**Teacher Pedagogical Choice**

**Teacher Pedagogical Choice**

#### Peter Burridge Peter Burridge Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

Additional information is available at the end of the chapter

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73201

#### **Abstract**

This chapter examines teachers' pedagogical decisions and how routinization of practice can lead to the ineffective application of pedagogy that hinders student development and achievement. Identification of tacit knowledge that supports routinization can enable teachers to critique their teaching practice and identify pedagogies that are more appropriate for the students they teach. The work of Bourdieu and Giddens provides a sociological framework to analyse the influences on pedagogical decision-making. Evidence from a case study is used to illustrate how teacher professional habitus, motivation, ontological security, routinization and time and space interact to inhibit or enable expansion of teachers' knowledgeability and the frames of practice inform their choice and development of pedagogy.

DOI: 10.5772/intechopen.73201

**Keywords:** pedagogy, teacher decision-making, Bourdieu, Giddens, routinization

### **1. Introduction**

It is recognised that teachers' make a difference to student learning [1]. The way they develop relationships with students, the classroom culture that is promoted, and the learning activities that are selected all influence students' motivation and engagement. These important pedagogic decisions are influenced by many factors, as classrooms are complex environments, with one adult teacher working with up to 30 young people of both sexes from a range of social and cultural backgrounds. This complexity increases, as the teacher's classroom is one of many within a school organisation that is managing to meet the needs of students, parents, teachers, administrators and government departments. However, the essence of the school is not the organisational structure or the buildings but the vast array of social relationships and interactions that occur in the normal *durée* of the school day. Understanding the social milieu found in schools provide insights into teachers' pedagogical choice.

Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

© 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons

From John Hattie's meta-analysis studies we know that a teacher's influence on student achievement can be significant, but we also know that some actions are more effective than others [1]. Teachers need to be cognisant and targeted in the pedagogies they select to support student learning, something that is easily said but difficult to achieve due to the many influences on teachers' decision-making.

policy. It does not link people and their actions to social structures. Giddens' theory of structuration does provide this framework as, Shilling summarises, "structuration theory does provide a new way of looking at the relationship between social interaction in schools and the

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http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.73201

Giddens' theory attends to external factors that influence decisions, linking a person's action mediated by habitus with social structures. Social structures are rules and resources which can be both enabling and constricting on people's action, for example, religious groups, kinship groups or labour unions. These structures arise from social practices that are maintained over time. Giddens' theory identifies that the actions of people who make up social structures, such as schools will be influenced by these same structures and these same people will, in turn, influence the social structures through their actions [5]. For example, in Western countries, education and learning in schools are dominated by a scientific rationalist worldview. This is enabling to students when they use logical reasoning to gain a greater understanding of the world, but it is also constricting, as the dominance of scientific rationalism diminishes opportunities to use other approaches when faced with problems or understanding observed phenomena [6]. The dominance of this worldview is maintained by both the school structures, such as curriculum documents and through teachers' actions following these guidelines. This dominance will be maintained unless teachers' exert their agency and introduce other approaches and worldviews. Time and space provide the cultural and historical context for the development of social structures. People's past actions have informed the current structure, and the longer these structures have been maintained, the more stable they become. This does not mean structures are unchanging as it is people's actions that determine the social structures and it is their actions that can create change. The difficulty is identifying the need for change. Social structures provide routines for people to deal with day-to-day activities of social life. These routines enable people to draw on tacit understanding to predict the actions of others, which at times seem

*"The concept of* routinization*, as grounded in practical consciousness, is vital to the theory of structuration. Routine is integral both in continuity of the personality of the agent, as he or she moves along the paths of daily activities, and to the institutions of society, which are such only through their* 

Routinization provides predictability and feelings of being in control, which is the essence of ontological security. Feeling secure that regular events will occur lowers anxiety and frees the mind to be attentive for more unusual events. Ontological security increases the stability of social structures that strengthens with time, so for change to take place, people must become

To summarise, the work of Bourdieu enables identification of habitus and the power of social groups' influence within social structures. Giddens' work provides an understanding of the interaction of individuals with social structures, which lead to structural change or structural maintenance. Combined these two theories provide an insight into the social interaction at an individual, group and organisation level and uncover the range of factors that influence the

aware of their tacit understanding if they are to act purposefully that result in change.

reproduction of the major structural principles which characterise society" [4].

automatic. Giddens' calls this routinization,

pedagogical choices of secondary school teachers.

*continued reproduction "* [7]*.*

This chapter examines the influences on teachers' pedagogic choice, drawing on data collected from teachers and students over a 2 years study. Five factors that affect teachers' decision-making are presented, exploring how these factors interact to support or inhibit teachers to reflect on their teaching practice. The chapter concludes with a summary of the conditions that will support teachers to examine their practice and expand their knowledgeability about pedagogy.
