Main Content
Session Information
ERG SES H 07, Ethics and Education
Paper Session
Contribution
Those of us who work in education have stories to tell. I only have to walk down the corridor at my institution and start a conversation with a colleague and I will be immediately engaged with tales of frustration, laughter, sleepless nights, emotional stress, joy in seeing a student succeed, and quite a lot of ‘just getting on with it’.
Autoethnography, as a research method, seems to be the perfect way of examining - and then telling - our stories. Autoethnography involves active self-reflection, exploring “a social and cultural context, but through the personal experience of the researcher” (Haynes, 2011). By focussing the ethnographic lens back on yourself, you become the site of the study. For me, autoethnography is an exciting and intriguing qualitative method that allows me to analyse my own lived experience.
But can autoethnography be done ethically? This is the ongoing debate. Sikes states that this type of insider research is “inherently sensitive and potentially dodgy” (Sikes, 2006). It is hard to disagree. To date, 85% of the articles that are listed in my autoethnography literature review do not mention ethics whatsoever. Perhaps it is more troubling that some of those that do make passing mention have appeared to use autoethnography as a way to ‘get around’ ethical issues. Jones states that autoethnography is the “solution” to the “ethical problem” of telling others’ stories (Jones, 2007). Ernest & Vallack used autoethnography when they could not get ethical approval to investigate (what they saw as) a poor change to the school curriculum. They said it gave them “license” (Ernst & Vallack, 2015) to write their story. Grant openly admits that his family “when sane” are “narrow-minded Daily Mail readers” (Grant, 2010) so he feels fine writing about them because they are unlikely to read the academic journals in which he publishes. For educational researchers, there are questions about who forms part of our stories – students, parents, colleagues, stakeholders – and whether we have the right to tell those tales. Put simply, what’s okay to write about and what isn’t?
If we are going to use autoethnography then these questions must be explored. The paper seeks to do this.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Haynes, K (2011) "Tensions in (re)presenting the self in reflexive autoethnographical research" 6(2) Qualitative Research in Organizations and Management: An International Journal 134 Sikes, P (2006) "On dodgy ground? Problematics and ethics in educational research" 29(1) International Journal of Research & Method in Education 101 Jones, K (2007) "How Did I Get to Princess Margaret? (And How Did I Get Her to the World Wide Web?" 8(3) Forum: Qualitative Social Research (Art 3) Ernst, R & Vallack, J (2015) "Storm Surge: An Autoethnography About Teaching in the Australian Outback" 21(2) Qualitative Inquiry 153 Grant, A (2010) "Autoethnographic ethics and rewriting the fragmented self" 17 Journal of Psychiatric and Mental Health Nursing 111
Programme by Networks, ECER 2021
00. Central Events (Keynotes, EERA-Panel, EERJ Round Table, Invited Sessions)
Network 1. Continuing Professional Development: Learning for Individuals, Leaders, and Organisations
Network 2. Vocational Education and Training (VETNET)
Network 3. Curriculum Innovation
Network 4. Inclusive Education
Network 5. Children and Youth at Risk and Urban Education
Network 6. Open Learning: Media, Environments and Cultures
Network 7. Social Justice and Intercultural Education
Network 8. Research on Health Education
Network 9. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement
Network 10. Teacher Education Research
Network 11. Educational Effectiveness and Quality Assurance
Network 12. LISnet - Library and Information Science Network
Network 13. Philosophy of Education
Network 14. Communities, Families and Schooling in Educational Research
Network 15. Research Partnerships in Education
Network 16. ICT in Education and Training
Network 17. Histories of Education
Network 18. Research in Sport Pedagogy
Network 19. Ethnography
Network 20. Research in Innovative Intercultural Learning Environments
Network 22. Research in Higher Education
Network 23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education
Network 24. Mathematics Education Research
Network 25. Research on Children's Rights in Education
Network 26. Educational Leadership
Network 27. Didactics – Learning and Teaching
Network 28. Sociologies of Education
Network 29. Reserach on Arts Education
Network 30. Research on Environmental und Sustainability Education
Network 31. Research on Language and Education (LEd)
Network 32. Organizational Education
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