Theories of practice

Educators’ “theories of practice” (Argyris, Putnam, and Smith, 1985), “practical theories” (Zeichner and Liston, 1996), or “theories of action” (Argyris and Schön, 1974) constitute another type of theory.¹ These theories comprise the implicit beliefs, assumptions, values, knowledge, and emotions that individual educators bring to their practice. They include their personal theories – the judgments and evaluations that they make about themselves, others, and the world around them – and their understanding of general theories. They are the lens through which educators view their practice, guiding the decisions they make about the actions they will take, the ways in which they make sense of new information, and what they view as useful knowledge.

It is vital that educators understand and query the adequacy of their theories of practice because “so much of teaching is rooted in who we are and how we perceive the world” (Zeichner and Liston, 1996, page 23). As discussed in the chapter Inquiry and Evidence-based Practice, educators’ beliefs and assumptions can have profound consequences for those with whom they work. Bishop and Glynn (1999) contend that this can include contributing to “the continued marginalisation of Māori cultural aspirations, preferences and practices in the education system and the continuance of Māori ‘underachievement’ in a system that was in fact designed to perpetuate such underachievement” (page 13).

The TPLD BES (Timperley et al., 2007) affirms the significance of teachers’ theories of practice. (See Issue 3: Teachers’ Existing Theories, pages 196–201.) The writers discuss the need for ISTEs to engage teachers’ theories of practice and to help the teachers mediate competing theories by debating and challenging them in ways that enable the teachers to then negotiate improved theories and build their knowledge-of-practice. Teacher professional learning must include opportunities for participants to learn how to test and verify theories so that they can judge the worth of prior and new practices. The writers emphasise that:

the most effective theories are integrated around the notion of responsiveness to students. We suggest, therefore, that what matters is that teachers consider their teaching practices and the theories that underpin them, in order to maximise their students’ opportunities to learn – and that they test the effectiveness of their efforts in terms of student outcomes.

page 201

While educators’ theories of practice can have unintended negative consequences when unexamined, they can also be the source of new insights and ideas that advance their own work and that of their colleagues. Hatch et al. (2005) describe the way in which reflection and hypothesising on real “problems of practice” within a specific context can generate “local theories” that educators can test and refine across a range of contexts. By formally articulating and publishing these theories, educators can contribute to a broader professional knowledge base and the development of better theories for teaching and inservice education. Note that while Hatch refers just to teachers, the same argument could apply equally well to ISTEs.

By pursuing these “problems of practice,” teachers expand their understanding and improve their work. They begin to think about responses that cut across times, contexts, and individuals. They make inferences and develop hypotheses that suggest courses of action that may work both for their students at that moment and for the students in other classes and coming years. In short, when teachers address the “problems” and questions in their classroom, they make theory out of practice. They make local theories that they can apply in a number of related contexts and that other educators can learn from and build upon. These local theories can serve as the basis for a powerful knowledge-base different from – but no less important than – the knowledge-base that has emerged from conventional research on teaching and learning.

Hatch et al., 2005

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