TY - JOUR
T1 - On not becoming 'a mere empirical existence': exploring 'who' and 'what' narratives in pre-service English teachers' writing
AU - Parr, Graham Bruce
AU - Bulfin, Scott Anthony
AU - Castaldi, Renee
AU - Griffiths, Elisabeth Cari
AU - Manuel, Charmaine
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - Standards-based reforms of education favour narrow forms of teacher professional
learning tied to generic standards and pre-determined, measurable outcomes.
In high-stakes accountability-driven environments, in schools and initial
teacher education programs, educators are rarely encouraged to inquire into their
work and professional identities through narrative writing. This article describes
and analyses an assessment task in a pre-service teacher education course
wherein students explore dialogic forms of critical autobiographical writing as
part of an ongoing process of examining and clarifying their views and values
about English teaching. Drawing on Cavarero, we argue that the writing these
preservice teachers do provides a space for them to negotiate ?what? and ?who?
narratives as they journey to become English teachers. Their writing productively
grapples with generic ?what? stories such as what standards documents
attempt to tell about English teaching, and the ?unrepeatable uniqueness? of
?who? stories developed out of their individual cultural, educational and
linguistic difference.
AB - Standards-based reforms of education favour narrow forms of teacher professional
learning tied to generic standards and pre-determined, measurable outcomes.
In high-stakes accountability-driven environments, in schools and initial
teacher education programs, educators are rarely encouraged to inquire into their
work and professional identities through narrative writing. This article describes
and analyses an assessment task in a pre-service teacher education course
wherein students explore dialogic forms of critical autobiographical writing as
part of an ongoing process of examining and clarifying their views and values
about English teaching. Drawing on Cavarero, we argue that the writing these
preservice teachers do provides a space for them to negotiate ?what? and ?who?
narratives as they journey to become English teachers. Their writing productively
grapples with generic ?what? stories such as what standards documents
attempt to tell about English teaching, and the ?unrepeatable uniqueness? of
?who? stories developed out of their individual cultural, educational and
linguistic difference.
UR - http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/0305764X.2014.930416
U2 - 10.1080/0305764X.2014.930416
DO - 10.1080/0305764X.2014.930416
M3 - Article
VL - 45
SP - 133
EP - 148
JO - Cambridge Journal of Education
JF - Cambridge Journal of Education
SN - 0305-764X
IS - 2
ER -