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Article published In:
Storytelling in the Digital Age: New challenges
Edited by Anna De Fina and Sabina M. Perrino
[Narrative Inquiry 27:2] 2017
► pp. 378–397

“Brown eyes are not the same as blue eyes”

Educational narratives, identities and positioning in adult education in Denmark

| University of Southern Denmark

In Denmark, the Adult Education Centres have a “sweeper” function for young adults who need to recommence education. This study explores two L2 (Danish as Second Language) students and how their educational narratives confirm or counter the master narratives of adult education. Students at the centres are commonly identified as adults with social and personal challenges, but their educational narratives and experiences are far more complex. As the edifying institutional narratives of the Adult Centres encompass both professionalism and care, the vernacular narratives characterise the centres as hang-outs for problematic adults without the ability to make a persistent effort in their own life. Students at the centres have to navigate and position themselves in relation to these conflicting stories by giving voice to educational struggles, social relations and agency in their own educational narratives.

Keywords: educational narratives, counter-narratives, master narratives, positioning, adult education
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Context – education in Denmark
  • Master and counter-narratives in education
  • Method and participants
  • Theoretical framework – master narratives, counter-narratives and positioning
  • Narrative analysis – Abir and Faisal
    • Abir – ‘because brown eyes are not the same as blue eyes’
    • Faisal – Resisting “the long way from the very beginning”
  • Conclusion
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 19 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/ni.27.2.09pie
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