evaluation of story-line methodology in research on teachers' practical knowledge

Studies in Educational Evaluation

PERGAMON Studies in Educational Evaluation 25 (1999) 47-62

EVALUATION OF STORY-LINE METHODOLOGY IN RESEARCH ON TEACHERS’ PRACTICAL KNOWLEDGE

Douwe Beijaard, Jan van Driel and Nice Verloop

ICLON, Graduate School of Education Leiden University, The Netherlands

Introduction

This article discusses and illustrates the use of the story-line method in research on experienced secondary school teachers’ practical knowledge about relevant experiences and events throughout their career. Teachers’ practical knowledge can be defined as the knowledge they have accumulated and integrated from their experiences in practice (Beijaard & Verloop, 1996; Carter, 1990; Johnston, 1992). It is this knowledge that guides teachers’ actions. Teachers acquire practical knowledge without direct help from others. Context plays an important role in building teachers’ practical knowledge. In general, it is assumed that insight into teachers’ practical knowledge can be very useful in teacher education programmes and lead to better implementation of innovations in education as well.

Much of the research on teachers’ practical knowledge is embedded in the narrative research tradition. Within this tradition, narratives are crucial not only for providing insight into what teachers think and do, but also for helping teachers themselves make sense of what they think and do (Marble, 1997). Narrative research can be seen as a means of understanding teachers’ culture from within (Cortazzi, 1993) by making use of personal materials such as life story, conversation, and personal writing (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Elbaz-Luwisch, 1997).

The story-line method fits into the narrative research tradition because of its emphasis on teachers’ stories, i.e., the way teachers make sense of experiences and events they encounter in their own teaching practice (cf. Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). In the present study, the story-line method in which teachers evaluate and clarify their own experiences and events in practice, was used to address this problem. The terms narrative

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and story are often used interchangeably; both terms refer to accounts of experiences or events shared through written or oral language (Jalongo & Isenberg, 1995). In their stories, teachers present their practical knowledge (Elbaz, 1990). Teachers’ stories about experiences and events always include an evaluative component: stories are always weighed evaluatively by those who tell them (Gergen & Gergen, 1986). Teachers’ evaluations of experiences and events can be positive, negative, or neutral. From the literature (e.g., Fenstermacher, 1994; Goodson, 1996) it is known that it is difficult for a researcher to interpret, and therefore evaluate, a particular experience or event based on the story a teacher tells about it. For example, something a teacher says may sound negative, but need not to be evaluated as such by him or her. Researcher and teacher have different frames of reference and it is unlikely that they evaluate the teacher’s story the same way. This may be seen as a serious problem in research that emphasizes and acknowledges teachers’ practical knowledge as important.

This article evaluates the story-line method: after presenting a more detailed explanation of the story-line method, we briefly illustrate how this method was used in three studies and how we varied some relevant features of this method in these studies. Next, we describe the methodological pros and cons of using the story-line method in research on teachers’ practical knowledge. In the concluding section of this article, some conditions are mentioned under which this method can best be used.

Drawing and Clarifying Story Lines

The story-line method used in our studies was inspired by the work of Gergen (1988; see also Gergen & Gergen, 1986) who used this method for research on college students’ feelings of general well-being. It is a method which -as far as we know - has never before been used in the field of teaching and teacher education. Figure 1 illustrates the way the story-line method was used in our studies. The story lines in this figure are ideal-typical ones which exhaust the basic vocabulary of possible narrative projections over time; as will be explained below, these story lines are the rudimentary forms with which - in combination - many variations can be constructed (Gergen, 1988). In our studies, teachers were asked to evaluate relevant experiences or events in their career, which pertain to a particular aspect of teaching (e.g., their interaction with students), and to present this by drawing a story line. The evaluation of these experiences or events throughout their lives as teachers can be positive, negative, or neutral; moreover, all combinations of these evaluations are possible. For example, in the case of teachers’ interaction with students, it is possible that a 50-year-old teacher had poor interaction with students in the beginning of his or her career, that this interaction improved after several years, then remained stable for a long time, and that now, again, it is experienced by the teacher as poor. Based on an evaluation of this aspect of teaching throughout his or her career, this teacher will draw a story line that can be qualified as progressive in the beginning of his or her career (from a negative to a positive evaluation), followed by a stable period (a long-lasting positive evaluation), and currently as regressive (from a positive to a negative evaluation). In general, a story line represents a teacher’s evaluation of a series of experiences or events on the vertical line of the graph (in our studies, on a 7-

D. Beijaard et al. /Studies in Educational Evaluation 25 11999) 47-62 49

point or a 5point scale); this evaluation is plotted in time on the horizontal line (in our studies, the number of years the individual worked as a teacher).

(+) A

(Neutral)

v

(-)

Progressive line

Stability line

Regressive line

*i

1 , I I I I I 1

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Years working as a teacher

Figure 1: Ideal-Typical Story Lines

It is not only the direction of the story line, but also its incline that contains information about a certain experience or event. The steeper the incline of the line, the more influential and important the experience or event is for the respondent. In general, something important happened where the story line alters direction.

With respect to narrative research in general, the story-line method has the following advantages: . respondents evaluate experiences and events themselves, which seems to be a

difficult task for a researcher when using other narrative research methods; . subjective evaluations of experiences and events can be quantified, so that

respondents’ narratives can be compared; for example, based on the story lines drawn, it is possible to calculate means and standard deviations for each aspect of teaching at certain points in time in the teachers’ career (the horizontal line of the graph) ;

. story lines are relatively quick and easy to make, and they may be perceived by the respondents as an interesting and creative mode of self-expression.

According to Gergen (1988), one disadvantage of the story-line method is that the information collected can sometimes be too general or may fail to do justice to relevant details.

50 D. Beijaard et al. /Studies in Educational Evaluation 25 (1999) 47-62

It is important that the collection of data with the story-line method be preceded by establishing a relationship with the respondents, not specifically in terms of friendship but in terms of acquaintanceship (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990). Such a relationship is not only necessary from an ethical point of view (stories are private and need to be treated confidential), but also guarantees the respondents’ participation. Part of this relationship is that the respondents agree with the objectives of the study and how their stories are used, for example, as case materials in preservice or in-service education programmes in order to help teachers think more deeply about the meaning of certain aspects of teaching (e.g., Jalongo & Isenberg, 1995).

In our studies, we developed the following general procedure for the collection of data. First, the researcher presented and explained to the teachers the aspect of teaching about which data had to be collected. For example, in one of the studies the aspect of teaching interaction with students was presented to the teachers as follows: “With interaction we mean the way in which you go about with or respond to students, for example: friendly, understandingly, etc. (dependent on your teaching style).” Second, the teachers were requested to evaluate and clarify their current perception of this aspect of teaching. In case of the above-mentioned example, teachers were asked to evaluate their current interaction with students on a 7-point scale (varying from 1 which was very negative, presented on the scale as very bad, to 7 which was very positive, presented on the scale as very good). Third, the teachers had to contstruct the story line in the graph from the present to the past. By starting from the present, knowledge about the aspect of teaching in question is activated from which lines can be drawn towards the past; a reverse procedure appears to be more difficult (Butt, Raymond, McCue, & Yamagishi, 1992). Fourth, after having drawn their story line, the teachers were asked to clarify the high(est) and low(est) points in their story line. They were also asked to do so in the case of a so-called flat or stable story-line.

We varied this procedure in the three studies in order to determine how and under what conditions the story-line method can best be used to elicit teachers’ practical knowledge about relevant current and prior experiences and events in their professional lives. The studies differed in the number and nature of the aspects of teaching about which data were being collected, the number of points on the scale for evaluating their current as well as prior perceptions on the vertical line of the graph, and the way teachers had to clarify their current perceptions and the high(est) and low(est) points in their story lines (in written form and orally on the basis of unstructured in-depth interviews).

Three Studies With the Story-Line Method

In this section, we briefly report on the three studies. A separate description is given of the design, the major results, and the problems encountered with the method for each study. Little attention is paid to the theoretical background of each study, as the emphasis in this article is on methodology.

D. Beijaard et al. /Studies in Educational Evaluation 25 (1999) 47-62

Study I: Teachers’ Professional Identity

5/

After a review of the literature, 14 aspects of teaching were formulated that together represent teachers’ professional identity. The participating teachers had to draw a story line for each aspect of teaching. The 14 aspects of teaching were derived from the literature on teachers’ identity in general (two aspects), the subject they teach (three aspects), their relationship with students (five aspects), and their role or their conception of their role (four aspects) (cf. Beijaard, 1995). Insight into teachers’ practical knowledge about their professional identity can contribute to our understanding about what teachers themselves see as relevant to their profession and what their concerns are throughout their career.

In total, 28 experienced teachers from five secondary schools participated in the study. Their average age was 46, and their average length of service was 21 years. The data were collected according to the procedure outlined above. The teachers had to follow this procedure for each aspect of teaching. The teachers were asked to clarify in writing their current perception of each aspect of teaching as well as the high(est) and low(est) points in the story lines pertaining to these aspects. A teacher’s evaluation of his or her current perception and experiences or events on the vertical line of the graph was indicated on a 7-point scale (1 = very negative, (...), 4 = neutral, (...), 7 = very positive).

Figure 2 illustrates the story lines drawn by two teachers concerning their teaching in the classroom, which is one aspect of teachers’ identity in general (as in the following studies, all the teachers’ names are fictitious). The story lines of the two teachers follow different patterns. The greatest difference between the story lines occurs in the beginning of the teachers’ careers. Mary remembered her satisfaction about her own teaching in the beginning because she experienced it as a challenge. This challenge disappeared when she had to teach more subjects than before to increasingly overcrowded classes. The second lowest point in her story line was caused by her time-consuming studies and private circumstances at home. She is now reasonably satisfied, owing to a student-centred method she has developed together with some of her colleagues. Peter is currently very satisfied about his own teaching; he qualified his present teaching style as quite adequate. In the beginning of his career, however, it was a problem for him to keep order. Although this aspect of his teaching quickly improved, he considered leaving the profession several times in the very beginning of this period. The second lowest point in his story line refers to private circumstances and problems in his relationship with colleagues. The study resulted in insight into the teachers’ practical knowledge regarding: . their current professional identity: on average their perceptions of all the aspects of

teaching were positive (the mean scores of the end points of all 14 story lines were above neutral);

. (critical) incidents and relevant others (students and colleagues) in certain phases of their career: in this respect, many of the experiences stemmed from the first years of the teachers’ careers; in this period, one might speak of key experiences that forced the teachers to make decisions which, in turn, influenced their further professional development; particularly in the beginning, teachers’ experiences appeared to be cumulative, i.e., related experiences concerning a certain aspect of teaching which


succeeded each other over a longer period; 0 “major” experiences of teachers in later years, mostly referring to private, often sad

circumstances and less to school-based ones: these mostly negative experiences influenced their whole lives, including their professional lives; it was striking to note that these experiences generally covered relatively short periods;

?? the interplay between some aspects of teachers’ relationship with students and their perception of the way they have functioned in the school organization (one of the two aspects of teachers’ identity in general): teachers who had a poor bond and poor interaction with students, particularly in the beginning of their career, and to some extent, also in later years, tended to perceive their contribution to the school organization as inadequate.

Neutrd)

I

1 ---- l

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 Years workngas a teacher

Story-line ofMary - - - - - Story-lineof Peter

Figure 2: Illustration of Two Teachers’ Story Lines Concerning Their Teaching in the Classroom

From many teachers’ clarifications of high(est) and low(est) points in the story lines it became clear that not only students but also colleagues can be considered by teachers as very critical reality definers; this particularly concerns the ways in which teachers cooperate and express their appreciation for each other. In this respect, more explicit measures than usual are needed to alleviate particularly beginning teachers’ problems, for example, by giving them additional tasks in the school right from the beginning. Along with their teaching task, they can, for example, be involved in student guidance, curriculum development, and the school’s external relationships. Based on the frequently downward slope of story lines concerning teachers’ relationship with students, it can also

D. Beijaard et al. /Studies in Educational Evaluation 25 (1999) 47-62 53

be concluded that measures are needed to encourage older teachers to develop new professional perspectives or to prevent early burnout. These teachers made clear that they find it increasingly difficult to sustain their committment to serving students year after year.

For many teachers, it appeared to be difficult to focus on each aspect of teaching separately. For example, teachers found it difficult to make a distinction between bond with students and interaction with students as two aspects of teachers’ relationship with students. Consequently, they referred to the same experiences and events when clarifying their current perceptions and the high(est) and low(est) points in their story lines regarding these aspects of teaching. While such aspects of teaching can be distinguished in theory, they seem to be interwoven in practice. With regard to some other aspects of teaching (e.g., having respect for students as an aspect of teachers’ relationship with students), teachers also found it difficult to clarify in any way their current perception and the high(est) and low(est) points in the story lines. This was in contrast with the relevance they attached to these aspects of teaching as elements of their professional identity. Apparently, these aspects were a matter-of-course to them on which there was no need to reflect. In general, the teachers had no difficulty evaluating experiences and events, though many of them suggested that this would have been easier if a less extended scale had been used on the vertical line of the graph. Most of the teachers found the drawing and clarification of 14 story lines very time-consuming and would have preferred to deal with fewer aspects of teaching.

Study 2: Teachers’ Motivation for Their Profession

From life-cycle theory (e.g., Bloom, 1988; Huberman, 1993), it is known that teachers’ motivation for their profession changes in the course of their careers. In general, a teacher’s motivation for his or her profession can be both personally and contextually driven. Insight into teachers’ practical knowledge about what motivates them to be teachers can contribute to better human resource management in schools.

In contrast with the first study, we confined this second study to only one aspect of teaching: teachers’ motivation for their profession, operationalized in this study in terms of the extent to which they like their profession. In total, 32 experienced teachers from two secondary schools participated in the study. Their average age was 44, and their average length of service was 17 years. The teachers were asked to draw a story line of their motivation for their profession. The data collection was the same as in Study 1. Again the teachers had to clarify their current perception and the high(est) and low(est) points in their story lines in writing. In contrast with the first study, the teachers’ evaluation of their current perceptions and experiences or events on the vertical line of the graph was indicated on a five-point scale (l=very negative, (...), 3=neutral, (...), 5=very positive).

Figure 3 illustrates the story lines of two teachers. Mart.in’s motivation for his profession increased during the first years of his career because of the pleasant climate in the school and his cooperation with colleagues. His motivation decreased tremendously when he was passed over for the function of school counselor. He experienced this as a negative judgement of his qualities, which he found difficult to accept. After some time, his


motivation gradually increased again. Fred’s story line slowly decreased during the first twelve years of his career; he experienced his work as a job with no variation and challenges. This changed after twelve years because of his key role in organizing activities for students outside the school. His motivation also increased when his own children reached the same ages as the students he taught at school: from his own children, he learned and is still learning to see his students with more interest than in former days.

N-1

(9 ’ I I I I I I 0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Years worldng as a teacher

Story-ik Of Martin - - - - Story-line of Fred

Figure 3: Illustration of Two Teachers’ Story Lines Concerning Their Professional Motivation

The study resulted in insight into the teachers’ practical knowledge regarding: . their current motivation for their profession: most teachers evaluated their

motivation for their profession as positive because of their contacts with students and because of recent changes in education that affect their own teaching roles; some teachers were less positive because of the increasing work-load resulting from changes in education and new teacher tasks (the mean score of the end point of the story line was slightly above neutral for all the teachers);

. differences between phases of their career: in the beginning, teachers’ motivation for their profession was more positive than in later years, except for those teachers who experienced typical beginning teacher problems such as difficulty in keeping order; the story lines of many other teachers showed a slight decline between the 10th and 20th year of their career, which is - in terms of life-cycle theory - an indication of career frustration;

. aspects that increase teachers’ motivation: variation in a teachers’ work, active participation in the school, and having additional tasks in the school; many teachers noted the importance of a stimulating school environment for their motivation, i.e., an environment that offers them professional challenges.


From the teachers’ clarifications of high(est) points in their story lines in particular, it became clear that teachers’ motivation for their profession is first of all based on their contacts with students, which can be qualified as a personal or internal drive to be a teacher. External drives can both positively or negatively influence teachers’ motivation. Particularly positive for their motivation are challenges in the school (see the above- mentioned aspects that increase teachers’ motivation). In this respect, it became clear that the two schools involved differed. In the school with poor challenges for teachers, motivation in several phases of the teachers’ careers was not as high as in the other school in which teachers experienced many professional challenges. In general, findings like these may have important implications for educational leadership and the development of a professional climate in schools.

As in the first study, most of the participating teachers indicated that it was not difficult to draw the story line. However, the extent to which one likes his or her profession appeared to be an aspect of teaching for many teachers, which sometimes made it difficult for them to find the right words when claryfying the high(est) and (1ow)est points in the story line. Some teachers felt that they could not find the precise words they needed to write down their relevant experiences and events. As an alternative, they suggested doing this in dialogue with the researcher. The latter could ask in-depth questions in order to get a sharper picture of the teachers’ stories.

Study 3: Student Learning Through the Eyes of Teachers

In the last decade there has been a shift in the way educational researchers and teacher educators as well as inservice-teachers think about learning; teacher-centred ideas about learning are giving way to more student-centred thoughts about learning, emphasizing independent and self-regulative learning (e.g., Simons, 1993; Vermunt, 1995). These new conceptions of learning can only be implemented when teachers acknowledge their relevance and when they are part of their knowledge base. For this reason, we conducted a story-line study on teachers’ practical knowledge about student learning concerning the following aspects of teaching: knowledge acquisition, knowledge transfer, and learning strategies. The teachers were asked to draw story lines for each aspect.

In total, 20 experienced teachers from five secondary schools participated in the study. Their average age was 42, and their average length of service was 18 years. In contrast with the prior studies, unstructured interviews combined with in-depth questioning were used to help the teachers to clarify their current perceptions of the three aspects of teaching and the high(est) and low(est) points in the story lines pertaining to these aspects. The data were recorded on audio tape and transcribed afterwards. As in the second study, the evaluation of experiences or events on the vertical line was indicated on a 5-point scale (l=very negative, (...), 3=neutral, (...), 5=very positive).

Figure 4 illustrates the story lines of two teachers regarding the aspect knowledge acquisition. Currently, Diane is negative about students’ knowledge acquisition. In her opinion, many students are lazy and not so interested in learning factual knowledge because these days there are so many other interesting things to do. To some extent, this is in contrast with the beginning of her career. During that period, Diane felt that the


acquisition of factual knowledge could be fun, and there was always enough time for it. Unlike Diane, Tom experienced the emphasis on the learning of factual knowledge in the beginning of his career as very lop-sided. In this period, he was particularly negative about his role as knowledge transmitter and, almost from the beginning, he compensated for this by means of examples and additional materials, with increasing success. After eleven years, he took a job in another school; because they used other text books in this school and because of a greater emphasis on students’ own role in their learning, he has become increasingly positive about students’ acquisition of knowledge.

4 -- - - ‘_

IO 15 20 Years working as a teacher

Story-line of Tom - - - -Story-line of Diane

Figure 4: Illustration of Two Teachers’ Story Lines Concerning Their Students’ Knowledge Acquisition

The study resulted in insight into the teachers’ practical knowledge regarding: . their current view on student learning: most teachers were positive about their

students’ learning, which is - to a great extent - due to new text books and an increasing emphasis on independent learning; teachers who are less positive or negative about their students’ learning refer to the fact that these days students are lazier or more “calculating learners” than in former days (however, the mean scores of the end points of the story lines were all above neutral);

. the nature of the story lines for each aspect of teaching: for the aspect knowledge acquisition, the story-lines of most teachers had a positive slope throughout their careers; for the other two aspects, there were many rather flat or stable story lines;

?? their conceptions of student learning in general: both their prior and present-day conceptions about their students’ learning were mostly teacher-centred and

D. Beijaard et al. /Studies in Educational Evaluation 2.5 (1999) 47-62 57

formulated in very general terms.

From the clarifications of their story lines it can be inferred that most of the teachers involved in the study had not built up practical knowledge about student learning that are in line with the thinking about independent and self-regulative learning promoted in the recent literature. They were able to explain experiences with regard to students’ knowledge acquisition; many teachers also relied on these explanations when they clarified the high(est) and low(est) points in their story lines regarding the transfer of knowledge and learning strategies. In theory, however, the latter two aspects completely differ from the first one, so that it can be concluded that there is a gap between what teachers know about learning from their own experiences and what is found desirable in the recent literature about learning. Findings like these have to be taken into account when new forms of learning are introduced in schools.

The teachers were, more than in the other two studies, critical about the aspects of teaching used. Many of them judged these aspects as general or vague. However, half of the teachers did not find it difficult to draw the story lines, and were able to remember some clear developments they went through during their career. More than in the other two studies, they found it difficult to pinpoint when these developments precisely occurred in their careers.

Evaluation of the Story-Line Methodology

In this section, the following features of the story-line method will be evaluated: implications of the aspects of teaching used that promote or hinder the use of this method, the procedure that was followed to elicit teachers’ practical knowledge per story line, and the nature of the research results.

Aspects of Teaching Used for Eliciting Teachers’ Practical Knowledge

Eliciting teachers’ practical knowledge about relevant experiences and events by means of the story-line method depends in large measure on the nature and number of the aspects of teaching used. As concerns the nature of these aspects, the following comments need to be made. In the first study, some aspects of teaching were used with which teachers could hardly identify relevant experiences or events throughout their career, such as having respect for students and having the respect of students as two aspects of teachers’ relationship with students. Aspects like these were found important by the teachers, but many of them could not discuss them in terms of relevant experiences or events. In their perception, such aspects are part of their professional attitude which does not or hardly does change because of particular experiences or events. Consequently, regarding these aspects of teaching most of the teachers tended to draw flat or stable story lines.

In contrast to these “matter-of-course” aspects of teaching are those which resulted in story lines with clear high and low points. In the first study, these aspects can be qualified as relevant to teachers’ professional identity from the teachers’ perspective, such as functioning in the school organization, interaction with students and having a bond


with students. Aspects like these, but also the only one used in the second study (teachers’ motivation for their profession), seem to be appropriate for eliciting teachers’ practical knowledge because they represent what really matters for teachers in the teaching profession.

It should be noted that, in the first study, many teachers had to repeat their stories several times: the teachers referred to the same experiences and events when clarifying the high(est) and low(est) points in the story lines pertaining to different aspects of teaching. This was the case with the above-mentioned aspects interaction with students and having a bond with students as two aspects of teachers’ relationship with students. Perhaps it would have been better to use teachers’ relationship with students itself as a more general aspect of teaching. The use of more general aspects of teaching means that teachers do not have to repeat their stories and there are enough experiences and events they can reflect and talk about. One disadvantage of this might be a lack of content specificity, which can lead to a broad range of stories which are more difficult for the researcher to interpret and to compare. However, it is a matter of fact that using many aspects of teaching, apart from the risk of repeating oneself, is very time-consuming and not motivating for respondents.

Data Collection Procedure

The data for each aspect of teaching were collected by starting with a presentation of the aspect to the teacher. The aspects of teaching and their descriptions were written on paper; an attempt was made to describe each aspect in the teachers’ own language to avoid misunderstandings by the respondents. With this in mind, the descriptions of the aspects of teaching were checked by experienced teachers who were not participating in the studies.

Before starting to draw the story line, a teacher first had to evaluate and clarify his or her current perception of the aspect of teaching at issue. In this manner, a teacher’s practical knowledge about the aspect of teaching could be activated. Like others (Butt et al., 1992), we think that this method of setting the stage, from the present to the past, is the most appropriate for drawing a story line.

Drawing story lines demands of teachers that they search their memory for significant present and past experiences and events. Earlier, we discussed one point that influences this search, the nature of the aspect of teaching used. It is important that aspects are used which represent those elements of the teachers’ profession which matter to teaching, and of which the researcher is sure that the teachers can reflect and tell about related experiences and events. Another point that influences memory search is the way the teachers clarify the high(est) and low(est) points. An unstructured interview combined with in-depth questioning is very helpful to them, particularly in cases of not so significant experiences and events. Through in-depth questioning, teachers could sometimes be “forced” to explain rather vague stories in more detail. In-depth questioning was also useful in preventing teachers from veering off the subject.

It seems to us that it is not so important whether a Spoint or a 7-point scale was used on the vertical line of the graph in which teachers had to draw their story lines. In


both cases, teachers explicitly stated that they did not find it difficult to evaluate experiences and events. It is a prerequisite that the points on the scales are very clear to the teachers. Dependent on the aspect of teaching in question, it must, for example, be clear to them that vet-y positive (7 or 5 on the scales used) is similar to very good, and that very negative (1 on the scales used) is similar to very bad, etc. In contrast with the evaluation of experiences and events, many teachers found it difficult to plot these experiences and events in time. Except for very significant experiences or events, many teachers made it clear that they often had to estimate the time, including the beginning and the end of an experience or event. Thus, according to teachers, story lines can help them visualize their development throughout their career, though it is not always possible to order this development in time.

Results of the Studies

Situated in the present, the story-line method asks of teachers that they relive, tell and most probably retell current and prior experiences and events. The stories about these experiences and events are qualitative data that has to be categorized and interpreted by the researcher. An advantage of the story-line method is that the story lines drawn by the teachers can be compared. In the original research reports, upon which this article is based, this was done by calculating means and standard deviations for each story line given by the participating teachers for each five years of their career (see the horizontal axis of the figures in this article). This was also done for the teachers’ current perceptions of the aspects of teaching used. Though it was not always easy for teachers to exactly locate experiences and events in time, these calculations gave us sufficient insight into the nature of the story lines across all the participating teachers in the course of their career.

To some extent, we assumed that stories about experiences or events in one story line could be linked. However, this generally proved to be impossible with respect to their content: plotted in time, a certain experience or event was often succeeded by a totally other experience or event, either in a positive or a negative way. In many story lines, for example, it occurred that a professional experience was followed by a personal or private one and vice versa. The underlying stories do not permit linking such experiences. Hence, based on story-line methodology it is not possible to reconstruct teachers’ development of their practical knowledge. The story lines with regard to a certain aspect of teaching only show development in terms of evaluative changes throughout one’s career. Links between these changes can only be described in terms of progression or regression; the story lines are very helpful in this respect. Stories that underlie these changes often totally differ from each other. In fact, they are generally very personal and related to specific private or professional contexts.

Conclusion

The story-line method challenges teachers to select relevant experiences and events from their memory. The method is selective in that it focuses on what is really found relevant to teachers by its emphasis on high(est) and low(est) points in the story lines. Practical knowledge that is not related to these points is excluded. The evaluation of such


points is done by the teachers themselves. We acknowledge the subjectivity of this method of evaluating important experiences and events. However, we see this as an appropriate alternative to studies in which this evaluation is done by the researcher. Besides, story telling and evaluation are not independent activities (Gergen & Gergen, 1988). Earlier, we wrote that stories are always weighed evaluatively by those who tell them.

Story-line methodology can be used if certain conditions are met. Based on our studies, it is suggested that this methodology can be used under the following conditions: ?? a limited number of aspects of teaching are selected, which are not too content-

specific, which do not overlap, and which are relevant to the teaching profession; 0 it is certain that the presentation of an aspect of teaching to a teacher will not be

misunderstood, because the way in which the teacher perceives such an aspect (stimulus) strongly determines the content of the story to be told;

?? story lines are drawn from the present to the past; ?? story lines are clarified in either written or oral language; story telling through a

combination of both written and oral language may also be a good possibility, i.e., written stories followed by an unstructured in-depth interview.

In addition, based on the nature of the story lines in our studies, we suggest that teachers who participate in studies of this nature should be experienced teachers. However, this selection of teachers always depends on the objective of the study. We can imagine that it is also possible to use the story-line method in teacher education programmes, for example, for gaining insight into student teachers’ experiences and events regarding their relationship with students or their well-being as a teacher during their teacher-training period.

The use of story-line methodology seems unsuitable to determine the relationship between a teacher’s practical knowledge of prior experiences or events and his or her present practical knowledge. This is due to influences from the individual’s personal and professional context through which experiences and events are continuously succeeded by often totally different ones. However, the story-line method can make visible how long a certain experience or event lasts in the perception of a teacher, although it is not always easy for a teacher to exactly locate an experience or event in time. In addition, based on teacher evaluation of experiences and events pertaining to a certain aspect of teaching, story lines can also clearly demonstrate developments throughout a teacher’s career.

Finally, the story-line method is only one of the methods for studying teachers’ practical knowledge about relevant current and prior experiences and events throughout their career (cf. Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Manning & Cullum-Swan, 1994). In research into this knowledge, we find it of great value that, by using this method, teachers’ stories of experiences and events are accompanied by their own evaluations of these experiences and events.

References

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The Authors

DOUWE BEIJAARD is Associate Professor at ICLON, Graduate School of Education, Leiden University, The Netherlands. His major research interests are: teachers’ practical knowledge, learning and professional development of teachers, teacher evaluation and the use of portfolios in teacher education programmes.

JAN VAN DRIEL is Assistant Professor at ICLON, Graduate School of Education, Leiden University, The Netherlands. His research focuses on the ways science teachers develop practical knowledge. This research encompasses both student teachers during their teacher preparation and experienced teachers who are dealing with curriculum reforms.

NICO VERLOOP is Professor of Education and Director of ICLON, Graduate School of Education, Leiden University, The Netherlands. His major research interests are: teachers’ knowledge base, teachers’ practical knowledge, learning and professional development of teachers. and the evaluation of teachers.

evaluation of story-line methodology in research on teachers' practical knowledge

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