Exploring Learning, Identity and Power Through Life History and Narrative Research

What stories can we tell of ourselves and others and why should they be of interest to others?
Exploring Learning, Identity and Power through Life History and Narrative Research responds to these questions with examples from diverse educational and social contexts. The book brings together a collection of writing by different authors who use a narrative/life history approach to explore the experiences of a wide range of people, including teachers, nurses, young people and adults, reflecting on learning and education at significant moments in their lives. In addition, each chapter provides an account by the author of the process of constructing research narratives, and the second chapter of the book focuses specifically on ethical issues in life history and narrative research.
This book:


provides vivid examples of a narrative/life history approach to research
uses narrative/life history to explore identity, power and social justice
offers an effective model for practice.
With contributions from a number of international experts, this book addresses key issues of social justice and power played out within different contexts, and also discusses the ethics of narrative research directly. The book makes a timely contribution to the growing interest in the use of narrative and life history research. With the increasing importance of continuing professional development for many working in education, health and social service contexts, the book will be of interest to both students and researchers, as it provides clear examples of how researching professionals can use narrative research to investigate a particular area of interest.

Ann-Marie Bathmaker is Professor of Further Education and Lifelong Learning at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.
Penelope Harnett is Reader in Education and Head of the Department of Primary, Early Childhood and Education Studies at the University of the West of England, Bristol, UK.

1. Introduction to the book, Ann-Marie Bathmaker and Penelope Harnett 2. The ethics of writing life histories and narratives in educational research, Pat Sikes 3. Literacy and numeracy histories – A case study of one child and his parent’s accounts of what was learned, Jane Andrews Senior Lecturer in Education 4. Interrogating identity and belonging through life history: experiences of overseas nurses in post colonial Britain, Shekar Bheenuck 5. ‘I lived down the road from you’: exploring power and identity, then and now, Jacky Brine 6. In Our Own Words. From Action to Learning Dialogues, Nick Clough 7. A process of (un)becoming: life history research and the connection between the personal, professional and teacher professional development, Christine Halse 8. This Do In Remembrance of Me: Narrative Uncertainty and the Frothing of Contentious Identity, James Haywood Rolling, Jr. 9. I’m being measured as an NQT, that isn’t who I am’: second career teachers entering the culture of the primary school, Liz Newman 10. A History of Not Seeing, Invisibility and Anchors: Images of Ethnic Minorities in History Textbooks, Dean Smart 11. Changing identities through re-engagement with education: Two narrative accounts, Richard Waller 12. Conclusion, Penelope Harnett and Ann-Marie Bathmaker