Fostering a Relational Pedagogy: Self-study As Transformative Praxis

It has long been established that teaching and learning are autobiographical endeavours, so it follows that self-study is central to sound practice. As a framework, self-study allows researchers to use their experiences to examine self-in-practice with the aim of both personal and professional growth. By its very design, it makes transparent personal processes of inquiry by offering them up for public critique. This type of public inquiry of the personal happens in at least two ways: first, through the inclusion of trusted others who can provide different perspectives on our closely held discourses; and, second, through making our research publicly available so that others might learn from our inquiries. Self-study, then, requires openness to vulnerability as we continuously re/negotiate who we are as teachers. Approaching inquiry from this perspective has at its core deepened self-knowledge coupled with intent to transform praxis. This transformation is sought through integrated ways of being and teaching that support embodied wholeness of teachers and learners. Through critical, qualitative, creative, and arts-integrated approaches, this collection seeks to advance teacher self-study and, through it, transformative praxis.

Contributors are: Willow S. Allen, Charity Becker, Yue Bian, Abby Boehm-Turner, Diane Burt, Vy Dao, Lee C. Fisher, Teresa Anne Fowler, Deborah Graham, Cher Hill, Chinwe H. Ikpeze, David Jardine, Elizabeth Kenyon, Jodi Latremouille, Carl Leggo, Ellyn Lyle, Sepideh Mahani, Jennifer Markides, Sherry Martens, Kate McCabe, Laura Piersol, Kathleen Pithouse-Morgan, Amanda C. Shopa, Timothy Sibbald, Sara K. Sterner, and Aaron Zimmerman.

Ellyn Lyle, PhD (2011), Memorial University, is Dean in the Faculty of Education at Yorkville University. She has published several peer reviewed articles and books in the areas of reflexive inquiry, narrative inquiry, teacher identity, and lived and living curriculum. This is her seventh book, five of which are published with Brill Sense.