ABSTRACT
Russell was aged 53 when we first met, and a married man. He identified with the part of the country where he was born and has a strong local accent. He was a willing interviewee, someone with strong views and deep emotions to express, and someone accustomed to self-evaluation. He often referred to himself in humorous, slightly self-deprecating terms. The initial impression one receives of Russell is of someone with a practical orientation and his life story reveals that his skills are grounded in engineering. However, our interviews elicited a complex and at times surprising set of stories, most notably the fact that he spent ten years as a priest. The period covered by the interviews was one of continuing uncertainty and change: Russell was employed in a job that he enjoyed and found meaningful but he would have much preferred to be continuing his vocation as a priest. As the interviews progressed, we were able to trace the uncertainties that Russell confronted in his everyday life as a result of the re-structuring of adult education. At the same time, we documented a deeper transition that was taking place as he adjusted to becoming distanced from his vocation, an issue which was a central theme throughout Russell’s narration. Russell himself commented how changes at one level – in his work practices – were ‘nested’ within a deeper change.
