Life History Research in Educational Settings : Learning from Lives

by Goodson

• ISBN13: 9780335207138
• ISBN10: 0335207138
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-09-01
• Publisher: Open University Press

Summary

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.

Author Biography

Ivor Goodson is Professor of Education and Professional Development, University of East Anglia (UK), and the Margaret Warner Graduate School, University of Rochester (USA).

Pat Sikes is Lecturer in Education, at the University of Sheffield.

Table of Contents

Series editor's preface	ix
Acknowledgements	xiv
Introduction	1	(5)
Developing life histories	6	(13)
The story of life history: origins of the life history method	6	(5)
Reasons for the decline of life history in early sociological study	11	(3)
From modernism to postmodernism	14	(5)
Techniques for doing life history	19	(20)
Introduction	19	(1)
Reasons for choosing research approaches and methods	20	(2)
Research populations	22	(3)
Negotiating access and participation	25	(2)
Strategies for collecting data	27	(5)
Working with life history data	32	(3)
Analysis using computer programs	35	(2)
Data presentation	37	(1)
In conclusion	37	(2)
What have you got when you've got a life story? Epistemological considerations	39	(18)
Introduction	39	(2)
Life history from the perspective of the life story teller	41	(7)
Life history from the perspective of the life historian	48	(8)
In conclusion	56	(1)
Studying teacher's life histories and professional practice	57	(18)
Introduction	57	(1)
Our starting points	57	(5)
Introducing computers into a teacher's life: issues of professional practice and development	62	(8)
Raising issues	70	(2)
Life history as a strategy for personal professional development	72	(2)
In conclusion	74	(1)
Life stories and social context: storylines and scripts	75	(14)
Introduction	75	(1)
A script to live and work from	75	(2)
Scholarship scripts	77	(9)
In conclusion	86	(3)
Questions of ethics and power in life history research	89	(16)
Introduction	89	(2)
Research design and conduct	91	(5)
The nature of the topics that life historians tend to study allied with the nature of the methodology	96	(3)
Claims that life history research can be emancipatory and empowering	99	(4)
Further considerations	103	(2)
Confronting the dilemmas	105	(8)
Introduction	105	(1)
The dilemmas	106	(4)
Alternative lives	110	(2)
Finally	112	(1)
Bibliography	113	(9)
Index	122