ABSTRACT
There are many meanings to the word ‘story’ and while I do not intend to engage in literary theory, it is important to tie down what I am going to choose to mean by story in the educational context, as that is the focus of this book. In particular this is preparation for the chapters on theory and the educational aspects of the relationships between humans and their story activities. In exploring the range and meaning of story, first I note the vastness of the topic and look at some of the more obvious distinctions between different types of story and the ways in which story is communicated (p. 12). There is a section introducing issues of authenticity (p. 14) and then a large section exploring the purposes of story (p. 16). The sheer number of purposes for telling stories was one of the surprises in writing this book. Then I look at the literature – at what others have considered to be definitions of story, and follow with considerations from my own angle, though I have chosen to focus on where the boundaries of story and what is not story might lie, rather than constraining this slippery concept in definitions. This chapter inevitably scans many topics that are elaborated further in later chapters.
