Affiliations: University of Seville, Spain | Autonomous University of Barcelona, Spain
Note: [] Corresponding author: José M. Lavié, Department of
Applied Pedagogy, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Edifici G6, 08193
Bellaterra Barcelona, Spain. Tel.: +34 93 5813191; Fax: +34 93 5813052; E-mail:
josemanuel.lavie@uab.es
Abstract: This article discusses the results of two studies of how schools
make sense of changes and collaborative work at a historical moment that some
might deem critical for both institutional and personal identities. Our
interpretive analyses pinpoint the crucial role that both organizational and
personal narratives play when interwoven in the process of making sense of
externally designed proposals for change, which seem to be embedded in
discourses that wholeheartedly celebrate innovation and collaboration as
purveyors of social progress and transformation. By underlining the way in
which the subjective, organizational, and social orders relate to each other to
(re)make sense of the world, our research also illustrates the relationship
between narratives of change and counter-narratives, and how they can be
developed as both transformative and conservative discursive practices.
Implications are also studied in relation to the usefulness of critical
discourse analysis for organizational studies and the operationalization of
this research approach.
Keywords: Professional and organizational identity, narratives of change, discourse analysis, teacher collaboration
