GETTING THE STORY, UNDERSTANDING THE LIVES - FROM CAREER STORIES TO TEACHERS PROFESSIONAL-DEVELOPMENT

To understand teachers' professional development, the career stories of 10 experienced Flemish (Belgian) Primary School teachers were collected. The analysis of these narrative data culminated in the reconstruction of a professional self and a subjective educational theory, both conceived of as indicators for the professional development. These general concepts were differentiated to develop a conceptual framework for understanding teachers' professional development from their career stories. The comparative analysis of the stories revealed two important recurring themes, the strive for job stability and the feelings of vulnerability for the teacher. In this paper the ''biographical perspective'' is depicted as a general theoretical approach, and as a concrete research procedure for data collection and analysis. The author concludes that a narrative biographical approach constitutes a viable perspective for understanding professional development from the subjective viewpoint of the teachers.