Teaching Practice in Australian Vocational Education and Training: A Practice Theory Analysis

Abstract

In recent times practice theory has been used to analyse occupations and the dynamics of occupational reproduction. This kind of analysis throws a distinctive light on learning and teaching, which emerge as integral to the reproduction of practices . In contemporary society, however, the process of developing learners’ capacities for occupations has become an occupation in its own right within systems of vocational education and training (VET). A tension is indicated between teaching practice in VET as a process internal to the reproduction of occupational practices , and as a practice external to the occupational practices being taught. In this chapter, the theory of practice architectures is used to analyse teaching in the Australian VET system, highlighting contextual influences that shape this complex practice. Evidence is presented, that suggests the theoretical tension identified by practice theory between VET teaching as internal as well as external to occupational practices, illuminates the experience of contemporary VET teachers whose role has for some time been understood as expressing a ‘dual identity’. Practice theory helps to clarify this feature of contemporary VET teaching and identify factors underlying the tensions inherent in the system.