It has long been recognised that life history method has a great deal to offer to those engaged in social research. Indeed, right from the start of the twentieth century, eminent sociologists such as W.I. Thomas, C. Wright Mills and Herbert Blumer have suggested that it is the best, the perfect, approach for studying any aspect of social life. In recent years, life history has become increasingly popular with researchers investigating educational topics of all kinds, including: teachers' perceptions and experiences of different areas of their lives and careers; curriculum and subject development; pedagogical practice; and managerial concerns. Life History Research in Educational Settings sets out to explore and consider the various reasons for this popularity and makes the case that the approach has a major and unique contribution to make to understandings of schools, schooling and educational experience however characterised. The book draws extensively on examples of life history research in order to illustrate theoretical, methodological, ethical and practical issues.

Life History Research in Educational Settings: Learning from Lives (Doing Qualitative Research in Educational Settings) (Understanding Social Research)

Education & Teaching

Goodson, Ivor F.

Schools & Teaching

Open University Press

Learning, Curriculum and Life Politics (World Library of Educationalists)

As schooling has become more commodity-based, the place and position of learning and curriculum has been transformed and new perspectives are needed to understand these rapidly changing times. By studying life histories and life politics we can gain insights into the relationship between peoples' private missions and meanings and their public tasks and targets.  For the last thirty years, Ivor Goodson has been researching, thinking and writing about some of the central and enduring issues in education, contributing over forty books and six hundred articles to the field.  This single volume brings together twenty of his key pieces for the first time. Ivor Goodson opens with an autobiographical introduction to a range of curriculum studies which pioneered a new way of studying schooling and he contextualises his selection within the development of the field. Chapters in this prestigious book cover:   curriculum history and policy  classroom pedagogy and strategies for professional development  life history, narrative and educational change.

Learning, Curriculum and Life Politics: The Selected Works of Ivor F. Goodson (World Library of Educationalists)

Routledge

Narrative Learning

What is the role of narrative in how people learn throughout their lives? Are there different patterns and forms of narrativity? How do they influence learning? Based on data gathered for the Learning Lives project, which sought to understand learning by questioning individuals about their life stories, this book seeks to define a new learning theory which focuses on the role of narrative and narration in learning. Through a number of detailed case-studies based on longitudinal interviews conducted over three and four-year periods with a wide range of life story informants, Narrative Learning highlights the role of narrative and narration in an individual’s learning and understanding of how they act in the world. The authors explore a domain of learning and human subjectivity which is vital but currently unexplored in learning and teaching and seek to re-position learning within the ongoing preoccupation with identity and agency. The ‘interior conversations’ whereby a person defines their personal thoughts and courses of action and creates their own stories and life missions, is situated at the heart of a person’s map of learning and understanding of their place in the world. The insights presented seek to show that most people spend a significant amount of time rehearsing and recounting their life-story, which becomes a strong influence on their actions and agency, and an important site of learning in itself. Narrative Learning seeks to shift the focus of learning from the prescriptivism of a strongly defined curriculum to accommodate personal narrative styles and thereby encourage engagement and motivation in the learning process. Hence the book has radical and far-reaching implications for existing Governmental policies on school curriculum. The book will be of particular interest to professionals, educational researchers, policy-makers, undergraduate and postgraduate learners and all of those involved with education theory, CPD, adult education and lifelong learning.

Biesta, Gert

Tedder, Michael

Adair, Norma

Higher & Continuing Education

What is the role of narrative in how people learn throughout their lives? Are there different patterns and forms of narrativity? How do they influence learning? Based on data gathered for the Learning Lives project, which sought to understand learning by questioning individuals about their life stories, this book seeks to define a new learning theory which focuses on the role of narrative and narration in learning. Through a number of detailed case-studies based on longitudinal interviews conducted over three and four-year periods with a wide range of life story informants, Narrative Learning highlights the role of narrative and narration in an individual’s learning and understanding of how they act in the world. The authors explore a domain of learning and human subjectivity which is vital but currently unexplored in learning and teaching and seek to re-position learning within the ongoing preoccupation with identity and agency. The ‘interior conversations’ whereby a person defines their personal thoughts and courses of action and creates their own stories and life missions, is situated at the heart of a person’s map of learning and understanding of their place in the world. The insights presented seek to show that most people spend a significant amount of time rehearsing and recounting their life-story, which becomes a strong influence on their actions and agency, and an important site of learning in itself. Narrative Learning seeks to shift the focus of learning from the prescriptivism of a strongly defined curriculum to accommodate personal narrative styles and thereby encourage engagement and motivation in the learning process. Hence the book has radical and far-reaching implications for existing Governmental policies on school curriculum. The book will be of particular interest to professionals, educational researchers, policy-makers, undergraduate and postgraduate learners and all of those involved with education theory, CPD, adult education and lifelong learning.

Adult learning matters. There is now widespread agreement that modern countries depend on the creativity, skills and knowledge of the entire population for their prosperity. Many people talk of our future well-being in terms of a ‘knowledge economy’ or a ‘learning society’ in which every person’s ability to develop new capabilities will provide them with resources that will help them and the wider community to adapt and thrive. While in theory this makes lifelong learning into an exciting prospect, in practice this broad agenda is often reduced to a narrowly economic conception. This book reports on one of the largest research projects into lifelong learning conducted in recent years. Through over 500 in-depth interviews with a cohort of about 120 adults who were followed for three years, the Learning Lives project has built up a detailed understanding of what learning means and does in the lives of adults. The project has generated insights in how learning has changed over time and across generations, what the connections are with the changing world of work, what differences learning makes for life chances, how we can learn from life and for life, and how people’s prospects of learning can be improved. Combining life history and life-course research with analysis of longitudinal survey data, this book provides important insights into the learning biographies and trajectories of adults. The book shows that learning means and does much more in people’s lives than is often acknowledged by current education policy and politics. In doing so, it is an invaluable resource for anyone with an interest in the role and potential of learning through the lifecourse.

Improving Learning through the Lifecourse

Field, John

Hodkinson, Phil

Macleod, Flora J.

Developing Narrative Theory: Life Histories and Personal Representation

We live in an age of narrative: life stories are a crucial ingredient in what makes us human and, in turn, what kind of human they make us. In recent years, narrative analysis has grown and is used across many areas of research. Interest in this rapidly developing approach now requires the firm theoretical underpinning that would allow researchers to both approach such research in a reliably structured way, and to interpret the results more effectively. Developing Narrative Theory looks at the contemporary need to study life narratives, considers the emergence and salience of life narratives in contemporary culture, and discusses different forms of narrativity. It shows in detail how life story interviews are conducted, and demonstrates how the process often begins with relatively unstructured life story collection but moves to a more collaborative exchange, where sociological themes and historical patterns are scrutinised and mutually explored. At the core of this book, the author shows that, far from there being a singular form of narrative or an infinite range of unique and idiosyncratic narratives, there are in fact clusters of narrativity and particular types of narrative style. These can be grouped into four main areas: <ul>
<li>Focussed Elaborators;</li> <li>Scripted Describers;</li> <li>Armchair Elaborators; and </li> <li>Focussed Describers.</li> </ul> Drawing on data from several large-scale studies from countries across the world, Professor Goodson details how theories of narrativity and life story analysis can combine to inform learning potential. Timely and innovative, this book will be of use to all of those employing narrative and life history methods in their research. It will also be of interest to those working in lifelong learning and with professional and self development practices.

Curriculum, Personal Narrative and the Social Future

Recent writing on education and social change, and a growing number of new governmental initiatives across Western societies have proceeded in denial or ignorance of the personal missions and biographical trajectories of key public sector personnel. This book stems from an underpinning belief that we have to understand the personal biographical if we are to understand the fate of social and political initiatives. In education a pattern has emerged in many countries around the world. Each new government enshrines targets and tests to ensure that teachers at the frontline delivery are ‘more accountable’. Whilst this often provides evidence of symbolic action to the electorate or professional audiences, the evidence at the level of service delivery is often far less impressive. Targets, tests and tables may win wide support from the public, but there are often negligible or even contradictory effects at the point of delivery, enforced by the ignorance or denial of personal missions and biographical mandates. This book locates most of its analysis and discussion at the point of culture clash between centralised dictates, and individual and collective life missions. Whilst the early part of the book considers a range of issues related to school curriculum, the focus on the biographical and life narrative becomes increasingly important as the analysis proceeds. Curriculum, Personal Narrative and the Social Future will be of key interest to practising teachers, educational researchers and students on teacher training courses, postgraduate courses and doctoral courses.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Goodson, Ivor F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Goodson, Ivor F.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Goodson, Ivor F.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Life History Research in Educational Settings: Learning from Lives (Doing Qualitative Research in Educational Settings) (Understanding Social Research)

Learning, Curriculum and Life Politics: The Selected Works of Ivor F. Goodson (World Library of Educationalists)

Learning, Curriculum and Life Politics (World Library of Educationalists)

Narrative Learning

Narrative Learning

Improving Learning through the Lifecourse

Improving Learning through the Lifecourse

Developing Narrative Theory: Life Histories and Personal Representation

Developing Narrative Theory: Life Histories and Personal Representation

Curriculum, Personal Narrative and the Social Future