Cross-Cultural Approaches to Biographical Interviews: Looking at Career Transitions and Lifelong Learning

Abstract

This article focuses on the methodological approaches used in the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop) research project ‘Learning for Career and Labour Market Transitions – individual biographies’. In particular, it illuminates how biographical approaches were employed to help the in-depth understanding of career transitions and work identities as biographical narratives highlight the complex processes of learning, labour market experiences and working-life transitions. Within Europe, biographical approaches in terms of interviewing and analysis are used differently as a result of historical, intellectual and cultural traditions, and this was the case in this study. However, although different approaches were utilised, the stories generated rich data which enabled comparisons to take place across the five countries.