About the Book
This edited volume will give readers an in-depth grasp of the dynamics and intricacies of the field of adult education and provide an investigation of the journeys of adult educators, exploring how their experiences shape and influence their learning and teaching methods.
Focusing on the professional lives of adult educators and the core meanings that they attach to their experiences, the book uses a narrative approach to unfold the depth and complexity of the varied backgrounds and experiences that adult educators bring with them into the adult learning arena. Split into three parts, Part 1 sets out some key theoretical and methodological insights into narrative inquiry and underlines its (phenomenological) power to illuminate (oft hidden and conflictual) encounters. In Part 2, ten adult educators tell their stories of working in diverse adult education settings across eight European jurisdictions: Cyprus, England, France, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, Serbia and Switzerland. In Part 3 readers are presented with the opportunity to reflect again on, and ‘read into’, these stories. Here, a number of narrative lessons are given that prompt readers to recall and reimagine forms of knowledge, values and practice that are distinctively innate to the profession. These include lessons about identity formation, cross-cultural learning, resistance and activism, coping with professional vulnerability, embracing experiential learning, acknowledging gender and broader power dynamics, discovering the power of storytelling, managing the emotional labour of adult education, and navigating growing institutional constraints.
Ideal reading for all those working in adult education, this book can be used to inform new directions and recommendations for the most effective research, policies, and practices, and, seminally, be used to reimagine how we (re-)conceptualize professional teaching and learning in this field.
Table of Contents:
PART 1: INTRODUCTION TO NARRATIVE INQUIRY
Chapter 1: Introduction
Caitlín Fahy, Maria N. Gravani, Stephen O’Brien and George K. Zarifis
Chapter 2: An introduction to Narrative Inquiry: Exploring how we ‘story’ our professional lives
Caitlín Fahy, Maria N. Gravani, Stephen O’Brien and George K. Zarifis
PART 2: THE STORIED EXPERIENCES OF ADULT EDUCATORS
Chapter 3: Unravelling a Disorienting Dilemma in an In-Between Space - An Adult Educator in a Neoliberal Educational Policy Paradigm
Nuala Glanton
Chapter 4: Telling a Story About Being a Woman Adult Educator and University Professor
Maria N. Gravani
Chapter 5: The power of a critical incident: Reflecting on transformative learning as an adult educator
Paula Guimarães and Jarinívia Souza
Chapter 6: Sur la route: Learning to live a life of cross-cultural encounters
Barry J. Hake
Chapter 7: Case study- From a disturbing to a telling learning experience- the power of storytelling
Bénédicte Halba
Chapter 8: Walking in Step with Adults Learning Literacy for Life
Clare Hatcher
Chapter 9: Social scientist as an activist and adult educator – how the identity emerges
Milica Marušić Jablanović
Chapter 10: Making a Delicious Couscous: Multimodal Relational Becoming in Adult Education
Gaia del Negro
Chapter 11: ‘Becoming Able to Tell’ Methodological Considerations for Sharing Experiential Knowledge as an Adult Educator
Markus Weil
Chapter 12: Ivor Goodson: A life in Narrative
Ivor Goodson (with Stephen O’Brien)
PART 3: NARRATIVE LESSONS FOR PROFESSIONAL KNOWLEDGE, VALUES AND PRACTICE
Preface: On Narrative Analysis
Caitlín Fahy, Maria N. Gravani, Stephen O’Brien and George K. Zarifis
Chapter 13: Storying the Self: Adult Educators’ Critical Pathways through the Profession
Caitlín Fahy, Maria N. Gravani, Stephen O’Brien and George K. Zarifis
About the Author :
Caitlín Fahy is a lecturer on the Postgraduate Diploma in Further, Adult and Community Education at University College Cork, Ireland.
Maria N. Gravani is an Associate Professor in Adult & Continuing Education and Academic Director for the Masters in Continuing Education and Lifelong Learning in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences of the Open University of Cyprus.
Stephen O’Brien is a Senior Lecturer and Academic Director for the Postgraduate Diploma in Further, Adult and Community Education in the School of Education and Adult Continuing Education, University College Cork, Ireland.
George K. Zarifis is Professor of Continuing Education at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece.
Review :
This is an important book in the field of adult education as it makes a new contribution to understanding the experiences of adult educators through the use of narrative inquiry. In doing so, the chapters provide an in-depth understanding of the lived experiences of adult educators in a range of adult education settings in several countries across the EU. This book is to be highly recommended.
- Barbara Merrill, Emeritus Reader, University of Warwick.
I commend this book which is edited by committed and experienced adult educators, and which is written for adult educators by adult educators. Understanding the experiences of adult educators through hearing their own narratives will be valuable to all who are practitioners as well as those who support them. Real understanding and improvement in teaching practice comes through realising both the unique and the universal challenges that others have, whether they be teachers or learners. I commend this collection to all in the field.
- Michael Osborne, Emeritus Professor, University of Glasgow.
This is a wonderful and valuable volume...this book offers a wide range of insights into personal/professional/academic lives and explores many of the themes, tensions, and significant problems faced by adult educators today (and, I would add, by so many teachers, program directors, researchers, and anyone connected to and interested in adult and continuing education). Finally, I sense that in this effort to “story together,” this edited book will also offer promise and hope as we try to make sense of our professional lives and enrich the work to which we are all committed.
- Alan Mandell, Professor Emeritus, Empire State University.
