Transforming the future of practice: Using fictomorphosis to explore ontological becoming in professional practice learning
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Authors
Guruge, Dave
Mann, Samuel
Myers, Ruth
Mann, Samuel
Myers, Ruth
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Date
2026
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Conference Contribution - Paper in Published Proceedings
Ngā Upoko Tukutuku (Māori subject headings)
Keyword
work-integrated learning
fictomorphosis
professional practice doctorate
autoethnography
ontology
fictomorphosis
professional practice doctorate
autoethnography
ontology
ANZSRC Field of Research Code (2020)
Citation
Guruge, D., Mann, S., & Myers, R. (2026). Transforming the future of practice: Using fictomorphosis to explore ontological becoming in professional practice learning. In C. Dannenberg, J. Fleming, & K. E. Zegwaard (Eds.), Combined Refereed Proceedings of the 6th WACE International Research Symposium on Cooperative and Work-Integrated Education, and the WILNZ Annual Conference, Auckland, 2026 (pp. 86–91). WACE Inc. and WILNZ Inc. https://waceinc.org/resource/refereed-proceedings-of-the-6th-wace-international-research-symposium-2026/
Abstract
In this paper, we start not at the beginning, but at the edge of the unsayable, where silence is not absence, but something done to us.
As Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) moves into higher levels of education, including doctoral studies, approaches are needed to support shifts in identity, worldview, relationality, and ontological positioning (Armsby, 2013). The complexity of shifts in identity mean traditional reflective and academic frameworks sometimes struggle to reveal these deeper layers of becoming, especially when learners navigate cultural, ethical, and relational transformations alongside professional ones (Schön, 1983). Zegwaard and Pretti point out that “authentic learning tends to be messy, unpredictable and nonlinear” (2023, p. 5). One way of leaning into this inherent ambiguity is to adopt a post-qualitative stance that allows for and celebrates the emergence of ontological becoming. Fictomorphosis (Guruge et al., 2025) is one such post-qualitative method of restorying that encourages the emergence of shifts in identity. Fictomorphosis involves reducing an experience, insight, or ethical dilemma to a single core question or statement and then retelling it in an entirely new genre or context - such as science fiction, fantasy, poetry, allegory, or fable. This research asks: How can creative narrative transformation support the exploration and articulation of ontological becoming within professional practice learning? The aim is to investigate how Fictomorphosis - the re-telling of lived experience through multiple creative genres - can illuminate aspects of a learner’s development that remain obscured in conventional reflective accounts.
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WACE Inc. and WILNZ Inc
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