The present study provides partial findings from research currently underway at the University of Seville: "Hurdles & Help as Perceived by University Students Disabilities". (Directed by Dr. Anabel Moriña, project funding: MICINN, I+D+I, ref. EDU 2010-16264). How does the university, as an institution, open doors and/or put hurdles…

This article analyses the university experiences of 44 students with disabilities. The voices of Spanish students describe the reasons that lead them to choose a given university degree, their transition in the university, the perception they have of themselves as students and how they evaluate their academic results. This study was done with the…

To understand long-term motivations for second language (L2) learning/socialisation, this study analyses the biographical narratives of 30 Hong Kong Chinese who are proficient in Japanese by using ethnographic interviews. From a situated learning perspective, our research findings originate in the participants' transformational episodes and centre…

This paper explores the constraints to innovative, creative and reflexive careers counselling in an uncertain neo-liberal world. We draw on previously reported research into practitioners' use of a narrative model for career counselling interviews in England and a Europe-wide auto/biographical narrative study of non-traditional learners in…

This paper presents an analysis of how lecturers respond to students with disabilities, the initial question being: do lecturers aid or hinder students? Findings pertain to a broader research project employing a non-usual research methodology in higher education research and students with disabilities: the biographical-narrative methodology. The…

This article explores how the current era in which we live, "New Times," a term used to characterize the changing social, economic, and technological conditions of our current era, both affords and constrains the identities of future teachers. The case of Anna Cunningham, a pre-service English language arts teacher, is highlighted as a…

Stereotypical notions of who experiences homelessness frame how educational institutions approach policy and program development. This life history of a teacher challenges assumptions by providing an in-depth look at a mother's struggle to find stability.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the intersection of generational traits of millennial teachers, multiculturalism and teaching in an era of Uncertain Times. Uncertain Times, as a framework for the paper, characterizes changing aspects of the current era in which we live, such as the rise of the internet and interconnectivity, globalization and…

This article is based upon a qualitative research study that examined 95 school stories written by Jewish female teacher candidates in an undergraduate education course. Many candidates wrote inspirational or humorous stories about growth and development or a special teacher. However, over one third of the narratives described painful Jewish day…

Learning a second language involves the development of an identity in the target language. This study is an autobiographical narrative inquiry into the issue of identity in a foreign language. Autobiographical accounts of my relationship with, and my feelings about, English at different stages in my learning journey are developed to show how my…

This study explored how sharing past and future life events among late adolescents and their parents influenced the quality of their own time perspectives. Triads (N =104) of female students and their parents described three important life events from their past and future. The results showed that adolescents who shared past and future life events…

Black male teachers are consistently positioned in teacher recruitment and teacher education discourse as the potential solution to a myriad of social and educational problems. However, the expectations of Black male performance are at times predicated on limiting and oppressive assumptions. In this qualitative study, the authors use the Black…

The sociocultural orientation in general education, which has gradually leaked into second language teacher education, argues that teachers usually employ social relations, cultural artefacts, and theoretical concepts to mediate their thinking and practice. Against this background, the present study aimed to explore how three male Iranian English…

The generation of brand new data seems to be an unwritten rule of much social research and the career field is no exception. However, in these austere economic times, we need to urgently reconsider our research norms and to think of creative ways of doing more for less. We would argue that given the "ordinariness" of the career concept…

This dissertation explores the life and identity of Paul Mills Ireland, III. The qualitative study was conducted using the portraiture approach and was further developed by incorporating the holistic content approach of analysis in narrative research. This fifth generation soldier was the product of a strong military lineage, most of whom were…