Title: What’s Your Story? Creative Storytelling as Reflective Assessment: Enhancing Professional Employability Skills

Abstract

This research study explores the use of creative storytelling as an innovative form of reflective assessment within Initial Teacher Education (ITE) for Further Education (FE) teachers. Drawing on research into narrative and identity work in teacher education (e.g., Alderton, 2016), the study examines how storytelling-based assessment can support the development of trainee teachers’ professional identity, reflective capacity, and employability skills. In response to growing interest in authentic and dialogic assessment practices, the research investigates how narrative pedagogies enable trainees to evidence professional standards within an oral viva.

Trainee teachers were invited to develop personalised storytelling artefacts reflecting their journeys into teaching. Participants adopted creative and multimodal approaches, producing digital storyboards, video logs, blogs, photographs, drawings, and craft-based resources. These artefacts were used as reflective prompts within a professional dialogic viva, enabling trainees to articulate their developing practice, connect prior experiences to professional expectations, and demonstrate alignment with required standards.

A qualitative methodology was employed, informed by narrative inquiry (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990; Elbaz-Luwisch,2007). Data comprised participants’ storytelling artefacts, viva transcripts, and post-assessment semi-structured interviews. Artefacts and interview data were analysed using a combination of narrative analysis and reflexive thematic analysis, supported by iterative coding and constant comparison. Analysis focused on identity construction, reflective depth, and the articulation of professional learning.

Findings demonstrate the diversity and richness of storytelling resources and highlight the role of narrative in surfacing trainees’ “funds of knowledge” (Moll et al., 1992). Consistent with existing research on narrative identity work, participants used storytelling to negotiate professional identity, integrate personal and professional experiences, and engage in deeper, anecdotal reflection. Trainees reported that storytelling reduced assessment anxiety, provided a coherent structure for articulating complex learning, and enhanced confidence in evidencing professional standards.

The study extends existing literature on narrative approaches in teacher education by offering empirical evidence from the Further Education and Skills sector, where such research remains limited. It concludes that creative storytelling represents a powerful, inclusive, and flexible pedagogic approach to oral and dialogic assessment. For teacher educators, the findings demonstrate how narrative-based assessment can foster reflective autonomy, support identity formation, and enhance trainees’ preparedness for the communicative and reflective demands of professional practice.