Biographical-narrative Approach Research Articles

Reconceptualizing Expressive Arts Education in Portugal through a Biographical Narrative Approach

In light of ongoing controversies concerning expressive arts education in Portuguese primary schools, the life history of one primary-school teacher who lives and works in the city of Porto (Portugal) is the starting point for problematizing this issue from the perspective of lived experiences. Data collection comprises oral reports, visual materials, and emotional accounts. Feelings were shared in a relational environment framed by ethical commitments. Through these processes, it was possible to create a narrative within the framework of a biographical narrative research approach. The main purpose was to highlight the voice of one primary-school teacher whose life history is blended with the foundations and practices of artistic expression in basic education—such as language, communication, knowledge, and lived experiences—making it an important starting point for reconceptualizing expressive arts education. The results showed that this reconceptualization can be achieved through three dimensions: seducing people, mediating places, and governing senses.

Acompanhamento em "pesquisaformão". Experienências de orientação coletiva e escrita narrativa (auto) biográfica

El presente texto comparte caminos tomados con el enfoque narrativo (auto)biográfico, destacando las reflexiones sobre el acompañamiento vivido a través de la orientación colectiva y la escritura, como dispositivos para vivir narrativa y colectivamente la investigación y la formación. Tomando el concepto de “acompañamiento en historias de vida” como un camino de investigación que se realiza con muchos otros, constituimos un proceso de orientación compartida que involucra a estudiantes, maestros / investigadores de cursos de pregrado y posgrado. Los movimientos colectivos incluyen el estudio de referencias teóricas y metodológicas, lectura crítico-reflexiva de textos producidos por investigaciones en curso y escritos narrativos que tienen lugar en todo el movimiento. La experiencia que hemos vivido nos moviliza para reflexionar sobre el potencial de las reuniones de orientación colectiva en el contexto de la investigación narrativa (auto)biográfica, así como la búsqueda de comprender los movimientos de la escritura narrativa en la construcción de la investigación educativa. El enfoque "epistemopolítico" dialoga con autores en el campo, con contribuciones de Walter Benjamin, Paul Ricoeur y Bakhtin. La experiencia compartida indica que las orientaciones colectivas fortalecen y estimulan la escritura narrativa, generando aprendizaje en la construcción del conocimiento científico, permitiendo también la formación en las vidas de los sujetos que participan en los procesos formativos mediados por las reuniones, mejorando así el tejido de la "investigaciónformación" narrativa (auto) biográfica en educación y la construcción de tantas otras posibilidades para experiencias formativas.

Teacher-Researcher Training in Higher Education: a Systems Thinking Approach

There is a current consensus on teacher training as a key element to promote the quality of higher education. Despite that, a lot of teacher preparation programs are short-term training efforts enmeshed in a politically endorsed ‘social market’ perspective that emphasized instructional skill training and adaptation to the existing curricular organization. In this context, training processes based on an innovative alternative vision framed in a dynamic learning system were context plays a determining role are crucial. This article presents a formative experience of teacher-researchers in the university context, theoretically oriented from systems thinking and characterized by a holistic approach based on contextual learning. The research was designed using Grounded Theory with a biographical-narrative approach. Participant observation, sociodemographic questionnaire, and semi-structured interviews were used as data collection instruments. The results show a formative process in which the pedagogical practice is the training core, and highlight the strengths of systems thinking to favor the co-construction of a teacher identity that integrates biographies and personal interests of teachers, as well as the configuration of teacher training processes oriented to collaborative learning. Additionally, it was found that the process shows strengths in several relevant aspects in teacher education such as reflective teaching as a rejection of top-down forms of educational programs, the importance of reflective thinking and reflective feeling and the importance of collaborative learning to contribute to the solution of contextual problems.

Marta’s story: a female principal leading in challenge contexts

ABSTRACT Recent international research highlights the importance of a strong professional identity based on pedagogical leadership to achieve educational improvement. Several studies indicate a clear relationship between the role of gender identity and the development of a leadership identity. This article tells the story of a female school principal in a Spanish school context. Using a biographical narrative approach, we explore how this female principal built a professional identity oriented towards leadership based on professional commitment and social justice. This study is part of a more extensive international research project whose main objective is to explore the factors that influence the construction of a professional leadership identity for school principals. The analysis was based on an outpouring of deep reflections through a professional biogram. We identified a series of key events in Marta’s life that had a clear professional and personal impact and consolidated her current professional identity. Marta’s story shows the influence of gender, personal life factors, socio-economic status, and the socio-political environment on the development of a professional identity of leadership along with the challenges encountered as a woman. Facing these challenges has led to the re-construction of an identity that is more oriented towards social equality and professional commitment.

A dual and discontinuous professional identity: school principals in Spain

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to propose an emerging approach in research on school leadership, within the framework of the “International Successful School Principalship Project (ISSPP)”, where one of the three key research strands is “Principals’ identities”.Design/methodology/approachThe paper responds, from a biographical-narrative approach, to knowledge about the impact of the Spanish model of school management on the professional identity of school principals. It analyses the biographical interviews of 15 school principals, through a process of structuring and categorizing the data collected, applying content analysis.FindingsThe dimensions of the principals’ identities emerge in different categories: personal identity, professional identity (internal perspective), professional identity (external perspective), social identity, professionalization and dual identity.Research limitations/implicationsThe authors studied identities in a project entitled “Successful school principals”, understanding that successful leadership practices largely depend on headteachers’ identities. That is, when the identities are weak and unstable, with a poor identification with the managerial tasks and functions, and not recognised by the teaching staff, the school will probably be unsuccessful. On the contrary, when there are headteachers with a strong professional identity, the authors want to show that there is a positive impact on improvement of results. In the future, in the development of the research project, the authors aim to verify the relationship between headteachers’ identities and educational improvement.Practical implicationsThe knowledge gained in our study would enable us to reimagine lines in order to increase the professionalization and identities of headteachers, redesigning work contexts in ways which can strengthen fragile and unstable identities. Finally, the implications of the study in relation to future research can be summarised by the following ideas.Social implicationsUnderstanding the world of the lives (lebenswelt) of Spanish headteachers means adopting a hermeneutic approach, observing the self-interpretation comments expressed by the subjects, where the temporal and biographical dimensions occupy a key role. The authors understand professional identity as a socially constructed and personally created experience with its own meanings, feelings and intentions. Therefore, it is logical to use, for data collection, individual interviews which explore the school context and the impact which it has on those subjects who are part of the professional environment. In addition, the authors have the intention of following up the study of identities.Originality/valueIt formulates, first, the theoretical framework for the professional identity from a narrative approach, linked – at the same time – to the practice of leadership, as an interactive relationship with the other members of the school. Successful leadership practices depend to a large degree on strong principals’ identities. Finally, the results are discussed, and future lines are proposed to articulate and strengthen the identity of school principals in Spain.

Reflections on the political nature within the teaching practice: Novelty Teachers’ Educational Experiences

This research study focuses on the development of teachers’ pedagogical knowledge. Its main objective is to comprehend the values, purposes and rationale that lie beneath teaching training programs. Therefore, the focal point of the present study is to examine the experiences that are often found in teaching practices. The methodology of this investigation follows an epistemological and interpretative perspective through the use of a biographical-narrative approach. In this regard, from the analysis of teachers’ accounts it is expected to first, reflect on their educational experiences, second, weigh the meaning behind their daily teaching practices and interactions with students, and finally, extend on their experiences as teaching program students. For this purpose, the accounts of two secondary school teachers are portrayed. The findings reveal the complexity of the pedagogical practice as a reflective profession which, in turn, triggers moral, affective and political repercussions (Arnaus, 1999).

Entre la gestión y la circulación de ideas pedagógicas. Un acercamiento desde la perspectiva biográficonarrativa

As part of the Curricular Processes and Accompanying Practices research project, we show how, in search for good practices in the educational field, a primary school teacher undertakes the task of trying to implement the educational policies of increasing the quality of education. We adopt the biographical-narrative approach to produce knowledge about the subjects and their practices, as well as the knowledge they generate in the performance of their work. In this text, we show both part of teacher’s journey and instances of the experimentation of pedagogical ideas in the classroom, in order to highlight the tension faced by elementary teachers to manage and circulate pedagogical ideas in daily life when they adopt in their classroom the project-based method to generate innovative educational processes. We describe how concrete individuals carry with them pedagogical ideals that must face a complex network of relationships in which teachers try, day by day, with the development of materials, tensions with parents, principals and educational regulations, to do quality work in a city school that affects the training processes and teaching practices. We close the text with some reflections on the management of innovative projects in basic education in the current educational context.

Meanings of the high school experience for students in vulnerable situations

(analítico): se reporta una investigación cualitativa biográfico-narrativa, que recupera la voz de los y las estudiantes de secundaria respecto a la manera en que viven la institución escolar. Con el propósito de explorar la identidad narrativa autobiográfica de adolescentes en situación de vulnerabilidad académica y social, se solicitó a un grupo de 33 estudiantes mexicanos de tercer grado de secundaria en riesgo de abandono y rezago escolar, que generaran y digitalizaran un relato digital sobre sus vivencias escolares. Se buscó comprender los factores asociados al desvanecimiento progresivo del sentido de la educación y del aprendizaje escolar. Las narrativas de los estudiantes desvelaron la vida socioemocional de los adolescentes, la crítica a la normativa escolar y a la autoridad, la aceptación entre pares, el acoso escolar, las carencias en las instalaciones y servicios educativos.

Classical Myth in the University: A Contribution to Professional Teacher Development

The use of Classical Greek myth as a narrative and metaphorical tool can contribute to the construction of a professional teaching identity. Adopting a biographical narrative approach, the present study sought to assess this contribution in a group of teacher and researcher trainees undertaking a postgraduate university course. The construction of personal narratives used for collective interpretation by the participants that generated them was analysed and interpreted in relation to the development of teacher professionalism. Our findings show the effective activation of metacognitive processes in order to rethink teacher professionalism from a narrative point of view. Using the structure and content of Classical myths as a scaffold, participants established valuable reflections on crucial aspects of teaching, identifying personal achievements and conquests as well as fears and insecurities. The structures latent in myth provided an effective framework with which to project and identify at least three hermeneutical themes—symbolism, function and structure—that form constituent elements of professional identity and are not only intertwined but are also constituted within a community of practice. Thus, Greek myths continue to offer an interesting cognitive and emotional scaffold that contributes to teacher professionalism, facilitating the formulation of a reflective, collaborative and personal meaning of identity which brings together personal teaching experiences and knowledge and is necessarily shared with the surrounding community of practice.

Trabajo Social y Derechos Humanos: perspectivas, posibilidades y desafíos a partir de la experiencia chilena

Este artículo analiza y discute la forma en que se ha construido la relación entre el Trabajo Social y los derechos humanos en Chile. Para lograr lo anterior se recurre a los elementos del enfoque biográfico-narrativo y a los testimonios de profesionales que se desempeñaron en este ámbito durante la dictadura cívico-militar. A través de esta aproximación se re-significa el concepto de trabajo en derechos humanos, incluyendo una mirada intergeneracional que considera nuevas perspectivas en torno a los enfoques de derechos y su relación con las políticas sociales. A partir de los hallazgos se discuten las posibilidades de integrar en el ejercicio y en la reflexión profesional una aproximación de este tipo en torno a los derechos humanos, que incluya los aportes de las distintas generaciones en contexto de postdictadura en Chile. El trabajo concluye ilustrando algunos desafíos para el abordaje de nuevas problemáticas que suponen un reposicionamiento de este enfoque y una ampliación de sus alcances, lo que implica incluir a colectivos y a fenómenos sociales hasta este momento no considerados.

Marketing ‘madness’: conceptualising service user/survivor biographies in a period of deinstitutionalisation (1975–2014)

This article aims to present the lived experiences of psychiatric service users/survivors who have experienced the transition from institutional care in the 1970s and 1980s to community care services in the 1990s and post-2000s. By using a biographical narrative approach the study compares service users’ historical experiences with their contemporary experiences of community and residential care. Sixteen biographical narratives were analysed to explore how mental health services have changed over time, from the perspective of service users/survivors, their families and mental health practitioners. The study examines how the closure of NHS mental hospitals in the 1980s, which were replaced in the 1990s with new types of community and residential care services, has changed the lives of service users/survivors. Thus, the article presents these lived biographical experiences which, for the majority of service users/survivors, were defined by the process of trans-institutionalisation rather than de-institutionalisation, within a neoliberal context.

The dilemma of voice in biographical narratives: confronting complexity in the ‘unexpected stories’ of intercountry adoptees

ABSTRACTThe biographical-narrative interview has been touted as a conduit for ‘giving voice’ to disempowered groups and individuals. On account of this strength, a biographical-narrative approach was chosen for an investigation into the cultural identity constructions of intercountry adoptees in Australia. However, while yielding rich and detailed accounts of participants’ lives, the method also facilitated the telling of ‘unexpected stories’ that did not conform to the researcher’s expectations. This paper reports on these unanticipated findings and the methodological insights they prompted. In light of these insights, the paper argues that doing justice to participants’ voices involves three imperatives: an explicit recognition of the multi-voiced and co-constructed nature of academic storytelling; sustained reflexivity during the analysis and writing of participant narratives; and the pursuance of ‘socially just’ acts of representation. From this perspective, the aim of biographical-narrative research should not be to ‘give voice’, but instead to produce deeper, more complex accounts of phenomena that change for the better those who tell, hear, and interpret biographical narratives.

Author Meets Critics: Pioneering African-American Women in the Advertising Business

Abstract: This book discussion centered around Judy Foster Davis' book Pioneering African-American Women in the Advertising Business: Biographies of MAD Black WOMEN (Routledge, 2017), which provides an in-depth look at four Black women's remarkable stories of reaching success in the advertising business: Caroline Robinson Jones, Joel P. Martin, Barbara Gardner Proctor, and Carol H. Williams. This recorded talk explains the book's biographical narrative approach, archival materials, and central concepts: structural oppression, intersectionality, entrepreneurship, and inclusivity. The participants reflect on the advertising industry's barriers to entry, efforts to overcome problems of inclusivity, and the future of multicultural perspectives in a digital age. Ultimately, the participants agreed that more stories like the women featured in this book need to be uncovered and told. Moreover, more academic-industry bridges are necessary to build authentic programs that increase inclusivity and address covert racism and structural oppression.

A case for a health promotion framework: the psychosocial experiences of female, migrant sex workers in Ireland

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers preventing women in prostitution from accessing co-ordinated health services in the Republic of Ireland. By examining the experiences of migrant women engaged in prostitution, the research contributes to knowledge pertaining to the psychosocial experiences of female sex workers’ access to healthcare. Design/methodology/approach The study interviewed migrant women across Ireland, using a biographical narrative approach and an adapted voice-centred relational model of analysis to determine the necessity for a health promotion strategy for this demographic. Findings The findings indicate migrant women work primarily indoors, hold precarious legal status and are in Ireland due to processes of globalisation, migration and economic necessity. The women discussed their entry into prostitution and their experiences within prostitution in the context of their psychosocial experiences. Research limitations/implications While the findings are from a small qualitative sample confined to the Republic of Ireland, it is the first study to prioritise migrant sex workers’ psychosocial experiences in Ireland. Practical implications The research concludes education and service development that respects the various social determinants impacting women in prostitution is missing but remains necessary in Ireland. It finds a gendered reform of policies using an ecological framework for health that can address issues of poverty, migration and the global trends of the sex industry. Social implications This means a national review of current services in health, social work and community development fields is timely. Originality/value This paper gives insight into the lives of migrant women involved in the sex industry and can make an important contribution to future research directions and practice in Irish and European prostitution contexts.

La Formación Docente en Argentina. El Proyecto “Polos de Desarrollo” a partir las narrativas de los actores

Throughout the history of the Argentine teacher training, many processes have gone through that have attempted to implement differentiated training projects with their own characterizations. It is possible to identify experiences that had different intentions of base, and varied intensities in their effects, but left traces that today survive in the institutions, in the provincial educational systems and in the subjects themselves. In this article we will especially recover the project “Poles de Desarrollo (2000-20001)” from the testimonies of the actors themselves and from the field of teacher training. We will use the biographical-narrative approach, since it gives us the possibility to reconstruct and reorganize the experience of the actors through the narrative, attributing meanings to the past with reference to the present and to the personal conceptions. This policy lacks visibility in Argentine academic productions and therefore constitutes the main object of our research.

Diabetes y ¿discapacidad?

The number of people living with Diabetes Mellitus (DM) has increased considerably in recent years. The DM for their chronic impacts the physical, psychological, emotional, spiritual and social aspects of the life of the person suffering, implying in turn a number of impacts on social and family interactions generating different meanings for people living with it. Objective: To understand the meanings attributed to a group of disabled adults living with retinopathy and diabetic nephropathy. Methodology: Interpretative qualitative approach with biographical narrative approach favoring life stories. Participants: 10 people selected by purposive sampling. Information gathered through in-depth interviews; the method of content analysis was used. Results: The meanings realized three broad categories: (a) The experiences of dependency; (b) the capacity, that works both as to achieve something, and live the kind of life they consider important and valuable, and (c) the reciprocal relationships, established with their environment, which emerges care experience as a close and direct relationship between two or more people, deeply emotional, pragmatic and practical that affects both the person receiving care and those who provide it. Conclusions: The experience of disability is unique to each individual, taking a meaning according to personal characteristics, age, type of disease, how to interact with the environment and the interactions that take place in this process.

294 Aspiring to independence: The personal experiences of young people with cystic fibrosis, asthma and healthy controls

Objectives To investigate the first person lived experience of young people, noting their accounts of how health affects the aspects of life they value. Methods 23 young people (aged 13–15) were interviewed using a biographical narrative approach starting with the open request, please tell me the story of your life so far, all the events and experiences that were important for you, personally. Young people with cystic fibrosis (CF), asthma and normal health were interviewed. Each subjects' interview transcript was analysed independently in order to develop a theory of the individual and their narrative. The findings from each individual were then compared with particular attention given to contrasting themes between the health groups. Results Young people frequently recalled stories of events and experiences involving enjoyable times with friends and families. Many individuals explicitly and implicitly emphasised a desire to grow in independence. However, it was notable that this journey to independence was substantially more complex for young people with CF than it was for other health groups. The intensive treatment requirements and a sense that at any time health may deteriorate resulting in hospitalisation were given as reasons for making choices to ensure they remained near support and protection. Conclusion Independence was a common aspiration across all groups interviewed. However the extent to which independence was enjoyed varied depending on the health status of the young person. More detailed research is required to explore the barriers to independence faced by young people with CF.

Looking again at troubled families: parents' perspectives on multiple adversities

AbstractThe ‘Troubled Families’ policy and intervention agenda is based on a deficit approach that tends to ignore the role of structural disadvantage in the lives of the families it targets. In an effort to support this rhetoric, both quantitative and qualitative data have been used, and misused, to create a representation of these families, which emphasizes risk and individual blame and minimizes societal factors. This current paper presents findings from an in‐depth qualitative study using a biographical narrative approach to explore parents' experiences of multiple adversities at different times over the life‐course. Key themes relating to the pattern and nature of adversities experienced by participants provide a more nuanced understanding of the lives of families experiencing multiple and complex problems, highlighting how multiple interpretations are often possible within the context of professional intervention. The findings support the increasing call to move away from procedurally driven, risk averse child protection practice towards more relationally based practice, which addresses not only the needs of all family members but recognizes parents as individuals in their own right.

Students with disabilities in higher education: a biographical-narrative approach to the role of lecturers

This article presents an analysis of how lecturers respond to students with disabilities, the initial question being: do lecturers aid or hinder students? Findings pertain to a broader research project being developed by a multidisciplinary team employing a non-usual research methodology in higher education (HE) research and students with disabilities: biographical-narrative methodology. The general aim is to analyse – by listening to the students themselves – barriers and support identified as affecting access, academic performance and overall perception of the HE experience. The present paper analyses lecturer-centred data to focus specifically on one of the objectives of our research project: the role that lecturers play in the inclusive education of students with disabilities. Unlike other international research, this article explores the barriers and support differentiating between five fields of knowledge: health sciences, experimental sciences, social sciences (law and education), engineering and technology and humanities. Findings are organized in four topic areas: lecturer attitudes, practices in the classroom, curricular adaptations and faculty training. Key findings are discussed in the conclusions section, together with a discussion of contributions made by earlier studies.

El alumnado con diversidad funcional en la universidad de sevilla: resultados de un estudio biográfico-narrativo

The article we present is framed within a research project1, currently underway and is described using a biographical-narrative approach, the main objective of which is focused on identifying and studying the barriers and support students with disabilities find in the University of Seville. Although in the research process, we mention evidence of what is happening in the five fields of knowledge, in this article we focus only on the information provided by a group of students from the faculties of Education, Psychology and Philosophy. The results presented here belong to the first phase of the research project; in particular, we will focus on the barriers and support students with disabilities identified among faculty and the methodologies used during their university courses.