The business of writing to learn in business: Examining writing practices through the lens of practice architectures

Abstract

Over the last two decades, changes in educational policies have led to increased teacher accountability and the advent of high stakes testing. In Australia, concern has been expressed over the results from international and national tests such as NAEP and NAPLAN Key stakeholders in education have therefore, explored ways to improve learner results. One way to improve results might be through improving writing teaching practices. There is a plethora of research available providing models and strategies to improve writing teaching practices. One strategy is to teach ‘writing for learning’ practices. However, questions remain over whether teachers are enacting these models and strategies in their writing teaching practices, and what might be impacting the inclusion of these writing teaching practices at the local site level. This article describes one writing teaching practice of a middle school teacher at an independent school in Queensland, Australia. The theory of practice architectures was employed to interrogate the enabling and constraining conditions that were evident as this teacher went about teaching writing practices in a Year 9 elective subject, Business Studies. The research found that whilst the teacher taught aspects of ‘writing for learning’ practices, the practices and practice architectures at the site formed a complex nest of interrelationships that impacted each other. In this article, we argue that, in order to change practice, it is necessary to change the conditions that both enable and constrain the teaching of writing practices.