From the personal statement for university entrance to the world of job applications and career pathways, English, with its emphasis on narratology – the study of how narrative works – could help enable students to make sense of their own career paths and the contexts they work in, argues Yvonne Williams.

As English teachers watch the relentless march of STEM into A Level and career choices post-16, it might seem that not only is the scientific domain the best way of securing future prosperity, but that data is now perceived as the only valid means of making meaning out of organisational life. Spreadsheets, line graphs and pie charts symbolise progress, analyse strategies and check the success of implementation in everyday working life.

Many subject and senior leaders will recognise this dependence on numbers as part of their working lives. However, as research becomes more deeply embedded in everyday reality, teachers are beginning to realise that the executive summary and headline findings are not as secure as they could or should be. Underneath are important questions about the context in which studies are carried out, how applicable the recommendations are to other settings, the size of the study, the nature of the participants etc. In short, the scientific is not as scientific as we might have thought. Interpretation is needed.

Nor do mathematical symbols and images bind people together and make meanings out of their common goals – and the work they do. Different structures are needed, which is why most organisations, intentionally or unintentionally, turn to the apparatus of narratology. The use of ‘mission’ and ‘journey’ derived from literature are most commonly used to connote the path and the intentions underpinning the daily work.

Telling stories

In the past we have concentrated the importance of linguistic constructions in creating communications and analysing messages from colleagues, customers and clients. But is the study of larger structures that comprise narratology even more relevant: can ‘the study of how narratives make meaning, and what the basic mechanisms and procedures are which are common to all acts of storytelling’ (Barry, 2009) enable our students to make sense of the world of work and bestow a metacognitive advantage
on them as they progress in their working lives?

‘What employees have in common with employers and education providers is the need to tell their stories in the most influential and advantageous ways possible. Each rite of passage needs its own narrative.’

We talk about ‘motivation’, the literary term linked to why characters perform actions in prose or drama to describe what drives people to do their best – or stops them making the necessary effort to fulfil their daily tasks. A more sophisticated understanding of narratology could provide a better grasp of the interplay between character and action. In corporate terms this could mean how to suit particular people to specific tasks.

Other aspects of narratology that could be useful are indicated by the scope of the 2008 AQA AS Level Aspects of Narrative paper. Students were expected to apply to a variety of texts their knowledge of:

• setting (in terms of culture, era and physical environment)
• characterisation (including role and judgements about the personalities)
• story (what happens)
• plot (how the events are arranged, use of subplots and parallel events, for example)
• chronology (how events are arranged in terms of time, incorporating possible analepsis and prolepsis)
• perspective (how many points of view are being used and which one dominates, why might that be important?)
• voice (the use of tone and mood even to influence and inform as the story moves along).

Narratology and navigation

What employees have in common with employers and education providers is the need to tell their stories in the most influential and advantageous ways possible. Each rite of passage needs its own narrative, from taking
the first step onto the career ladder to each promotion, taking on leadership roles and finding new opportunities.

The obstacle that every applicant faces is the gatekeeper – a fashionable term in business to mean the filter through which all forms and CVs are passed. Yet the term is far older and refers to the gatekeepers such as Janus who kept the gates to hellish or paradisical realms, or to the Sphinx and her riddle. Video games are full of such characters.
Knowing the right formula is the problem, hence the importance of including knowledge of how modern gatekeepers use their filters. Such knowledge has become an industry in itself with courses and online mentoring to help students to produce what the selectors are looking for. Just like Theseus or Oedipus, students have to tap into the formula that fits what the gatekeeper is looking for.

Perhaps this is where the skills of English teachers are most relevant. Understanding that the curriculum vitae is more than a chronological list of past achievements is vital. The most advantageous arrangement could be what used to be called a power CV in which achievements were grouped together more thematically to show personal growth in aspects most important to the audience. Using reader-response theory enables students to understand the potential impact of their writing and increases self-awareness.

Personal statements

When teaching students how to create personal statements there is considerable value in teaching a narrative structure that starts with an epiphanic moment or experience. For example, experience in a Saturday job in retail could prompt an interest in business management or economics if the student thought about the practicalities of how profits were made and what the impact on society would be. The pragmatist would go for business studies, the wider thinker would opt for economics or even philosophy. A little bit of discussion prior to writing might lead on to the kind of career that could develop from the choice of degree.

Just as textual cohesion is vital in a novel, so too is ensuring that the student’s personal statement tells a story that relates to the epiphanic moment and develops from there. Good plot construction goes a long way, particularly if based on the journey. Fortunately students have read numerous such stories from ‘We’re going on a bear hunt’ to The Silver Sword, The Sea has Crocodiles, The Kite Runner, even The Pilgrim’s Progress or The Canterbury Tales. They can draw on these to show how they overcame barriers and their personal story is a narrative of triumph over adversity.

It takes just a further stage of reflection to link the successes to character traits. Is there much difference in analysing what the protagonist’s actions show about their character and the qualities of the personal statement writer? The values and personal attributes of applicants are valued as much as their track records, especially when they have the skillset to attune their strengths to the needs of the establishment.

The best statements include awareness of the setting in which the writer made progress and the new setting in which they will operate. This need not be so onerous. Geography fieldwork, using a library, working in groups on problem-solving are various ways in which students’ experience mirrors what they will find in the next stage of their lives. But the more imaginative could capitalise on work settings especially if undertaking medical, teaching or business careers.

‘It is not unusual to find management thinkers using the work of structuralists, such as Propp’s work on folktales. The meaning-making apparatus of narratology, its focus on archetypal narratives and roles, can be immensely useful in real life beyond even university degrees.’

Thus far, the past and present are woven together. But one of the key lessons I learned from my head of English when I was applying for promoted posts in other schools was the necessity of showing how the past and present could lead to future achievement in the new context – the skill of creating credible prolepsis.

Any student who enjoys gaming will have experienced the virtual skill of getting past gatekeepers. It is not much of a step to imagine the gatekeepers of university courses, jobs or vocational studies.

Empowering employees

Careers information is most widely used to help students pass beyond the school gates into the work or next education setting. When a student or employee looks back over their self-story they can be pleased with their progress and can review their choices, just as sometimes teachers ask students to do when tackling a class reader. The skill and knowledge involved in successfully constructing the education history leads into career journey.

The personal statement is only a part of this – but a very significant part. But perhaps understanding narratology would be equally useful in helping students map out their future careers and visualise themselves five years on.

The dialogue that has taken place and the terminology used is certainly not redundant because at organisational level managers and directors are thinking in terms of the narrative of their own teams or establishments. Cultural anthropologists, such as Mary Catherine Bateson (cited in Choy, 2021) have long recognised that: ‘The human species thinks in metaphors and learns through stories.’

It is not unusual to find management thinkers using the work of structuralists, such as Propp’s work on folktales. It can be useful to take his spheres of action as a basis for roles needed in a company mission or to see development of corporate plans in terms of the 31 stages of a plot. And in management of change, Maria Bolin (2009) links the process and mindset needed to Proteus, the god who shifted shape to convey the importance of adaptability.

Thus the meaning-making apparatus of narratology, its focus on archetypal narratives and roles can be immensely useful in real life beyond even university degrees. Organisations already know the value of narratology and how to use it. So in case any politician wishes to decry English as a ‘Mickey Mouse’ subject, perhaps they should consider the value of narratology in uniting their parties, creating a story that all can buy into, using spheres of action to consider the best ways of tackling issues and the use of myths such as Proteus the shape-shifter to adapt to the constant change required to cope in the fraught setting of the 2020s.

Further reading

Barry P (2009) Beginning Theory, MUP

Bolin, M (2009) ‘Narratives in communication – a change manager tool’, paper at OKLAC Conference, Warwick University, https://warwick.ac.uk.

Choy, E. (2021) ‘Business storytelling culture can improve your organization In 3 big ways, www.forbes.com