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BJSW Advance Access published online on July 14, 2009
British Journal of Social Work, doi:10.1093/bjsw/bcp082
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The British Association of Social Workers. All rights reserved.

Narrative and Rhetoric in Social Work Education

Kris Rutten, André Mottart and Ronald Soetaert

Kris Rutten studied Comparative Sciences of Culture. He is a teaching assistant and Ph.D. student at the Department of Educational Studies (Ghent University). His research focuses on the narrative turn in the human and social sciences based on explorations in education. Prof. André Mottart studied Linguistics and Literature, worked as teacher and teacher-trainer. He wrote a Ph.D. on Education and Knowledge as Postmodern Construction. At the moment, he works at the Department of Educational Studies (Ghent University). His teaching and research focus on language/literature teaching, teacher training, qualitative research and academic literacies. Prof. Dr Ronald Soetaert works as a full-time professor at the Department of Educational Studies (Ghent University). His teaching and research focus on language/literature teaching, multiliteracies and cultural studies.

Correspondence to Kris Rutten, Department of Educational Studies, Ghent University, Henri Dunantlaan 2, 9000, Gent, Belgium. E-mail: Kris.Rutten{at}Ugent.be


  Abstract

This article starts from the narrative turn in the humanities and the social sciences in general and social work in particular to explore the study of fictional narratives in social work education. Rhetoric is presented as an important perspective for social work by focusing on the work of the rhetorician and literary critic Kenneth Burke (1897–1993), specifically on his theory of dramatism. The dramatistic pentad is introduced as an analytical tool to study fictional narratives. In a case study, a play and a film by a Dutch–Flemish theatre collective are jointly analysed by students from the Master of Social Work and Welfare Studies programme at a Flemish university. This rhetorical perspective gives social work students the opportunity not only to study fictional narratives, but also to reflect upon their own practice.

Keywords: narrative, social constructionism, social work education


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