Historias de vida de dos maestrasLa narrativa como encuentro pedagógico

Abstract

This doctoral thesis presents the life stories of two female teachers, Concha and Paqui, from a biographical narrative approach. Narrative inquiry, as a methodology, deepens the recognition of creative and disruptive practices that took place in an era of social, political and educational changes in Spain. We aim to analyze and interpret the experienced contexts, strategies, decision-making and educational practices that have been building teachers' identities and transforming the classroom into an emancipatory and egalitarian space. Life stories as a living, open and in constant movement methodology help to reflect on the educational experiences of these teachers, configuring a network of senses and meanings in the school environment. The knowledge of the experience of these teachers shows another way of understanding education. Hence the importance of recovering the stories or “silenced voices” of these two women from a narrative perspective. The polyphonic narrative presented in this work helps to understand their realities within the given school context. Their stories take us to other scenarios where the classroom becomes a place of literary and theatrical creation in which processes of autonomy, dialogue, thought, trust, respect and love for learning are developed together with the students. The stories of Concha and Paqui reveal that: - The way of exercising teaching was a transformative pedagogical act that constituted their teaching identity; - The strategies used -creation of stories and theatre- are essential to generate creative processes in the classroom; - Knowing the reality that students live, through dialogue and reflection, is essential to understand what happens in the classroom; - Reclaiming the body in education is a political act expressed in terms of care, affection and love. The analysis of the information reveals that the educational experience of these two teachers is based on creative, collaborative and democratic practices, which are ruptures or transgressions with the institution and school regulations of the historical moment they lived. At present, their teaching practice helps us to reflect on the role of the school, affective relationships and creative practices as the driving force behind disruptive and innovative processes in the classroom. These processes highlight three aspects: a) from an ontoepistemological point of view, placing the subject and his or her subjectivity at the center of educational action; b) from a pedagogical point of view, the importance of care and affection in relationships within the classroom; and c) from a methodological and instrumental point of view, it revalues the need for artistic spaces within the educational community as a basis of learning.