Developing narratives as a pedagogical approach to fostering professional interpersonal competences

•A narrative-building project for professional growth was examined.•Students were satisfied with activities.•Students’ self-esteem, perspective-taking, and empathy improved.•Students benefited from group work and learning from non-academic experiences.•Structured implementation was important to project impact.

The study examined a project aimed at helping students develop professional interpersonal skills. Groups of university students in social work, teacher training, and a student mentoring program for children at-risk participated in seminars where they developed narratives derived from personal experience in interaction with others. The theoretical framework for the project was inspired by the idea of “stories to live by” developed by Clandinin and Connelly. Data for the study were collected from questionnaires, interviews, and focus groups. Results indicated that narrative-building activities, when implemented in a structured and consistent manner, can contribute to improving empathy and perspective-taking abilities, developing self-knowledge, and enhancing communication skills.