Using ‘Fictional’ Story in Teacher Research

Abstract

A deputy headteacher in a mixed comprehensive school of some 1200 students, aged 12-18 years describes her responsibilities, which include ‘continuing professional development’. She began an action research project in 1991 on how to develop not only her role in becoming more reflective in her day to day practice, but also how to develop opportunities for teachers to take time out of everyday ‘busyness’ in order to reflect on and improve pedagogical practices. She set up an action research group for teachers in school and many of the projects undertaken were validated by Kingston University, thus enabling teachers to gain a postgraduate Diploma in Action Research as part of an in-house course, in which teachers chose their own focus for development, and learnt to support and critique each other's work. As part of the methodology they used ‘story’ to help come to a focus, to put their thoughts in order, to clarify what they were thinking and to move forward their professional development. What follows is one account of how story was used to begin to develop thinking.