Researching memories about starting school: Autobiographical narratives as a methodological approach

This article reports on methodological issues in the study of autobiographical narratives about transition to school within a life course approach. The data consist of 89 Australian participants’ recollections of starting school between 1928 and 1995. These narratives are considered as life reviews and part of the story of ‘continuing me’. They are combinations of memories about childhood experiences, stories told in the family, photos and other artefacts, influenced by the times and places of starting school and of recalling it. This research approach provides one strategy for investigating the ways in which starting school links other life events within individual and family contexts and how the recollections of transition to school are part of each person's constructed life story. The results indicate that narratives of starting school often form an education marker in one's life course and may have an intergenerational impact.