Narrative Understandings of Lives Lived in and out of Schools

Abstract

Drawing on a narrative inquiry into the experiences of 19 youth who left school without graduating, I raise questions about stories of school, the institutional narrative of schooling. Through inquiring into the youths’ stories, we identified six resonant threads that spoke to the complexities of their lives. Their lives awakened us to what might be possible if we engaged with their stories as a way to open up or disrupt current stories of schools to allow for the reimagining of schools. Through attending to youths’ stories we might make the experience of youth, in their life contexts, the starting point not only for education but also for schooling.