Practice Theory and Education challenges how we think about ‘practice’, examining what it means across different fields and sites. It is organised into four themes: discursive practices; practice, change and organisations; practising subjectivity; and professional practice, public policy and education. Contributors to the collection engage and extend practice theory by drawing on the legacies of diverse social and cultural theorists, including Bourdieu, de Certeau, Deleuze and Guattari, Dewey, Latour, Marx, and Vygotsky, and by building on the theoretical trajectories of contemporary authors such as Karen Barad, Yrjo Engestrom, Andreas Reckwitz, Theodore Schatzki, Dorothy Smith, and Charles Taylor. The proximity of ideas from different fields and theoretical traditions in the book highlight key matters of concern in contemporary practice thinking, including the historicity of practice; the nature of change in professional practices; the place of discursive material in practice; the efficacy of refiguring conventional understandings of subjectivity and agency; and the capacity for theories of practice to disrupt conventional understandings of asymmetries of power and resources. Their juxtaposition also points to areas of contestation and raises important questions for future research. Practice Theory and Education will appeal to postgraduate students, academics and researchers in professional practice and education, and scholars working with social theory. It will be of particular interest to those who wish to move beyond the limiting configurations of practice found in contemporary neoliberal, new managerialist and narrow representationalist discourses.
This book examines the way in which the “practice turn” in education and pedagogy offers unique perspectives on the nature of educational work. Through a plurality of “practice theories” deeper understandings emerge about a range of education and concepts, providing useful tools for advancing and developing practice theory in education and pedagogy. The book discusses the related and dual perspectives of pedagogy as both a teaching and an upbringing practice. It also explores education in a range of contexts and sectors beyond school, including VET, tertiary and non-formal settings. Education is seen as serving a dual purpose – the development of individuals and the betterment of societies and community, and this conceptualisation of education underpins the book. It acknowledges that there are diverse understandings and perspectives of practice theory, pedagogy and education, each of which is contestable and ripe for further development, and this is examined throughout the book. This book was developed alongside an invited symposium held in June 2015 in Brisbane, Australia where the authors and interested others gathered to discuss practice theory perspectives on pedagogy and education. The title – Practice Theory Perspectives on Pedagogy and Education – captures the central overarching focus that underpins the book.
The Principles and Practice of Educational Management contains newly commissioned material from leading national and international authors who provide a review of relevant theory and explain relevant research in the field.
Translation and Practice Theory is a timely and theoretically innovative study linking professional practice and translation theory, showing the usefulness of a practice-theoretical approach in addressing some of the challenges that the professional world of translation is currently facing, including, for example, the increasing deployment of machine translation. Focusing on the key aspects of translation practices, Olohan provides the reader with an in-depth understanding of how those practices are performed, as translators interact with people, technologies and other material resources in the translation workplace. The practice-theoretical perspective helps to describe and explain the socio-material complexities of present-day commercial translation practice but also offers a productive approach for studies of translation and interpreting practices in other settings and periods. This first book-length exploration of translation through the lens of practice theory is key reading for advanced students and researchers of Translation Theory. It will also be of interest in the area of professional communication within Communication Studies and Applied Linguistics.
The authors argue that the aim of research should be to improve practice through a process of critical reflection. Focusing clearly on the everyday concerns and problems of practitioners, they emphasize the importance of practical knowledge. Their definition of ‘practice’ is wide, and includes the generation of theory and the doing of research as well as front-line teaching. They show how notions of ‘adult learning’ and ‘the adult learner’ have been constituted mainly through theory and research in psychology and sociology, and examine action research as a mode of understanding. They conclude by looking at the curriculum implications for the teaching of adult education as reflective practice.
This book was written to help people understand and transform education and professional practice. It presents and extends the theory of practice architectures, and offers a contemporary account of what practices are composed of and how practices shape and are shaped by the arrangements with which they are enmeshed in sites of practice. Through its empirically-based case chapters, the book demonstrates how the theory of practice architectures can be used as a theoretical, analytical, and transformational resource to generate insights that have important implications for practice, theory, policy, and research in education and professional practice. These insights relate to how practices are shaped by arrangements (and other practices) present in specific sites of practice, including early childhood education settings, schools, adult education, and workplaces. They also relate to how practices create distinctive intersubjective spaces, so that people encounter one another in particular ways (a) in particular semantic spaces, (b) that are realised in particular locations and durations in physical space-time, and (c) in particular social spaces. By applying such insights, readers can work towards changing practices by transforming the practice architectures that make them possible.
This is the second volume in this series dedicated to Theory and Method in Higher Education Research. Publishing contemporary contributions to international debates regarding the application and development of theory and methodology in researching higher education, this volume aims to offer a channel for discussion, critique and innovation.
Researchers who conduct ethnography in science education tend to have a deep commitment for transforming science to improve the lives of people in underserved communities. This edited volume explores how contemporary ethnographers in science education bring to light the local production of scientific knowledge and the ways it is implicated in larger social and political struggles. Ethnographies in science education contribute to understanding the experiences of linguistically, racially, and economically diverse populations who have been historically excluded from participation in science. An anthropological approach has also been instrumental in explicating the situated practices by which students enact science in the classroom and in their lives beyond schools. This edited volume brings together ethnographers in science education to contribute a global perspective on science teaching and learning in school and university classrooms, at home, and after school programs. Included are examples of ethnography in science education from the UK, Argentina, Canada, and the USA in which contributors point to promising directions for theorizing the ‘culture’ of science education as we undertake educational reform. The authors in this volume argue that ethnography is not only a valid approach for the study of science education, but also they contend that it is essential to the development of more equitable practices for instruction and learning. This book was originally published as a special issue of Ethnography and Education.
This book provides the theoretical and analytical resources for an urgent rethinking of the social project of educating and educational leading. It examines what educational leadership is, namely the politics and power of leadership as a practice, and what it can and should be, offering a pedagogical and praxis-informed approach to educational practice. Drawing on research conducted at various Australian schools and education districts, it argues for a reframing of educational leadership as pedagogical practice/praxis to transform theorising and practice in the field. The book provides a rich account of educational leading through a practice lens, bringing into dialogue the theory of practice architectures with site ontologies, Bourdieu’s thinking tools and feminist critical scholarship. The book tracks the practices and praxis of educational leaders as they grapple with the changing landscape and forces of educational policies that have informed Australian education. It reimagines education leadership by integrating Continental and Northern European understandings of pedagogy and praxis as being morally and ethically informed, as opposed to the narrower Anglophone notions of pedagogy as teaching and learning. The book adds to the body of knowledge on the “actual work of leadership” as a “distinct set of practices” that is morally and ethically informed. Readers will find a more holistic understanding of educational leadership practice and praxis, based on the everyday accounts of educational leaders, teachers and students in schools and education districts.
How might practice theories and engagement with practice contribute to and advance theological study of religion and religious life and practices? This volume explores and discusses how theological engagement with practice, theoretically as well as empirically, might profit from theories of practice developed in disciplines such as philosophy, sociology, education and organisational studies during the recent decades, but so far scarcely employed within theology. In part I, the volume unfolds key components of practice theory, especially as they have more recently been developed within sociological practice theories, reflect on their significance and potential with regard to theology. In part II, these perspectives are employed in the study of concrete religious practices - established as well as experimental religious practices, and collective as well as individual ones. By unfolding connections between theology and practice theories, and reflecting on practice theories' analytical and theoretical potential for theological study of religion, the book will be of interest for any scholar in the study of contemporary religion and practical theology.
This book explores intra-team interaction in workplace settings devoted to technological breakthroughs and innovative entrepreneurship. The first set of studies to investigate these economically important institutions through the lens of talk-at-work, this book begins by discussing the ethnomethodological traditions of Conversation Analysis and institutional interaction and linking them to innovation and entrepreneurship. The book offers rich and detailed empirical accounts of teams talking new technologies and new ventures into being. By focusing on the observable language of teams in action, the book reveals the situated practices that teams use to enact their work, including the means by which team members verbally grapple with the uncertainties inherent in doing work in uncharted domains. The book presents important findings about the conversational accomplishment of work and demonstrates the value of examining the practices of teams in action. A valuable contribution to studies of talk-in-interaction, as well as entrepreneurship-as-practice, this book can help to bridge the gap between scholarly investigations and the practical experiences of entrepreneurs. The author closes by considering the ways that practice-based studies of entrepreneurial work can improve issues of diversity and inclusion within the entrepreneurial ecosystem. This book is intended to serve as an invaluable sourcebook for scholars and students interested in innovation, entrepreneurship, and organizations as well as those focused on applied Conversation Analysis. The book’s insights are presented in a richly detailed manner while remaining accessible to readers who are new to the methodologies and activity contexts.
How does the practice turn play out in international relations? This study offers a concise introduction to the core approaches, issues and methodology of International Practice Theory, examining the design, strategies and technique of practice theoretical research projects interested in global politics, and outlining issues for a future agenda.
