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Young People’s Educational Identities in Challenging Times The title of my presentation was Climbing the Beanstalk: Self-worth and Education. It was a challenge for me to think about my research in a different light. That is, how it could be related to young people’s educational identities. I largely let the students’ words speak for themselves to demonstrate that one of the themes that seemed to emerge was that a large part of their identity at school. In particular the students had an awareness of the current economic crisis and its consequences for their future. They felt under pressure to achieve academically. While some students felt supported to meet educational goals, and were therefore more confident in their futures, others did not feel supported and tended to think negatively based on the experiences of their families. As a result these young people felt powerless and frustrated, with low self-worth despite their potential. The keynote speaker was Dr Sara Delamont....

‘We carry with us every story we have ever heard and every story we have ever lived, filed away at some deep place in our memory. We carry most of those stories unread, as it were, until we have grown the capacity or the readiness to read them. When that happens they may come back to us filled with unexpected meaning.’ (Rachel Remen, Kitchen Table Wisdom , xli) Remen’s words touch on the idea of an ‘inner library’ which is expressed in Arthur W. Frank’s book, Letting Stories Breathe a Socio-narratology . They articulate a similar notion, that we may carry the kernel of a story with us for a long time until something triggers its memory and in doing so uncovers new meaning. When the right conditions prevent themselves old ideas we have carried with us but never really understood, acknowledged, or accepted, take root; blossoming into a new series of neural networks that can forever altar the idea of who we are. Story and the human brain have grown together over a long time. In our ...

‘It is a false question whether to repress or not to repress aggression. Since aggression is an indispensable ingredient of human makeup, we have to use it, to develop it into a valuable instrument for the management of our lives.’ (Laura Perls, Living at the Boundary , p43) Although the quote above focuses on aggression another emotion could be substituted in its place. Our current frame of mind works on the forces of motivation behind our actions (suppressed or not). Perls’ chapter on ‘How to Educate Children for Peace’ raises some interesting ideas. I don’t agree with all of them. For example Perls discusses how the suppression of aggression could lead to intellectual inhibition with negative effects on critical thinking. She argues that by supressing children we are teaching them to surrender their insight and will to others. Her arguement is centered on extreme situations. I believe that there is a danger of suppression in an environment where home, school, society all act ...

‘We may ask what is truth in the face of centuries of retelling? The answer lies with experience: as long as a tale is told, it has meaning (truth), will evoke response and can be understood.’ (Alida Gersie and Nancy King. Storymakingin Education and Therapy , p29) I’ve had to change methods a few times this week as NVivo is not as user friendly, or flexible, as I’d hoped. Coding is complicated. And have you ever noticed how highly complicated emotions are? I have become emersed in lines of text, gone in the wrong direction, realised things weren’t working, and reined myself in to ask, what am I looking for exactly? How can I make this project more specific and manageable? I’ve also been reading up on emotional intelligence (EI). EI has been defined by D. Goleman as ‘Being able to motivate one-self and persist in the face of frustrations; to control impulse and delay gratification; to regulate one’s moods and keep distress from swamping the ability to think; to empath...

‘People’s access to narrative resources depends on their social location: what stories are told where they live and work, which stories do they take seriously or not, and especially what stories they exchange’ (Frank, 3). I had been looking at socio-psychology as a form of analysis when Jack Zipes suggested a book that he had just reviewed himself. ‘This is a splendid book, and anyone who takes storytelling seriously should find the time to explore’ (Jack Zipes, Living Through Stories, Review by email, April 2012). I had already heard a few people mention Arthur W. Frank’s book The Wounded Storyteller , but this one seemed more relevant for my research. I didn’t know anything about dialogical narrative analysis prior to reading this book. Like socio-narratology, dialogical analysis includes what a story does, how it connects and disconnects people, and that there are numerous possibilities when it comes to interpretation. Socio-narratology is practiced via dialogical analy...

Great news, The Society for Storytelling is interested in my research and my research aims. Which is to see storytelling in schools throughout the UK. "I'm pleased to confirm that the trustees agreed at last week's meeting that supporting your research would be a worthwhile cause." (Chip Colquhoun, Chair). They are going to sign a letter of support to help me fund raise. At present I am seeking funding from 2013 to cover my 2nd and 3rd PhD years. With funding being so competitive this year I am thinking of new ways to raise funds. For example I am looking into a collaborative project with others. Being involved in research with more experienced persons is very exciting. I have already learnt a great deal and look forward to what is ahead--despite it being challenging. More information will follow once something is confirmed.

‘some methods are more useful for the questions they offer’(Arthur W. Frank, LettingStories Breathe , p72) My question is how can traditional storytelling be used to support emotional health? It’s a tough one. The term narrative therapy was coined as a result of the work of two men, Michael White and David Epston (see Narrative Means to Therapeutic Ends ). Though they didn’t want to be associated with any formal definitions. What exactly they did, I don’t know yet, because I am waiting for their book to come into the library. However in my search, of what felt like every periodic journal in an electronic maze, I found Pennebaker. In the United States, Pennebaker took the idea of narrative and health further by attempting to test it empirically. He and his colleagues did experiments on writing therapy and discovered that writing had a positive effect on not just mental but also physical health! Which brings me to another question, how do we test this? Pennebaker used qualitative dat...