Narrative Inquiry: Research tool and medium for professional development

The development of narrative inquiry focusing on one particular institutional setting is described. There follows a brief delineation of how narrative inquiry in education moved from being a research tool to becoming a vehicle for curriculum, first at the graduate and then at the pre-service level of teacher development. After reference to some theoretical resources for narrative inquiry, criteria and terms developed since 1982 are examined and potential dangers implicit in the inquiry and the need to keep it a rational enterprise are explored. On décrit le développement des enquêtes narratives dans un milieu institutionnel particulier. Par la suite, on présente brièvement la fa¸ con dont les recherches narratives dans le domaine des sciences éducatives sont passées d'être un instrument de recherche pour devenir un véhicule du curriculum, d'abord au niveau des études supérieures, ensuite au niveau de la formation des mâtres. Ayant mentionné quelques ressources théoriques, on traite par la suite des critères et des termes développés depuis 1982 avant de terminer sur certains des dangers tacites dans les enquêtes narratives et sur la nécessité de garder ces enquêtes dans le domaine de la raison, de ne pas les abandonner au relativisme et à la liberté de la fiction. El presente artículo describe el desarrollo de la investigación narrativa en un ambiente institucional particular. E delinea brevemente cómo la investigación narrativa en educación ha pasado de ser una herramienta de investigación a ser un vehículo del curriculum, primero a nivel de postrado y luego a nivel de licenciatura en la formación de maestros. Se hace además referencia a algunos recursos teóricos para la investigación narrativa y se puntualizan los criterios y términos desarrollados desde 1982. Finalmente, se presentan algunos de los posibles peligros implícitos en la investigación y la necesidad de mantenerla a un nivel racional. Der Artikel skizziert die Entwicklung der narrativen Forschung in einem bestimmten institutionellen Millieu in Kanada. Er schildert, wie sich dort narrative Untersuchungen im Gebiet der Erziehungswissenschaften von einem Forschungsbereich zu einem Träger für das Curriculum, zuerst in 'graduate studies' und dann in der Lehrerausbildung, entwickelt haben. Verweisend auf theoretische Stützpunkte, werden wichtige Kriterien und Termini, die seit 1982 entstanden sind, untersucht, und der Artikel schliesst mit der Prüfung potentieller Gefahren und der Notwendigkeit, die narrative Forschung weder dem Bereich der Vernunft zu entziehen, noch in den absoluten Relativismus oder die freie Erfindung zu befördern.

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