Telling stories of professional experience can be a powerful form of development for teachers and teacher educators. It can help teachers to understand and make more informed decisions about their classroom practices. Teacher knowledge involves the interaction of theory with beliefs and experience, primarily about the daily reality of teachers’ lives, and does not, in the main, comprise the knowledge in academic texts, which for many teachers seems to have little relation to their teaching. Setting up teachers’ conversation or storytelling groups can provide the space, time and support for teachers to consider and present a shaped version of their classroom experiences. Such groups also function to build strong teacher communities or networks, raising commitment to teaching quality, and thus benefiting not only individual teachers but their educational institutions. Briony Beaven explores the practice of telling stories of professional experience as a powerful form of development.
