Narrative self-observation: A new framework for teacher professional development and identity research

Abstract

Building on prior scholarship into narrative inquiry and autoethnography, this article proposes an original continuous professional development framework–narrative self-observation (NSO)–that has the potential to enhance teacher reflection and identity awareness through the peer-mediated ‘storying’ of a self-observed lesson. After conceptualising NSO, describing the framework and outlining the constructs and premises underpinning it, we report on a trial implementation of NSO with three tertiary-level English language teachers. Qualitative data collected from collaborator meetings, teacher-written ‘lesson stories’ and interviews were analysed inductively. The findings indicate that NSO is an impactful and practicable research tool for teachers, with the potential to provide greater freedom to experiment, opportunities for practical learning, critical reflection and identity inquiry than live observation. We argue that this framework is consistent with current good practice models for both individual and institutional professional development programmes and recommend further research on NSO to assess its wider utility.