Re-presenting and representing with seven features: guiding an arts-based educational journey

This paper outlines a journey of arts-based inquiry into teacher education and identity transformation in the transition to teaching, guided by Barone and Eisner’s Seven Features of Arts-Based Educational Inquiry. Employing a theatre-based research approach the researcher investigated teachers’ epiphanic or revelatory first moments of identity transformation, culminating in the creation of the play script and performance: ‘The First Time’. The article discusses what Barone and Eisner’s works can offer the arts-based researcher on their journey. Outcomes of the research include the value of working backwards from this frame for further data elucidation and analysis and presenting research to relevant ‘expert’ audiences.