Research group: democratising pedagogy through autoethnography

This chapter is about teaching autoethnography, and how employing arts-based research within a group supervision format can facilitate this. It’s also about engaging in a type of teaching that supports students to become empowered, to make a journey of discovery that they may not have been expecting. It’s a story about the building of relationships that dismantle traditional power dynamics between faculty and students, such that we may move closer to a democratised pedagogy. Our story is told in four acts, narrated by Kitrina, Chloe and Joshua, with further extracts and contributions from Katie, James and Henry. Act One offers a scene setting journey to becoming a supervisor, focussing the kinds of events and interactions that may lead to questioning received from pedagogical expectations around supervision. Act Two shows how our research group were brought together. Act Three explores some of the epiphanies and insights that emerged during group supervision through stories, emails and reflections. Act Four offers some closing reflections.