The power of storytelling in Adult Education

Storytelling is a powerful and transformative tool that is particularly effective in adult education, especially for those living in situations of marginality and social exclusion. Telling, listening to and rewriting stories - ancient or modern, real or fictional, personal or collective - makes it possible to reflect on one's personal experiences, recognise one's own values and acquired skills, contributing to empowerment towards the construction of positive life paths. 

The tools and methodologies to be used for storytelling are many and act positively in different ways. In particular, it can have positive benefits on:

• Reflection and meta-evaluation of life experiences: through storytelling, people can reframe their experiences, identifying significant moments and re-evaluating challenges faced. This process helps them make sense of their own history and recognise their personal value.

  
  

• Strengthening identity and self-esteem: sharing one's own story and listening to those of others fosters mutual recognition, strengthening self-esteem and individual and collective identity. 

  
  

• Development of transversal skills: storytelling improves communication, empathic and interpersonal skills. It helps to develop critical analysis skills, problem-solving and creativity.

These aspects positively affect people's ability to design their own lives, identifying values, talents and aspirations. This can help provide people with a solid basis for designing a more positive and resilient future, fostering their inclusion.

Using storytelling as an educational method requires a structured and sensitive approach, especially when working with adults in marginalised conditions. As already mentioned, the methodologies to be used in working with stories are diverse, but all contribute to better self-knowledge and stronger group cohesion. Fundamental is the role of the expert facilitator who must accompany individuals and groups in bringing out personal experiences and accompany individual and collective reflection on values and competences. 

Some useful techniques to promote this process are:

1. Working with autobiographical narratives, supporting participants to write or narrate their personal story through timelines (creating a chronology of significant events in one's life, identifying moments of growth and transformation) and highlighting skills acquired during difficult experiences, emphasising individual resources. Sharing one's personal story in the group can be difficult for some people, so the activity can be done individually (the educator with the participant) or in groups that know each other very well.

2. Re-writing existing stories to facilitate and mediate reflection. This activity is very functional when working with groups that know each other little or with people who find it particularly difficult to open up. In fact, mediating a story written by others allows for mediating reflection and leaves participants free to decide how much they want to share with others. It can be proposed to rewrite the story that is the subject of the activity in a new light by twisting it, transforming the individual stories of the protagonists or changing the ending. This approach was also adopted in the ‘Stories4Empowerment’ project.

3. Visual and multimedia narrations or dramatisation of stories. Integrating images, videos or digital tools can make storytelling more accessible and engaging, even when working with groups with language differences. One can use ‘narrative collages’ (using images, photos and text to tell a story visually) or prefer digital tools such as creating videos or images (digital storytelling). Theatre techniques also allow stories to be explored in a creative and interactive way by re-presenting problematic situations to explore alternative solutions (theatre of the oppressed) or through role playing.

For educators, trainers and social workers, mastering storytelling methodologies is highly useful for promoting change, inclusion and resilience.