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This study examines EFL preservice teachers' life-history narrative. The objectives of the examination were to identify the preconceptions of teaching and teachers that the preservice teachers brought to teachers college, the sources and biographical origins of these preconceptions, and to what extent, if any, the preconceptions influenced their initial motivation to enroll in a teacher education program.

Using a life-history narrative as the method, the authors aimed at capturing and describing the critical moments in the preservice teachers' educational histories, the people involved in those moments (Clandinin and Conelly, 2000) and the sociocultural factors that might have influenced their preconceptions of teaching and the work of teachers as well as their decision to undertake teacher education.

The narrative analysis of the autobiographies has revealed that the preservice teachers still viewed teaching and teachers from altruistic perspectives. These preconceptions were based on the apprenticeship of observation and highly influenced by significant moments, the people they interacted with throughout their life and educational history and the sociocultural value of teaching and teachers in Indonesia. These preconceptions have influenced their genuine motivation to undertake teacher education and their commitment to the teaching profession. Several pedagogical implications for teacher education are also presented.

The authors’ study contributes to the scholarly conversations about the critical roles of life-history examination in the understanding of preservice teachers' motivation to undertake teacher education.

Organizational life and policy making is increasingly conceived in terms of a “three sector” model – public, private and “third”. The purpose of this research paper is to examine a little‐studied phenomenon that increasingly characterises societies in both the “developed” and the “developing” worlds. It aims to argue that these “sectors” have permeable boundaries, and that increasing numbers of activists and professionals operate across such boundaries, with important implications for policy and work.

The research paper reports on a set of new ethnographic life‐work history data from the UK, Bangladesh and Philippines to explore experiences of people who cross between, or straddle, the third sector and the public sector.

The paper constructs a preliminary typology of boundary crosser archetypes for purposes of further analysis. This is based on motivations and levels of boundary crossing. Boundary crossing of this kind is linked with the concept of “work role transition”, and with the micro‐politics of policy contention.

The paper concludes by suggesting that such work may offer new practical insights into strengthening the capacity of both third sector and government agencies.

The paper aims to be original in opening up this new topic for further discussion (and in particular problematizing the idea of sector boundaries), and through using the life history method to as part of organisational ethnography.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the transforming effect of pursuing person centered ethnography using contemporary reflexive methods and a cultural traditions model on a researcher in late life. It attempts to show the usefulness of life history research as a lens through which to examine the complex ways people age. It adds to literature dealing with ethnographic studies of aging women and demonstrates personal narrative as a way to convey information. Lastly it demonstrates the value of studies pursued by researchers in old age, and illuminates aspects of ethnographic work when women interview women.

Using a journey format, the paper uses personal narrative as a way to achieve its goals. The personal account is complemented by noting other ethnographic studies that have contributed to age studies literature, and it draws attention to the value of reflexivity in good ethnographic work as proposed by anthropologists Barbara Myerhoff and John Caughey.

The paper points toward research institutions who study aging valuing ethnographic findings and making use of researchers in old age to engage in ethnographic studies. It points to the possibility that elders engaged in such research may strengthen their sense of self and empower them as they make a contribution to age studies.

This paper deals with the transformative power of engaging in reflexive life history research, especially as it is done by an ethnographer in late life. This freeing from customary cultural ways of thinking may be as beneficial to the researcher as life review or reminiscence. This should be explored further.

The paper points to the idea, implicit not explicit, that an elder who engages in reflexive life history research that involves doing a self-ethnography, can benefit in ways similar to having engaged in life review or reminiscence. This is original.

Using the concepts of resistance, identity construction, and communicative democracy, I explore the possibility that older women's life histories create and occupy a potentially transformative space within global research on gender. First, such narratives challenge existing hierarchies of age and gender that systematically disadvantage older women. Second, older women use them to assert their own more complex identities (in opposition to those limiting identities assigned to them by others). Third, through their life stories, older women can contribute to democratic dialogue in society at large. I use life history interviews conducted with older women in Cuernavaca, Mexico from 1995 to 1997 as a specific case that supports my overall argument. I contend that the first two processes are already taking place through the act of storytelling and life history narration itself. The more radical methodological claim of this paper is that the act of constructing and communicating life stories is a legitimate and valuable exercise of (political) power.

This chapter draws on my experience of conducting a life history study of teachers of black and Asian origin. Its title is drawn from remarks made to me by a senior colleague on hearing that I had received ESRC funding for the study. They are interesting not only in respect of their apparent dismissal of one colleague's work by another, but also as they encompass assumptions about the fit between researcher and research topic. In this particular case the concern related to a life history study, though the sentiment might also be applied to any form of research, and perhaps especially ethnography that seeks to achieve a detailed interior perspective on an aspect of social life.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate and illustrate the potential relationships between doctoral students’ life histories and educational experiences and their methodological understanding and assumptions.

The qualitative research design consisted of life-history interviews with nine doctoral researchers in the UK in disciplines relating to the social sciences.

The study indicated that the students’ methodological assumptions may be understood as a socially constructed product of their life histories and academic experiences. Experiences of postgraduate research training were presented as having the potential to unlock the methodological consciousness required to re-frame these experiences, improve understanding and resolve methodological conflict.

This paper provides an insight into the complex nature of the development of methodological understanding and a provocation for considering methodological becoming through the lens of socialisation. This may have utility for both doctoral students and educators.

This chapter narratively chronologizes the life of a man, now in his late 1960s, who has been key in promoting sport as a vehicle for community development in one of the most economically and politically challenged of all Southeast Asian countries – Cambodia.

Popular in a number of disciplines but rarely applied so far in the field of sport, social development and peace, the main strength of life history analysis is its ability to let stories speak for themselves. The focus on “narrativization” not only provides a rich account of a given topic, but also allows storytellers to shape their accounts, identify their audience, and detail the settings in which these accounts take place.

Cambodian sport (especially football in the northwest province of Siem Reap) and Cambodian society more broadly owes much to the committed efforts of Mr. Ouk Sareth. Not only does the chapter help to better understand the various phases and trajectories of Sareth’s colorful life and the fascinating experiences he has encountered, but also the unique challenges his country has faced and overcome during the seven decades of his life.

We hope that others involved in studying the link between sport, social development and peace will consider narrative method and life history approaches to showcase the pivotal individuals who have operated in the “engine room” of this link.

Currently a number of countries around the world grapple with the alleged issues of “brain drain” and “brain gain”. These twin areas are especially felt in smaller nations such as Australia. They are particularly the subject of analysis with respect to the academic profession, which seeks to recruit the next generation of academics in an increasingly global and competitive world. Academic migration itself is not a new issue being as old as the profession itself. What perhaps is novel is that in a mass system of higher education with a great diversity of institutional types migration and migration decisions are even less one-dimensional than perhaps they once, if ever, were. If ever academic migrants were motivated only by academic decisions in making their migration choices does this also apply to those who work in newer and less traditional universities. This study using life history methods examines academic migrants and their migration choices with reference to two new Australian universities. The data is related to the wider literature on recent migration studies and academic migration. Questions are posed and conclusions drawn for academic recruitment by universities facing the challenges posed by imminent large-scale retirement of academic staff.

Support workers have more day‐to‐day contact with people with a learning disability than any other group of staff, but a high proportion are unqualified and untrained, and there are problems in recruitment and retention. This paper uses undisclosed participant observation and life history methods to analyse the experiences of a support worker in six agencies that provide community‐based care for people with learning disabilities. It was found that a lack of training is associated with limited awareness of the needs of people with learning disabilities, and contributes to stress among staff. Some support workers manage stress by disengaging from their clients. Person‐centred approaches had limited impact, and even agencies committed to person‐centred planning can be reluctant to implement it with clients with severely impaired communication. The greatest commitment to staff induction and training and person‐centred approaches was found in small organisations managed by families. It is possible that large residential care providers are more likely than small agencies to have extended lines of management and standardised procedures, and further research is needed to assess whether these factors are associated with disempowerment of staff and clients.