Perceptions and beliefs of Indian secondary school teachers regarding story telling

Abstract

ABSTRACT India’s long tradition of storytelling is well integrated into the social and cultural lives of people. It is a recognized resource for religious and secular moral education. While the desirability and usefulness of storytelling as a general pedagogical tool finds mention in national school and teacher education policy, there is limited research on teachers’ beliefs and actual practices. Writing tends to be directive, based on deficit assumptions regarding practice. This paper presents perspectives and beliefs of secondary school government teachers from one State in India. It is based on an exploratory study involving observations of two schools and interviews with seven teachers. Observation and interview data were thematically analysed. Five thematic areas are presented: teachers’ personal experiences and related beliefs; their beliefs about usefulness; their views regarding suitability in their school; their own preparedness as storytellers; and their current practices. In conclusion we note that all teachers recalled having positive personal experiences of listening to stories as children, yet they were sceptical about usefulness for “serious subjects”, practicality in large classroom settings and risks of failing as performers in front of the class. A few exceptional teachers were able to foster interaction in large classroom using stories.