in curriculum of life on Narrative inquiry

Purpose – The purpose of the chapter is to describe the use of narrative inquiry in a teacher education preservice course on issues in education focused on culture.

Approach – The course is positioned among the different kinds of teacher education courses and then described in terms of course assignments and categories of student response.

Findings – It is shown how reflective narrative inquiry activities work toward student understanding of idea that all students are “other” and may be understood in terms of intergenerational family educational narratives. Three specific sources of tension are discussed under three headings “My school has no newcomers and no need for inclusive lesson plans,” “They should adapt to us,” and “But I have no culture.” The ideas of a cross-cultural bridge and reciprocity in leaning between newcomers and the receiving society ties the discussion together along with the author's experience with the subject matter of the course.

Research implications – This work opens an avenue of inquiry into one of the more difficult and widely discussed areas in teacher education aimed at social cohesion and growth.

Value – The value of this work is that it extends Connelly and Clandinin's ideas on curriculum of life to specific issues faced in cultural subject matter in preservice teacher education.