Building bridges – between the pre-service teachers’ school experiences and the teaching of an educational content. A narrative approach

ABSTRACT

Pre-service teachers carry with them various school experiences when attending a teacher education programme. Often teacher educators tend to ignore these first-year-student’s previous knowledge and experiences. We asked 181 pre-service teachers to write about a significant event which had made an impression on them as a pupil. Our aim was to build bridges between the pre-service teacher’s previous experiences and their further learning of an educational content in a way that both respected their previous experiences, as well as brought in new perspectives. By asking them to think back, we draw a line from past events into a present investigation. The stories were analysed, and five general themes emerged. They were starting points for further enquiry and reflections. The theoretical approach is narrative theory and research. Narrative knowledge is accessible and holistic, and the approach can enlighten vital aspects of teacher’s life and work.

KEYWORDS:

• Narrative research
• pre-service- teachers
• small stories
• teacher education
• educational content

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Ugland Foundation/Ugland Teknopark AS, Grimstad, Norway [98905].