Narrative Analysis in the Development of Teachers’ Reflective Skills

Objectives of the research: The aim of the theoretical research is to elicit the meaning of improving narrative competence, particularly narrative analysis for developing teachers’ reflective skills. Research issues or problems: The research question is posed as follows: Can a narrative, narrative analysis in particular, foster development of teachers’ reflective skills, and if so, how? Research methods: The method used in the research is hermeneutic analysis, which matches the field of content narrative analysis. A short description of the context of the issue: The content analyzed in the text is descriptions of narrative, narrative competence, and narrative analysis, as well as reflective skills such as being, disclosing speaking, testing, and probing – according to concept of Joseph Raelin, to some extent. An important goal of the research is to show the significant meaning of narrative competence, especially narrative analysis, for developing reflective skills by teacher–practitioners. The relationships between narrative, narrative analysis, and improving these skills can induce the need to add another skill, such as an implicative one, that would be crucial for further personal and professional development towards achieving a higher level of self-identity. Process of argumentation: The research began the selection of an appropriate scope of terms which match one another and can achieve the aim and answer the research question. The analysis of these terms led to building the relationships between narrative, narrative competence, and reflective skills, followed by narrative analysis and reflective skills that are important for personal and professional teacher development. That resulted in some implications that may be useful in educating teachers and students and for education in general. Findings: The results show the importance of the relationship between the aspects described above. Additionally, original, result occurred in creating a new reflective skill, such as the implicative one dedicated to further self-development. Conclusions and recommendations: The hermeneutic analysis revealed a correlation between the development of a teacher’s narrative competence, particularly narrative analysis, and practicing reflective skills. However, further research is needed to bring about changes in educating both teachers and students, which demands attention be paid to the authentic reflective/narrative approach in practice. This could be reflected in core curriculum subjects in university and secondary school education.