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Teacher Development: An internationaljournal of teachers' professionaldevelopmentPublication details, including instructions for authors andsubscription information:http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rtde20
Exploring teachers' narratives ofinclusive practice in higher educationChristine Savvidou aa Department of Languages and Literature , University of Nicosia ,Nicosia, CyprusPublished online: 18 Mar 2011.
To cite this article: Christine Savvidou (2011) Exploring teachers' narratives of inclusive practicein higher education, Teacher Development: An international journal of teachers' professionaldevelopment, 15:1, 53-67, DOI: 10.1080/13664530.2011.555224
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Teacher DevelopmentVol. 15, No. 1, February 2011, 53–67
ISSN 1366-4530 print/ISSN 1747-5120 online© 2011 Teacher DevelopmentDOI: 10.1080/13664530.2011.555224http://www.informaworld.com
Exploring teachers’ narratives of inclusive practice in higher education
Christine Savvidou*
Department of Languages and Literature, University of Nicosia, Nicosia, CyprusTaylor and FrancisRTDE_A_555224.sgm(Received 28 September 2008; final version received 8 June 2010)10.1080/13664530.2011.555224Teacher Development1366-4530 (print)/1747-5120 (online)Original Article2011Teacher Development151000000February [email protected]
The need for knowledge and understanding of inclusive practice is now requiredin higher educational contexts as increasing numbers of students with specialeducational needs enter the university system. This has implications for universityteachers whose background knowledge and experience of teaching students withspecial educational needs is limited. This article explores four narratives byuniversity lecturers of their experiences of teaching English to groups of learnerswith various learning and physical disabilities. Analysis of story data suggests thatdespite limited formal knowledge, training or experience, storytelling allowsteachers to construct an understanding of inclusive practice that extends beyondtheir own personal and professional knowledge and experience. Implications forthe value of a narrative approach to teacher development are presented.
Keywords: inclusive education; special educational needs; narrative; storytelling;professional knowledge
Introduction
The rapid expansion of higher education in recent decades has brought about newchallenges for university teachers (Fry, Ketteridge, and Marshall 2009; Martin andKarmel 2002; Schofer and Meyer 2005; Shavit, Arum, and Gamoran 2007). With anincreasingly diverse student population, the need for inclusive practice is one suchchallenge that university teachers face. While higher education institutions recognisediverse and specific learning needs of students, there is evidence to suggest thatteaching approaches often remain inadequate (May and Bridger 2010). Consequently,the present study explores the narratives of university teachers in Cyprus about theirexperiences of inclusive practice.
The impetus for this study arose from concerns expressed by colleagues aboutincreasing numbers of students with special educational needs (henceforth SEN) intheir English language classes. As a result of these concerns, the aim of this study wasto explore the potential of teacher narrative inquiry to develop teachers’ understandingof inclusive practice beyond existing professional knowledge. This article begins withan overview of SEN policy and research in this area. Next, it outlines teachers’ profes-sional knowledge and discusses the potential of narrative inquiry to extend this knowl-edge. The design of the study is then outlined and an analysis of teachers’ narrativesis offered. Finally, the implications of teacher narrative inquiry as an approach toprofessional development are discussed.
*Email: [email protected]
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Policy and research
An overview of policy and research in this area suggests that the drive towards inclu-sive practice is shaped by definitions of SEN with different interpretations used indifferent contexts (May and Bridger 2010). For example, in the school sector in theUK, SEN policy has been developed on the concept of ‘inclusive education’ regard-less of learners’ abilities or disabilities (Warnock 1978). In this context, the term‘SEN’ encapsulates a broad spectrum of needs and learning styles that cannot bereduced to a single category (House of Commons 2006). In contrast, SEN terminologyused in Europe and in Cyprus is more categorical. The European Commission (2005)uses ‘SEN’ to refer to ‘learners with a difficulty or disability (visual disability, hearingdisability, physical disability, intellectual disability, multiple disabilities, emotionaland behavioural difficulty, learning difficulty, language impairment)’ (18). Similarly,in Cyprus the term ‘special needs’ refers to ‘a child having a serious learning orspecial learning, functioning or adjusting difficulty caused by physical (includingsensory), mental or other gnostic or psychological deficiencies’ (Cyprus Ministry ofEducation and Culture 1999, 2). Both definitions resemble the medical model previ-ously challenged by Warnock (1978).
In Europe, widening participation in higher education is a policy objective, as wellas a legal requirement. Since Lord Dearing (1997) made recommendations for theinclusion of underrepresented groups in higher education, inclusive practice hasbecome central to UK educational policy. The Every Child Matters Act (Departmentfor Education and Skills 2004) gives statutory requirements for care and educationproviders to protect the rights of children and promote equality and diversity in thecare and education of all young people. The Act requires local authorities to ensureinclusion and provision for all learners in schools and compels all education providersto make ‘reasonable adjustments’ to ensure that students with SEN do not experienceany educational disadvantage. These ‘adjustments’ might include changes to teachingpractice, the physical environment and provision of specialist support. Similarly, inCyprus, the provision of SEN support is also recognised in law with the Education andTraining of Children with Special Needs Law 1999 [113(I)/1999] (Cyprus Ministry ofEducation and Culture 2008) and in 2001 it was extended to support students intertiary education (cited in Hadjikakou and Hartas 2008).
Despite the legal obligation to support learners with SEN, there are a number ofchallenges facing higher education institutions in Cyprus. Primarily, it is difficult toknow how many students with SEN are in post-secondary education. Statistics showthat the total number of students in higher education in Cyprus has doubled in sixyears from 11,934 students for the academic year 2000/2001 to 22,227 for 2006/2007(Republic of Cyprus Statistical Service 2008); consequently, it is expected that thenumber of students with SEN has also increased. However, the exact number ofstudents with SEN is difficult to determine since the responsibility is on students toinform the institution on enrolment. Moreover, there is evidence to suggest that somelearners do not disclose their SEN, fearing discrimination. In a recent study (Hadjika-kou and Hartas 2008) a Cypriot student reports being treated ‘as a student with mentalretardation rather than a student with dyslexia’ (109). It is suggested by Hadjikakouand Hartas (2008) that the use of SEN terminology that emphasises ‘disability’ and‘special needs’ discourages disclosure by students.
The implications for teachers in tertiary education are significant. Even whenstudents have a diagnosis, the wide range of needs that are encompassed by ‘SEN’ termi-nology means that quality of provision and support may be insufficient or inappropriate.
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Moreover, the overlap between English language teaching and SEN is a relatively newarea of research that lacks a comprehensive literature review (Adoniou 2004; Armstrongand Heathcote 2003). Existing research in this area tends to focus on specific nationalcontexts (Griffin, Artiles, and Ortiz 2002; Karanth and Rozario 2003) or on specificissues, such as dyslexia (Cline 2000; Cottrell 2001; Geva 2000; Spencer 2000), earlyyears’ provision (Davis and Watson 2000; Fawcett and Lynch 2000) and bilingual learn-ers (Cline 1997; Deponio et al. 2000). However, limited research in the area of Englishlanguage teaching and SEN means that teachers typically ‘adopt ad hoc strategies rarelysupported by sound research evidence’ (Armstrong and Heathcote 2003, 5).
In the face of such challenges, faculty development programmes can effectivelysupport teachers in meeting the increasing and diverse needs of learners. Studies offaculty development programmes in higher education (Breen et al. 2002; Scott andGregg 2000) show how these programmes raise awareness of the legal obligations ofinstitutions (Tinklin, Riddell, and Wilson 2004), offer knowledge of specific teachingapproaches and specialist language support (Herrington 2001) and give insights intothe experiences and perspectives of learners with SEN (Fuller, Bradley, and Healey2004; Holloway 2001; Palfreman-Kay 2001). An additional approach to facultydevelopment, and one which is becoming increasingly popular, is teacher narrativeinquiry. This approach places value on teachers’ perspectives and, by creating spacefor storytelling, it brings together the multiple interpretations that teachers give theirknowledge and experience (Clandinin and Connelly 2000; Johnson and Golombek2002; McDrury and Alterio 2002; Ritchie and Wilson 2000).
Professional knowledge in teaching English as a foreign language
The aim of this study was to explore the potential of teacher narrative inquiry todevelop teachers’ understanding of inclusive practice beyond existing professionalknowledge. Professional knowledge for language teachers focuses on skills, knowl-edge and competences associated with language learning. The European Profile forLanguage Teacher Education (Kelly and Grenfell 2004) identifies a checklist of40 items under the headings Structure, Knowledge and Understanding, Strategies andSkills, and Values which are considered central features of language teacher educa-tion. Specifically, recommendations for educating trainee teachers are made in areassuch as intercultural education, language teaching methodologies, ICT, assessment,reflective practice, content and language integrated learning, and so forth. The issueof inclusive education is also briefly mentioned:
During the school experience trainees are given the opportunity to adapt their teachingto their learners by creating a classroom environment which is inclusive. They areencouraged to use a variety of materials and resources, including multi-sensory aids. (26)
However, this is a relatively new recommendation and many university teachers inthis particular context have little formal knowledge and training of SEN in languageteaching.
Developing through storytelling
Teacher narrative inquiry is an approach to professional development that makes useof the ‘natural learning experiences’ (Day 1999) teachers encounter in their
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professional lives. Studies into the metacognitive role of storytelling (Johnson andGolombek 2002; Ritchie and Wilson 2000; Stroobants 2005) suggest that storytellingallows teachers to reflect on experience and make explicit the relationship betweenprofessional knowledge, beliefs and practice. Storytelling is a narrative mode of intel-ligence (Bruner 1986) that organises experience into story form and attempts to estab-lish connections and relationships between people and events. Based on ideas ofreflective learning (Schön 1983), storytelling engages teachers in critically reflectingon experience and becoming conscious of the tacit knowledge that is embedded intheir stories. For Johnson and Golombek (2002), storytelling is a unique way forteachers to ‘organize, articulate and communicate’ (7) knowledge of teaching andreflect on what they know and believe about teaching. Elbaz-Luwisch (1997) noteshow storytelling supports teachers in reflecting on ‘things they might not have noticedbefore’ (75); while Ritchie and Wilson (2000) contend that as a form of critical reflec-tion, narrative enables teachers to critique prevailing knowledge and ideologies ofteaching and construct personal theories of teaching. Storytelling is often conceivedas a type of reflective monologue in which teachers tell stories in order to reflect ontheir own learning (Ritchie and Wilson 2000). However, organisational theory viewsstorytelling as part of the shared repertoire of a community (Wenger 1998). Stories aretold to transmit tacit knowledge, such as the ethos, values and norms of the organisa-tion (Linde 2001). In effect, storytelling becomes a type of reflective dialogue inwhich teachers learn about themselves and their community through their storytellinginteractions.
Against this background, this study explores the potential of narrative in developingteachers’ understanding of inclusive practice. One way to achieve this was to create adigital storytelling space in which teachers could share their experiences of teachinglearners with SEN with colleagues.
Digital storytelling refers to the intersection between traditional oral forms ofstorytelling with new technologies using digital photo, audio and video files (Schäfer2004). As a form of pedagogy, digital storytelling is playing an increasingly signifi-cant role in educational contexts (for examples see BBC’s Capture Wales and Centerfor Digital Storytelling, Lambert 2002) allowing learners to collect and share storiesof individuals and communities, as well as to access and reflect on new knowledgeeffectively and creatively (Partnership for 21st Century Skills 2007). Moreover, froma practical perspective, digital storytelling allows stories to be shared asynchronously,which is especially important in the busy lives of university teachers.
While the following section provides brief descriptions of the methods andprocesses used to construct digital stories, the primary aim is to highlight the storiesteachers tell in relation to their knowledge and experience of inclusive education.
The context
The impetus for this study emerged from my own recent experience of teaching Englishto learners with SEN at a higher education institution in Cyprus. Faced with a newprofessional challenge of teaching English to a student with a visual impairment, Iturned to institutional policy for support. This policy, in accordance with legislation(Cyprus Ministry of Education and Culture 2008), is directed towards supporting learn-ers rather than teachers, highlighting the provision of physical access to buildings andfacilities, psychological and personal counselling services and alternative assessmentmethods. Thus, with little experience and limited professional knowledge in this area,
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I began to read national and European policies on inclusive education (Cyprus Ministryof Education and Culture 2008; Department for Education and Skills 2001; EuropeanCommission 2005), as well as case studies in other higher education contexts (Fuller,Bradley, and Healey 2004; Scott and Gregg 2000; Tinklin, Riddell, and Wilson 2004).This literature enabled me to locate my own knowledge and experience of teachingthe particular learner in a wider theoretical framework.
My story
At the end of the course, I was invited to share my experience at a departmental meet-ing. My story resonated with many of my colleagues who responded with their ownexperiences of teaching English to learners with SEN. The stories that emerged fromthe meeting encouraged me to explore the subject of inclusive education using a narra-tive methodology. Using Microsoft Producer 2003 software, I made a digital film ofmy story. I then added captions to the film which highlighted the themes I felt werecentral to my interpretation of this experience (Figure 1). In the story, I express mydoubts, concerns and uncertainties in relation to my professional knowledge. At theend of my story I question the learning process I had been through and consider theimplications of this experience for teaching learners with SEN in the future:
… So, I survived the semester and in the end the student did actually really well buthaving been through this experience I actually have a few mixed feelings about it. Onething is how much my consideration of this student actually detracted attention fromother learners in the class. And I’m actually wondering how feasible is it to actuallyimplement different methods of teaching and instruction in a single classroom because Ifeel like I didn’t do that. It seemed to me that my prime concern were his learning needs.So have I learnt anything that could help me in the future? I’m not really sure becausewhen you think of the definition of special educational needs it covers such a huge spec-trum of learning difficulties and physical disabilities. But I suppose if it’s anything, it’s
Figure 1. Telling my own digital story.
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the importance of being flexible and being willing to adapt your teaching to the needs oflearners.
Figure 1. Telling my own digital story.Aware of how my story had resonated for my colleagues, I looked for ways toengage them in a professional conversation on the subject of inclusive education.Three colleagues agreed to participate and share their stories of teaching English tolearners with SEN. After viewing my story, the first teacher (Teacher A) respondedwith her own digital story. The next teacher (Teacher B) created her digital story afterviewing the two preceding stories. This was repeated with the final story after the finalteacher (Teacher C) had viewed all three preceding stories. As the stories accumu-lated, so did the types of experiences teachers recounted and the interpretations thatteachers gave these experiences.
The story of Teacher A
Having viewed my initial story, Teacher A responded with her own story of teachinga student with a visual impairment. Part of her story focuses on her efforts to adapt herteaching to meet the specific needs of this student:
… and as a teacher I had to do a lot of preparation with regard to the materials I had togive to him and I had to work closely with the Blind school […] to get all the books andthe teachers’ notes translated, the quizzes, the tests … the student was pretty much anindependent learner because he would come to class with his special equipment whichwas a printer and another machine that he had to use in class to take his own notes … Ifound myself that I had to sort of pay more attention to him during class time and standvery close to him so that he would listen to me carefully but every day after class wewould meet and we would go over the notes again and what was discussed in class andhe was very conscientious about his work.
At the end of her story, she considers how her teaching methodology might needfurther development:
if I had to do it over again I think with technology and the way things progress, I wouldhave to prepare the material in maybe digital, in another digital way or, you know, moreadvanced things that blind students probably deal with today.
The story of Teacher B
The next story came from Teacher B who responded to the first two stories with herown experience of teaching English to students with hearing impairments. Signifi-cantly, her story raised the issue of inclusive education and her unresolved dilemmaof how to effectively integrate students into the classroom:
On the other hand, I had the experience of a deaf student in my class […] so she wasalone within a hearing community, and that was more difficult to manage because I wasalways feeling a bit self-conscious, should I ask her something? Should I ask her a ques-tion and have her speak up in front of everybody else? Should I ask somebody to workwith her in pair work? And who should I ask? And even at some point, ok […] so theywere not forced to be … attendance was not compulsory, but at some point she didn’tshow up for several lessons, and I thought oh my god maybe it’s my mistake because lasttime I asked her in front of everybody … a question and maybe I did the wrong thing,I shouldn’t have … so the idea is … I’m not sure, I’m not sure about this inclusive
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education thing … whether it is feasible to have a student with a special need within agroup, within a ‘normal’ group, maybe it is feasible, I haven’t had, you know, a big expe-rience around it, but it takes a lot of effort on both parties … the students and the teachers… it was a lot easier for me to have them in groups among them than to have a singlestudent within another group.
The story of Teacher C
The final story in the chain came from Teacher C. After listening to all three precedingstories, this teacher told her story about teaching a student with muscular dystrophy.One concern expressed by this teacher focused on institutional support:
the most challenging case was the student with muscular dystrophy … he is a severelyphysically disabled student, his mobility is dependent on a wheelchair and he needsassistance with not only moving around the college but also around the classroom asmuscular dystrophy is a gradual and progressive weakening of the body … I wasn’tinformed of the debilitating effects of this disease both in psychological and physicalterms, I found things through the receptionist, reading … my own reading but I did tryto liaise with the mother, with the student’s mother, unfortunately, they were reluctant intalking with me for some reason … I did find out though that it was the student’s … hewanted to come to [Institution’s name] because he wanted to integrate with students inan ordinary school … and also he wanted to have some moments of independence.
She ends her story by expressing her views on how learners with SEN could bemore effectively integrated into higher education:
let’s say an ordinary school is quite feasible if there are the appropriate resources like …elevators, maybe automatic doors in the corridors, lavatories and so on, also there shouldbe … we should be informed well in advance … so that we can prepare, there should bein-service training for teachers so that we can … to allow the development of policiesthat would accommodate for the whole range of special needs … I think the issue becomesone of modifying our teaching method … to provide the best possible education for thestudents with special educational needs … and I would like to see a special unit maybein the college … maybe in the university, within the university, where we could workwith a remedial teacher, that is the classroom teacher would liaise with the remedial teacher… the parent, the student himself or herself and … administration for best results.
Narrative analysis
Narrative analysis focuses on the meanings individuals give their stories, that is, theinterpretations attributed to an experience rather than the experience per se (Riessman1993). Consequently, the purpose of this analysis was to explore teachers’ interpreta-tions of their experiences of teaching learners with SEN through the organisingthemes in their stories.
Using a social constructivist approach to narrative analysis, stories are viewed asmoral constructions (Gergen 2006); that is, events are selected and recounted so as toposition the storyteller in relation to a valued end-point. In these particular stories,the point of the stories is the challenges teachers faced in teaching learners with SEN.The point of each of the stories is made in the opening lines to each story as a type of‘abstract’ (Labov and Waletzky 1967):
Author’s story: Last semester I had a blind student in one of my writing classes, it wasa really challenging experience for me and I felt very unprepared for it.
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Teacher A: When the administration first announced to me that he was going to be partof my pre-intermediate English class I had mixed feelings about it becauseI didn’t know whether I would be able to cope with the needs of a studentlike this.
Teacher B: At the beginning, maybe I was … a bit cautious … a bit sceptical becausethat was a brand new experience for me and I thought … oh my god, whatam I going to do?
Teacher C: These students are a particular challenge for the teacher because I feel thatI am the key person in daily contact with the student and my constant worryis how am I going to create my teaching method or … or adapt it or …maybe modify it?
With the point of the story established, the organising themes of each story focuson the efforts these teachers made to overcome these challenges. The events selectedserve to explain the causal relationships within the story and its outcome. Therefore,analysis looked at themes which teachers used to organise their stories.
Beginning with my own story, I identified a number of main themes. I then appliedthese themes to the entire data set in order to identify the main ideas and concerns ofeach of the teacher’s stories. Through a process of comparison, I was able to identifyseveral themes (Table 1) which characterise these teachers’ stories from a phenome-nological perspective (Schutz 1963). By comparing the organising themes of each ofthe narratives, I built an interpretative framework which highlighted the similaritiesand the differences between stories. This enabled me to look at the degree of reso-nance in my initial story for my colleagues, as well as identify new themes and issuesin my colleagues’ stories of teaching learners with SEN.
Understanding inclusive practice through narrative
The degree of coherence in the types of stories and their organising themes is high.All teachers told stories set in a similar context, revolving around similar plotlines andfeaturing similar points of view. This is unsurprising since the primary audience forthese stories is other teachers in the immediate teaching context; stories are told byteachers for their colleagues. By using a storytelling chain, every story becomes aresponse to the preceding stories. The implications of this are significant and can beexplained by the concept of ‘resonance’ in narrative:
when a story is encountered experientially, one reacts to it through ‘resonance’, that is tosay, with a narrative of one’s own. A typical response may be, ‘That reminds me of …’and the narrative segment of a lived experience follows. (Conle 2000, 53)
Resonance is the idea that each story is a response to another story. One effect ofthis type of storytelling is the presence of an ‘empathetic stance’ (Josselson 1995) thatis adopted by teachers in an attempt to close the distance between one’s own storiesand the stories of others.
Considering story-type, Gergen’s (2006) idea of three main narrative types offersa useful perspective on the types of stories told: the progressive narrative in which theprotagonist achieves her goal; the regressive narrative in which the protagonist movesaway from her goal; and the stability narrative in which ‘life simply goes on, neitherbetter nor worse’ (105). In terms of the types of stories teachers told, stories toldtended to be stability narratives. Teacher faced adversity and managed to overcomethe challenges. However, any sense of achievement in teachers’ stories is tempered
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with caution. Towards the end of my own story, I say ‘I survived’; Teacher Acautiously concludes ‘in the end there were more positive results than what one mightexpect’; Teacher B expresses doubt about her experience when she says: ‘I’m not sure,I’m not sure about this inclusive education thing …’; and Teacher C expresses the ideathat ‘integration of severely … physically impaired students in a normal, let’s say anordinary school is quite feasible if there are the appropriate resources’. On a personaland professional level, there is a sense that nothing has really changed for theseteachers and that faced with a similar situation, they would experience comparablechallenges.
Table 1. Thematic analysis of teachers’ narratives.
Themes Sub-themes Examples from data
Teacher emotion Feelings of unpreparedness, anxiety, powerlessness
‘My constant worry is how am I going to create my teaching method or … adapt it or …’
‘I felt very unprepared for it, it was just a couple of days before the course started … I felt really anxious about this’
Teaching practice Increased contact hours; increased preparation; adapting teaching methods; use of new technology
‘he uses software on his computer which converts text into audio so basically I would email my notes a couple of days before the class so he would have time to prepare, read the text, which would be used in the class’
‘I had to do a lot of preparation with regard to the materials I had to give to him and I had to work closely with the blind school … to get all the books and the teachers’ notes translated, the quizzes, the tests’
‘every day after class we would meet and we would go over the notes again and what was discussed in class’
Classroom culture Wish to integrate students; concerns about peer reaction; desire to foster positive classroom attitude culture
‘I prepared classroom activities in group work to accommodate not only his needs for socialising but also … to encourage positive attitudes towards disability’
‘I was always feeling a bit self-conscious, should I ask her something? Should I ask her a question and have her speak up in front of everybody else? Should I ask somebody to work with her in pair work? And who should I ask?’
Institutional support
Isolation; lack of guidance; limited support; lack of consultation
‘and I received an email from someone in administration basically they were informing me that a visually impaired student would be joining my class … and to make matters worse I had a large class of 33 students’
‘I wasn’t informed of the debilitating effects of this disease both in psychological and physical terms; I found things through the receptionist …’
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In terms of content, there are four main organising themes which characterise thesestories: teacher emotion, teaching practice, classroom culture and institutionalsupport. Firstly, all the teachers expressed feelings of isolation, uncertainty and anxi-ety. Only Teacher A explicitly stated that despite these challenges, the experience hadbeen a satisfying one from which she had learned a lot. Secondly, all four teachersdescribed the extensive efforts they made in their practice to adapt their teaching tomeet the needs of learners. There was an eclectic range of methods and approachesdescribed by the teachers from the use of ICT to a focus on specific skills. They alsorecounted the additional time they gave to preparing materials and meeting with thestudents. Thirdly, the question of integrating learners into the classroom culture wasalso a concern for these teachers. Teachers expressed an overwhelming desire to helplearners become wholly integrated with their peers and create a positive attitudetowards disability amongst all students. Finally, the nature and degree of institutionalsupport was also central to teachers’ stories. Teachers expressed concern about largeclass sizes, lack of support, and limited access to information. There was also a senseof lack of consultation. In their stories, teachers referred to having insufficient infor-mation about the student or the SEN. Teachers expressed a sense of being engaged inimportant work which was not fully recognised or supported in their workplace.
The role of teacher narrative inquiry in professional development is not withoutcriticism. There is concern that the turn to storytelling as a means for reflection inad-vertently disengages teachers from wider policy issues and political concerns (Good-son 1997). The inward-looking perspective of storytelling divorces teachers from thewider debate about professional knowledge and, instead, focuses on teacher emotion.Indeed, teacher emotion is highlighted as one of the organising themes within all fourteachers’ stories. However, analysis of these stories suggests that there is congruencebetween teachers’ storied knowledge and educational legislation and policy. Teach-ers’ stories with their concerns for adapting practice, integrating students into class-room culture and responding to institutional support overlap with areas of educationalpolicy, research and practice. This is illustrated in Booth and Ainscow’s (2002) indexfor inclusive practice which is based on three interconnected dimensions: evolvinginclusive practices, creating inclusive cultures and producing inclusive policies.
The concept of inclusive education is an area of professional knowledge which isgenerally excluded from language teacher education but through a process of story-telling, my colleagues and I talked at length about adapting practice, creating inclusiveclassroom culture and the need for increased institutional support. In effect, storytell-ing served as a means for reflective professional dialogue. When I told my story, otherteachers responded with their own experiences. By considering these stories as a data-set, I was able to identify emerging themes and locate my own personal experiencesof teaching in a wider professional context of policy and practice.
Implications for teacher education
The question of how narrative inquiry might extend teachers’ understanding of inclu-sive practice is one that I can illustrate with my own story. Prior to this study, myprofessional knowledge and experience of inclusive practice was limited. I viewed eachexperience of teaching learners with SEN as a problematic and atypical teaching event.Reading the relevant literature created awareness of definitions, policies and researchin inclusive practice but also left me feeling isolated, inexperienced and unprepared.Underlying these feelings was the assumption that the outcome of teaching was depen-
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dent on my own professional knowledge and expertise, which I perceived as limited.However, by sharing my story with others, I was able to view my experience in relationto colleagues’ experiences and interpretations; these stories raised awareness of teach-ers’ personal and professional concerns about teaching learners with SEN; they raisedquestions about the discrepancies between theory and practice, belief and experience.Moreover, they made explicit the multiple interpretations which my colleagues gaveto their own experiences. Overall, storytelling, as reflective dialogue, enabled me toconstruct an understanding of inclusive education in relation to language teaching. Bycreating links between my own story and the stories of my colleagues, I came to seemy teaching as inextricably linked to my ability to develop inclusive practices, supportsocial integration and recognise the role of institutional support.
Apart from a personal understanding of the value of teacher narrative inquiry inmy own professional development, there are also theoretical implications for teacherdevelopment in general. A narrative approach to teacher development proposes amodel of learning that is appreciative, meaningful, reflective and collegial. The focuson evidence-based practice (Hargreaves 1997) in teaching serves to highlight the defi-ciencies in teachers’ professional knowledge. In contrast, a narrative approach toteacher development appreciates and values teachers’ perspectives and experiencesrather than attempting to identify and fill the gaps in their professional knowledge.Secondly, storytelling is meaningful. Telling stories is the way that teachers attributemeaning to their experiences. A narrative approach does not involve listing facts andstatistics about teaching; rather, it is a system of meaning making that enables teachersto generate their own meanings and test their own theories of teaching against experi-ence. Thirdly, storytelling supports teachers in reflective and critical thinking. It is theway that teachers look back on experience and speculate about how this experiencecan inform future practice. By making explicit experience, beliefs and knowledge,teachers’ stories can reveal the discrepancies between ‘espoused theories’ and ‘theo-ries in use’ (Argyris and Schön 1974). For example, the stories told in this study alsodiverge from the official, ‘sacred’ stories (Clandinin and Connelly 1995) proposed byeducational policy and theory as teachers revealed their doubts, uncertainties and lackof knowledge about SEN and inclusive education. Moreover, teachers’ stories notonly reveal what they know but also what they would like to know. Finally, storytell-ing is collegial. Teachers’ conversations are filled with stories about their students,teaching and schools. Storytelling is discourse; it is the way that teachers mostcommonly interact with colleagues to exchange and make sense of experience andconstruct professional identity (Ben-Peretz and Schonmann 2000; Jarzabkowski 2002;Watson 2006). Moreover, this study shows how opportunities for sharing experienceswith colleagues can also be extended through a digital storytelling context.
There are limitations associated with narrative approaches to professional devel-opment. The main limitation concerns the question of the validity of narrative data ineducational research. Stories do not represent evidence in the conventional sense(Greenhalgh 2005). Neither teachers nor their stories represent standardised cases andconsequently, findings are not generalisable to other teaching contexts. However,teacher narrative inquiry does offer an interpretative approach to understanding peopleand practices. Teachers’ stories make explicit the conflicts and dilemmas teachersencounter in their professional lives and their efforts to resolve them. In short, teachernarrative inquiry offers an insight into teachers’ thoughts and beliefs that may not becaptured using other methodologies. Moreover, the ‘truth’ of these stories lies not inverifying the historical accuracy of teachers’ experiences but in the extent to which
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stories can be judged authentic and familiar by others. In this study, the use of a story-telling chain demonstrates the degree to which stories resonate, or ‘ring true’ forothers (see Spence 1982 for further discussion of ‘narrative truth’).
Conclusion
In this study, I have attempted to demonstrate how storytelling, as a social practice,highlights the challenges, rewards and personal and practical investments made byuniversity teachers who teach learners with SEN. Sharing stories about teaching learn-ers with SEN enables teachers to view their practice in a wider context that embracesteacher emotion, knowledge of inclusive practices, classroom culture and institutionalsupport. I have also attempted to show how storytelling is more than a retrospectiveact with teachers speculating on how future practice might be improved within theirown classrooms and at an institutional level. Finally, as a mode of reflective dialogue,storytelling conceptualises professional knowledge as more than technical expertise,and teachers as more than technical experts (Schön 1983). Narrative approaches toprofessional development offer teachers a way to view their stories as fragments ofunderstanding in a larger narrative landscape. Only by creating connections betweenour own stories and the stories of our colleagues with current research and policy canwe come to a better understanding of inclusive practice in higher education. Bydescribing this narrative approach to professional development, I hope to encourageother researchers to explore the potential of storytelling in relation to teachers’professional knowledge.
Notes on contributorChristine Savvidou is a lecturer in the Department of Languages and Literature at theUniversity of Nicosia in Cyprus where she teaches courses in TEFL, Narrative Inquiry andCommunications. Her recent publications explore the role of narrative in teachers’ constructionof professional identity and knowledge. Other research interests include educational technolo-gies, narrative methodologies and teachers’ professional development.
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