MITCHELL-BARRETT, RHONDA (2010) An analysis of the Storyline
method in primary school; its theoretical underpinnings and its
impact on pupils’ intrinsic motivation. Doctoral thesis, Durham
University. This study explores the relationship between the
Scottish Storyline teaching method and pupils’ levels of
motivation when engaged in a Storyline topic. It also examines
the theoretical underpinnings for Storyline drawn from
constructivism, progressive education, drama methodology and
intrinsic motivation. Storyline as a pedagogy emerged in
Scotland during the late 1960s, as a means to support primary
school teachers in teaching a topic based curriculum. Storyline
as a teaching methodology has been widely adopted across Europe
and America and in these countries, the method continues to grow
in popularity. In order to meet the demands of the Scottish
‘Curriculum for Excellence’, there was recently a Storyline
revival in Scotland. Yet in England, Storyline remains little
known or virtually unheard of. However, with