The unspoken power of collage? Using an innovative arts-based research method to explore the experience of struggling as a teacher

Suzanne Culshaw

doi:10.18546/lre.17.3.03

Abstract

This article reports on the methodological approach taken in a doctoral study that explores what it means to be struggling as a teacher. Participants were established and experienced teachers and leaders in the secondary school system in England. A particular form of collage – where materials are placed rather than stuck – was used within the context of a research interview. Arts-based methods such as collage are gaining in popularity as they stimulate visual rather than linguistic thinking and offer the opportunity to express experiences as holistic, non-linear metaphors. Collage also has revelatory potential as it helps uncover that which participants cannot necessarily express in words alone. The author presents the analytical challenges of intermingling the verbal and visual data in her study by discussing the collages created by two participants. An analysis of those collages shows that factors influencing struggling can be both internal and external. Struggling was found to be experienced as a temporary fractured state. Struggling was expressed by participants as heightened bodily tensions with a predominantly negative emotional tone; it can also involve a damaged self-view and a reduced sense of controllability, and may lead to impaired performance.

Highlights

This article reports on the methodological approach taken in a doctoral study that explores what it means to be struggling as a teacher
This article presents the methodological approach adopted in a doctoral study to address the question of what it means to be struggling as a teacher
To explore and reveal what it means to be struggling as a teacher, I needed research methods that would allow individual participants both the time and space to unravel their experience of struggling (Webb and Kevern, 2001, in Dowling, 2007)

Summary

Introduction

This article reports on the methodological approach taken in a doctoral study that explores what it means to be struggling as a teacher. Collage creation allows the participant to engage physically and have agency in the process (Roberts and Woods, 2018), both of which I see as advantages for this exploration of experience. Creative methods such as collage provide participants with the means to explore elements of their experience in a different way from, say, a purely spoken interview, as collage creation can tap into a deeper, more subconscious level of awareness.

Results

Conclusion