Based upon a belief that sharing narratives and histories can help people feel ‘known’ (Evangelou et al, 2009) and engender a community of practice. This paper will present the initial stages of a research project wherein the lived experience and narrative histories of school staff are used to create a ‘provocation’ (Malaguzzi, 1993) to co-construct opportunities to embed child and family ‘stories’ into the curriculum.  Focused in Welsh curricula developments but drawing on International School practice, wherein high levels of diversity are the norm, this research aims to develop a research network between an international and Welsh school to explore the potential for community participation in the curriculum. 

Welsh education has recently undergone significant educational reform with the development of the new Curriculum for Wales (Welsh Government, 2022a). The Curriculum for Wales, (CfW) is designed to be a responsive and flexible curriculum based around a broad framework centered on the ‘Four Purposes’, six ‘Areas of Learning and Experience’ and the ‘Cross Curricular Skills’. Within the parameters of this framework, schools are encouraged to co-construct their own curriculum according to the needs of their community, engaging with, listening to and acting upon the voice of the community within its development. Thus, the CfW has community involvement and participation at its very heart.  

Central to this aim is the concept of ‘Cynefin’. This concept has been noted by many authors as difficult to define (Adams & Beauchamp, 2022; Chapman et al, 2023) but it is closely related to the concept of place and belonging.  Within the Curriculum for Wales (CfW), it is defined as

 “Though often translated as ‘habitat’, cynefin is not just a place in a physical or geographical sense: it is the historic, cultural and social place which has shaped and continues to shape the community which inhabits it” (Welsh Government, 2022). 

Each school is encouraged to embrace and respond to their unique ‘cynefin’, both within the co-construction of their curriculum. Consequently, when considered in conjunction a long-standing commitment to children’s rights by the Welsh Government (2021), the development of the Curriculum for Wales (CfW) (2022) may be a perfect opportunity for Wales to embed participative rights and community involvement in education. 

Nevertheless, this aim may be dependent on a deep understanding of each community and the recognition that participation depends on giving children and communities Space, Voice, Audience and Influence (Lundy, 2007).  There is a possibility that a school’s interpretation of ‘cynefin’ could be dictated by dominant views of what it means to be Welsh, based on only a certain number of ‘histories’.  However, this is not the agenda of the Welsh Government, which wants to emphasise the diverse histories within Welsh communities (Welsh Government 2022b, Williams, 2020).  Furthermore, it necessitates an open mind to how children and communities view ‘cynefin’, which can be unexpected (Chapman et al, 2023) Finally, it requires a commitment to reflection, responsiveness and ongoing curricula change.  Previous teaching experience indicates that the exploration of children’s and family narratives may satisfy only three out of Lundy’s four categories, in that, children may be given space, voice and an audience with their stories, but the potential to influence pedagogy  may not be fully embedded within curricula design, a point supported by (Murphy et al, 2022). As an essential element of CfW, embedding responsiveness within the curricula is crucial, but may require additional scaffolding for it to become a reality. 

Following a successful pilot study, wherein visual timelines were used to engender a shared ‘cynefin’ within the teaching staff of a climbing gym, the paper will explore the extension of this project into school settings. 

Influenced by Hedegaard’s (2012) supposition that an individual’s ‘motives and competencies’ (p.130) may provoke change in the specific plane of interaction, this research uses a participatory action research approach (Genat, 2009). The researcher will collaborate with educational practitioners to explore possibilities for engaging with, and responding to, the lived experience of children and their families. The methodology draws on previous experience of developing successful networks to enhance practice within international schools, wherein community diversity is high (Hayden, 2006). Using case study approach (Denscombe, 2021) two primary schools- a British International school and a Welsh Primary School, will take part in the study. Within Phase 1, each school will engage with the research separately. After Phase 1 is complete, the schools will work together within a shared research community to share good practice. This project will be developed over multiple phases across several years. The first phase will be presented within this paper. Based upon a social constructivist approach to meaning making (Wells 1986, Wertsch, 1985), the intention is to explore with practitioners their own concepts of cynefin and community, prior to investigating potential methods for use with children, families and communities. The approach is based on using an adult led (in this case, researcher led) ‘provocation’ (Magaluzzi, 1993) as a catalyst for further thought. Within Phase 1, the researcher will use a visual and narrative method - that of an individually created timeline - to explore with staff their personal journeys into the education and this particular school. By responding to participants unique narratives, the potential for a shared narrative and sense of cynefin and community will be explored. The sharing of personal narratives takes place in three distinct, carefully scaffolded stages, which maximise the potential for sustained shared thinking (Siraj-Blatchford et al, 2008) with the aim of enhancing relationships and creating a shared sense of cynefin. At the end of the ‘provocation’, participants will reflect on the process and its impact on relationships within the school community through a semi structured interview. This will be analysed using Reflective Thematic Analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2022) and will form the basis for reflecting on the ‘theory’s adequacy’ (Cole, 1996). Once this phase is complete, further participatory action research will be undertaken with practitioners, to co-construct opportunities to embed child and family ‘stories’ into the curriculum. This stage will be the basis of further papers.

Final conclusions will be presented at the conference. However, as the research is ongoing, at the point of abstract submission initial expectations will be outlined. Within the pilot study, three stages were used to share narrative timelines with the teaching staff of a climbing gym. First, visual timelines outlining each individual journey into teaching climbing were produced. These were then shared with other members of staff before a final community timeline was produced, highlighting shared values and experiences drawn from each individual story. Initial findings from this pilot study indicated the potential of this process to enhance participant understanding of their own values and history in relation to the community, increase their feeling of being ‘known’ (Evangelou et al, 2009), build relationships with others within that community and create a shared sense of ‘cynefin’. These findings are cautious due to the small sample size within the pilot study but supported the initial motivation, that an individual’s ‘motives and competencies’ (Hedegaard, 2012, p.130) may provoke change in the specific plane of interaction and prompted the desire to expand the research into school settings. It is hoped that expanding the research will enhance and refine the researcher’s and participant’s understanding of engaging with and responding to the multiplicity of narratives within any community and, through dialogue and co-construction between Welsh and International School educators, provoke further thought on methodologies with which to do so.

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