Interfaces in teaching narratives

This chapter is co-written by the three directors of the Centre for Narrative Research at the University of East London, UK and consists of their reflections on teaching narrative to post-graduate students in Britain. The organisation of the chapter is in three different voices, reflecting the design and teaching of the actual course. There is a general introduction about the course we teach: the genesis of the course, the use of formalisations in making sense of the field of narrative, connecting our classroom to our research centre (and to our own research), and discussing how the course has evolved over the years (including the provision of a distance learning version of the course). The chapter concludes with reflections on some of the challenges and rewards which we have encountered in our experience of teaching narrative, drawing on students' responses and discussion, and will include questions around how to respond to students who are in search of a ‘quick fix’ methodology, or how to balance our different approaches, amongst others.