Praxis and the theory of practice architectures: Resources for re-envisioning English education

Abstract

This article examines practices in English education through the lens of praxis and the theory of practice architectures. Drawing on empirical material collected in two case study schools in New South Wales and Queensland, we outline a view of praxis and practice that allows English educators to re-imagine the nature of their pedagogical work. It does so, first, by reconnecting practice with individual and collective praxis as a way of expressing the double purpose of education; ‘to help people live well in a world worth living in’ (Kemmis, 2008). Second, using the theory of practice architectures, we show how different kinds of cultural-discursive, materialeconomic and social-political arrangements make visible the dispositions and knowledges which give rise to different kinds of actions and judgments in the everyday work of teachers. By doing so, we reconnect with a lifeworld — or humanistic — perspective on English teaching practices as a human and social endeavour with indissoluble moral, political and historical dimensions.