In this proposed paper the focus will be on the narrartive inquiry in educational research research in the context of a longitudinal research study on beginning teachers. I will discuss how I have grounded my research on beginning teachers in the philosophy of narrative inquiry. This is the first longitudinal study of novice teachers conducted in Iceland. Through narrative inquiry their experiences during their first five years of teaching in grades 1–10 are explored. The research evolves around the key questions on how beginning teachers work with their images of the teacher they initially wanted to become; how they create and re-create their images and identity as teachers; and how their personal practical knowledge develops through their first five years of experience in teaching. Narrative inquiry is a relatively new approach to inquiry in the family of qualitative research at large and in the educational research in particular. Handbooks of methods in qualitative research do not for example mention narrative inquiry as an independant research approach until this century! Narrartive inquiry has its theoretical roots in the humanities as well as in other fields sometimes under the broad heading of narratology. Connelly and Clandinin, Canadian scholars who have been among the most productive researchers in narrative educational research and writings, claim to be the first to use the term narrative inquiry in the educational research field (Connelly and Clandinin, 1990). The narrative inquiry is both a phenomenon that is studied and a method of study (Connelly and Clandinin, e.g. 1990, 2000, 2006). By using narrtive inquiry the researcher adopts a particular view of human experience. To be exact this approach can be seen as a gateway to the understanding of experience. In my research I draw heavily on Connelly‘s and Clandinin‘s ideas, terms and definitions on narrative inquiry. Connelly and Clandinin (2000) claim that this approach requires cooperation between researcher and participants, over time, in a place or series of places, and in social interaction with milieus.

The cooperation in my research is vital as I am entering a very personal space where I ask of my participants to express their sense of well being as novice teachers, their sense of accomplishment as well as their sense of failure. As I delve into the beginning teachers’ experiences, I ask them to tell me their personal stories as teachers. As a teacher myself I understand how intensely personal teaching is. At the same time I understand the importance for me as an inquirer to move between the intimacy with field participants and a reflective stance (Clandinin and Connolly, 2000). Furthermore, I feel that narrative inquiry is valuable to give the young teachers in my study voice in order for them to explain their teaching and their experiences as novice teachers.

Narrative inquiry is the study of experience as story. It inquires into how teachers understand their experiences by telling and re-telling stories of themselves thus acknowledging that „...professional learning is grounded in the individual‘s past experiences, current purposes and future aspirations“ (Beattie, 2007). Additionally, it is „...understood that practitioners gain special insights and create new knowledge and understandings [of their teaching] when they engage in systematic inquiry into their practices“(Beattie, 2007), where they are asked to probe into their work. This kind of research requests teachers to reflect on and then describe how they experience their teaching practices and the meaning they make of it. Hence it is expected that by participating in this study, by telling and retelling their stories, teachers‘awareness will be enhanced and consequently their professionalism. The data collection research began in the summer of 2003 and is presently being analyzed.