Lably
Skip to content

Storyline method

Education strategy

  • 5 min read
  • 3 chapters

Related on Lably

Through Iceland, Singapore and Portugal

LabPw Sunshine IslandLab · Class 6–11The Restless EarthLab · Class 10–12Evolution & Natural SelectionLab · Class 8–12Microorganisms

History

In 1965, the “Primary Memorandum” demanded that primary schools have a curriculum that integrated different subjects - history, geography, science, technology, health and expressive arts. At that time, teachers had little experience in teaching an integrated study such as this, so strategies had to be developed providing structures on which teachers could build. The attempt to implement the holistic ideas into the Primary Memorandum led to the creation, in 1967, in Jordanhill College of Education, Glasgow, of an Inservice Staff Tutor Team, whose function was to support teachers by working with them on this integrated curriculum. Many teachers, head teachers and advisers in the west of Scotland helped to refine and develop this methodology over a period of more than thirty years. Gradually, a particular methodology emerged that was originally called Topic Work, and is now known more widely, also internationally, as Storyline.

Pioneers of the approach were staff tutors Steve Bell, Sallie Harkness and Fred Rendell. As the Jordanhill tutors travelled abroad, the approach became known in Germany, in the Netherlands, in Iceland and in Denmark – in later years in all Scandinavian countries as well as in the United States of America.

In 1986, at a chance meeting of educators in Iceland, it was suggested that an international association should be created, so the European association for Educational Design (EED) was formed and the following year, the first seminar was held at the headquarters of the National Institute for Curriculum Development (SLO) in Enschede, the Netherlands. Since then, there have been meetings in Germany, Denmark, Scotland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands.

For the tenth anniversary, an international conference attended by over 300 participants from 22 countries was held in Aalborg, Denmark from 6 to 8 November 2000. The 2nd International Storyline Conference was held in 2003 near Copenhagen, the 3rd in Glasgow, 2006, the 4th in Portland, Oregon, 2009, the 5th in Reykjavik, 2012, the 6th in Glasgow, 2015, the 7th in Ljubljana, 2018. The 8th International Storyline Conference will be held in 2021 in Gothenburg, Sweden. In March, 2020, a Siberian International Storyline Conference will be held in Tomsk.

At present, the approach is widely used in Scotland, the Scandinavian countries, the USA and in the Netherlands, but also in a number of other countries, such as Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Lithuania, Greece, Turkey and Portugal.

Sign in to keep reading

2 more chapters are free with a Lably account.

More in Psychology

PsychologyStudy of mental functions and behaviorsAnxietyUnpleasant emotionCognitionMental process dealing with knowledgePsychoanalysisSet of therapeutic techniques established by Sigmund FreudAmerican Psychological AssociationScientific and professional organizationPsychotherapyClinically applied psychology for desired behavior change