Narratives in Educational Research and Practice: A Thoughtful Embrace and Critical Nurturing

This concluding chapter starts by relating the meaning and potential of narrative for educational research to its subjective, intersubjective and discursive nature. Together they encompass what could be seen as the existential meaning of narrative in human lives. Building on this the second section addresses three important epistemological and methodological issues in narrative research: the produced nature of the data, the role of theory and the challenges caused by translation issues in narrative methodology (or qualitative research methods in general). In the final section the author argues for the critical potential of narrative perspectives to question the hegemony of the performativity logic in educational policy (and research funding). Similarly, he contends that the potential of narrative approaches for true professional development in education requires accepting and valuing practitioners’ narrative accounts of their practices on the one hand, but also facilitating their public and critical discussion on the other.