDINATIONSLOCAL—CONSTRUCTIONSRELATIONAL REALITIESSUMMARY: RELATIONAL CONSTRUCTION PROCESSESRECONSTRUCTING THE MAINSTREAMS OF ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGEBOTH CHANGESTABILITY ARE ONGOINGCHANGECONSTRUCTION PROCESS CONSTRUCTING MULTIPLE REALITIESCHANGE‘POWER‘POWERTHERE ISRESISTANCEFORCECRITICAL CONSTRUCTIONISM AND CHANGE WORKSOME GENERIC THEMESKNOWINGINFLUENCING WORK TOGETHERMULTIPLE, EQUAL VOICESPOSSIBILITIESPOSITIVE VALUES ARE CENTREDINQUIRYINTERVENTION WORK TOGETHERQUESTIONINGLISTENINGFORMATIVERELATIONSREALITIESCONSTRUCTINGCONCEPTUALNON-PERFORMANCESA DEEP ECOLOGICAL APPROACH NOW IS WARRANTEDCHANGE WORK PRACTICESNARRATIVE CHANGE WORKSNARRATIVE INTERVIEWSINQUIRY30NARRATIVE ANALYSISINTERVIEW TEXTSCASE STUDY: BOJE'S (1995) ANALYSISWALT DISNEY ENTERPRISESWORKING NARRATIVES, MULTIPLICITY,‘POWERCASE STUDY: DAVID BARRY'S RE-WORKORGANIZATIONSREFERENCES
The promotion of emergent literacy skills is a focus for Head Start classrooms. Teachers must find a way to meet the needs of all the students in their classroom when promoting literacy skills. Through principals of differentiated instruction, teachers are able to meet the diverse learning needs of students in a format that creates a respectful, safe learning environment. The current study explored Head Start teachers use of differentiated instruction when promoting literacy skill development in the preschool classroom. Although findings indicate that the teachers are providing skill development activities in print recognition, phonological awareness, writing skill development and oral language, an underlying factor in classroom implementation is tied to teacher feelings of support, professional development and pre-service training programs
This article aims to demonstrate how narratives have the potential to bring about organizational inertia by creating self-reinforcing mechanisms and blind spots. Drawing on extensive interview data from a U.K. bio-manufacturing company, the empirical analysis shows how such narratives emerge by constructing a web of related, self-reinforcing narratives reflecting a consistent theme. The analysis demonstrates how the dominant (success) narrative remains vivid despite the existence of deviating narratives and severe crisis. In particular, the empirical findings illustrate how narratives construct a self-sustaining frame of reference, preventing the organization from questioning the principles underlying its past success. The discussion explains how narratives create self-reinforcing mechanisms and blind spots. It contributes to our understanding of the role of narratives in organizational change efforts and illustrates the way such self-reinforcing blind spots become a potential source of organizational inertia and path-dependence.
This paper offers an outline of, and justification for, what I call a ‘trusting constructivist’ approach to systemic inquiry. I work with the constructivist view that, as Banathy puts it: ‘what we know about the world becomes projected onto the world’. That is, our theoretical constructions and ways of thinking in relation to the world cannot be considered separately from the impacts that they might have on the unfolding of possibilities. Recognizing our involvement in the development of systems means that we can reconsider—with others—the status of our own constructions as potentially generating self-fulfilling effects. A trusting constructivist view suggests that people cannot desist from offering their own constructions (that embody particular concerns) in processes of inquiry (professional or otherwise). But they need to recognize the choices that they are making as they create constructions, so that they can account for these in relation to alternatives in social discourse, in an endeavor to earn others' trust. Copyright © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Discusses conversation as a medium for school change, a way to build community, and as a means for designing new systems of learning. Examines the value of conversation and dialog, and suggests strategies for conversations that differ from traditional argument and debate. Notes that in design conversation, the group shares the responsibility for the outcome. (AEF)
Three narratives about the history, current status, and future of educational researchers as professionals are discussed. The prevailing collective self-portrait portrays educational researchers as social scientists with maximum autonomy for setting their research agenda and for quality control of their products. A counternarrative of deprofessionalization posits limited autonomy: Research often follows available funding, and government-sponsored grants generally reflect a popularly held view of schools and schoolpeople as the sources of social ailments and undeserving of additional financial support. This view is implicitly reinforced as research findings based on this premise are disseminated to members of the general public through intermediaries, especially members of the press. A third narrative accepts the countercritique but, in a more hopeful vein, foresees educational researchers challenging this view of schoolpeople by speaking directly to the polity. This is accomplished through the creation of research texts in the form of accessible, compelling, morally responsible stories about the lives of schoolpeople, texts that are at once popular and excellent. In this manner is professionalism enhanced as educational researchers move to gain greater control over their research agenda by persuading members of the public and governmental funding agencies to increase support of research based on a more enlightened vision of schoolpeople as victims of difficult social conditions.
Although narrative inquiry has a long intellectual history both in and out of education, it is increasingly used in studies of educational experience. One theory in educational research holds that humans are storytelling organisms who, individually and socially, lead storied lives. Thus, the study of narrative is the study of the ways humans experience the world. This general concept is refined into the view that education and educational research is the construction and reconstruction of personal and social stories; learners, teachers, and researchers are storytellers and characters in their own and other's stories. In this paper we briefly survey forms of narrative inquiry in educational studies and outline certain criteria, methods, and writing forms, which we describe in terms of beginning the story, living the story, and selecting stories to construct and reconstruct narrative plots. Certain risks, dangers, and abuses possible in narrative studies are discussed. We conclude by describing a two-part research agenda for curriculum and teacher studies flowing from stories of experience and narrative inquiry.
Although works on specific restructuring initiatives are prevalent, few focus on meaning and organizational implications inherent in American restructuring efforts. Motivated by scarcity of conceptual literature, this article aims to provide researchers and practitioners with a framework for thinking about restructuring process in educational settings. Discussion moves toward an incipient theory of restructuring, using the language and logic of organizational structure literature. (75 references) (MLH)
From 1973 to 1978, the Rand Corporation conducted a national study of local public schools' responses to various federal programs requiring educational change--Title III of the 1965 Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), Title VII of the ESEA, programs financed by the 1968 Vocational Education Act, and the Right-to-Read program. This paper reviews the major findings of the Rand Change Agent Study and assesses their current accuracy and implications for policy. Findings indicate that local factors continue to impede policy implementation. Revisions of the earlier findings stress the importance of belief and commitment for making changes in practice, the effectiveness of external agents interacting with the local setting, and consideration of teachers' microlevel realities. Future policy implementation should: (1) avoid single-issue projects; (2) address both the content and management of organizational change; (3) utilize teachers' networks; and (4) focus on enabling practices rather than on removing constraints. Eleven footnotes are included. (LMI)
When the self is thought of as a narrative or story, rather than a substance or thing, the temporal and dramatic dimension of human existence is emphasized. The operation of narrative "emplotment" (Ricoeur, 1983/1984) can configure the diverse events and actions of one's life into a meaningful whole. One's self-concept or self-identity is fashioned by adaptation of plots from one's cul-tural stock of stories and myths. Stories of personal identity differ from literary productions in that they are constructed within an unfolding autobiography and incorporate the accidental events and unintended consequences of actions. Under stressful conditions, a self-narrative may decompose, producing the anxiety and depression of meaninglessness. One function of psychotherapy is to assist in the reconstruction of a meaning-giving narrative of self-identity.
(Psychology)
For more information, go to editor's website : http://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?recid=25615 Excerpts available on Google Books.
This article outlines a narrative method for the study of classrooms. The main feature of the method is the reconstruction of classroom meaning in terms of narrative unities in the lives of classroom participants. The theoretical character of the work is introduced through comparison and contrast with Schön's The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action (1983). The empirical basis of the work is drawn from an in-depth, long term, case study with selected science teachers in schools. Paradigmatic material drawn from studies with two teachers is used to illustrate the narrative method in this article and to develop the notions of personal philosophy and narrative unities as part of participants' personal practical knowledge. The article concludes with possibilities of the narrative method for the study of teaching and outlines how the notion of participants' narrative unities contributes to our understanding of science classrooms and of school improvement.
Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Colorado at Denver, 1997. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 293-314). Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree, Doctor of Philosophy, Educational Leadership and Innovation.
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