Narrating Teachers’ Professional Development : Arts-Based Creative Expression in Educational Research

Abstract

This chapter narrates two teacher educators’ journeys into arts-based narrative research. We explore utilising creative expression in the different phases of narrative research and introduce five research projects that use (written or visual) creative expression in (1) data collection, (2) data analysis, and (3) result presentation and the communication of the study to the audience. While mirroring the previous literature, we discuss our experiences of incorporating creative expression in narrative research. Our research focuses on the professional development of pre- and in-service teachers, and our experience is recounted through creative processes. Further, we emphasise the unique voices and experiences of pre- and in-service teachers, as well as our own researcher voices. By narrating our own journeys verbally and visually, we adopt the position of storyteller researchers. Based on previous literature and our own research, we aim to offer examples of intertwining creative expression with narrative research. We suggest that arts-based methods can help us deepen our understanding of the studied phenomena and communicate our research findings in an evocative style that can be more easily approached than traditional academic texts.