**4. The practice architectures of pedagogy**

In practice (as it happens), as shown in the previous section, practice architectures exist as three kinds of arrangements always intertwined with one another, each irreducible to and influential on the others. In this section, we will see the ways practices and practice architectures 'bundle' together at both a minute and more molar level in lessons as sites of pedagogical practice. In particular how pedagogical practices become ontologically *interwoven* (or *enmeshed*) with people and other objects in specific sites like classrooms *as they happen* will be illuminated. As Schatzki suggests ([17], p. 16), this is a necessary direction, "[b]ecause the relationship between practices and material entities is so intimate, … the notion of a bundle of practices and material arrangements is fundamental to analysing human life". As the empirical material presented next will show, this is a view of pedagogy that will extend perspectives on pedagogical practices in new directions towards being understood as socially, dialogically, ontologically and temporally constituted (see also [18−21]), but at the same time enabled and constrained by practice architectures.

One main way to understand the nature of pedagogy and the practice architectures that influence its conduct in lessons, is to examine transcripts. Lesson transcripts, as a technology for analysis, show how teachers and students in their lessons meet one another as interlocutors in language, in the doing of activities and by relating to one another in different kinds of interpersonal relationships. Consider this next extract recorded in the same Year 3 classroom but occurred after the science lesson presented earlier (Extract 1). Here, the teacher Mrs. Kallo (T) begins the English lesson focused on writing with an organisational phase, followed by discussion about camouflage based on a jointly read text which acted as a shared reading stimulus for the subsequent writing task.

#### *Extract 2: Practice architectures and pedagogical practices in Year 3 shared reading*

From this, it can be said that practices are made in the doing. Furthermore the conduct of practices is always pre-figured by other practices and practice architectures, but not necessarily pre-determined [3]. In this way, practices are not fixed or static because they are always created, organised and enacted anew at the moment of happening, are prefigured but not predetermined, are always enabled and constrained by other practices, are always dynamic

In summary, the theory of practice architectures orients to and avails itself of seven master

**3.** Practices are site based and so nuanced and distinctive to conditions that exist at the site

**4.** Practices are shaped (or enabled and constrained) by practice architectures or mediating

**5.** Practices are made and remade in the doing of it at the time in everchanging constellations

This line of thinking inaugurates the possibility of viewing pedagogy as a constellation of practices enabled and constrained by conditions or practice architectures present at or

In practice (as it happens), as shown in the previous section, practice architectures exist as three kinds of arrangements always intertwined with one another, each irreducible to and influential on the others. In this section, we will see the ways practices and practice architectures 'bundle' together at both a minute and more molar level in lessons as sites of pedagogical practice. In particular how pedagogical practices become ontologically *interwoven* (or *enmeshed*) with people and other objects in specific sites like classrooms *as they happen* will be illuminated. As Schatzki suggests ([17], p. 16), this is a necessary direction, "[b]ecause the relationship between practices and material entities is so intimate, … the notion of a bundle of practices and material arrangements is fundamental to analysing human life". As the empirical material presented next will show, this is a view of pedagogy that will extend perspectives on pedagogical practices in new directions towards being understood as socially, dialogically, ontologically and temporally constituted (see also [18−21]), but at the same time enabled and constrained by practice architectures. One main way to understand the nature of pedagogy and the practice architectures that influence its conduct in lessons, is to examine transcripts. Lesson transcripts, as a technology for analysis, show how teachers and students in their lessons meet one another as interlocutors

and contestable in their conduct, and always occur amid other practices.

128 New Pedagogical Challenges in the 21st Century - Contributions of Research in Education

cultural-discursive material-economic social-political arrangements

**6.** Practices are ecologically arranged and interdependent with other practices

**2.** Practices are constituted by sayings, doings, and relatings

**7.** Practices account for the individual and the collective

**4. The practice architectures of pedagogy**

concepts about practice that propose that:

**1.** Practices are social

brought into the site.



Not one of these arrangements exists as an entity on its own, but each is a practice architecture for the other. Examining the particular arrangements that enable and constrain the characteristics of the practice ([3], p. 32) offers insight into questions that asks us to consider what influences pedagogical decision making as it happens in the flow of instruction. Transcript analysis shows the distinctive and dynamic dimensions of classroom dialogues as produced in lesson practices, and how this works to influence student's learning and teacher's teaching as these unfold in the moment-by-moment interactions which occur in lessons. Furthermore, at a deeper level, examining transcripts reveals how pedagogical practices are composed as interlocutory activities primarily concerned with intersubjective meaning making. **Table 1** brings together an example of the constellation of practices and practice architectures that

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shape the conduct of pedagogical practices found in a lesson (evident in Extract 2).

conditions or practice architectures.

ing or influencing how the lesson unfolds at the time.

As **Table 1** illustrates, grasping the intricacies of the pedagogical enactment, requires understanding how the bundles of practice architectures arrange practices as they unfold discursively through language and sequences of time, in actions and interactions. In lessons, these occur as a body or constellation of practices intertwined or enmeshed in the doing; and further simultaneously enable particular kinds of sayings, doings and relatings to exist or come to exist in classroom lessons at the moment of enactment. In other words, teaching and learning practices in classrooms both constitute and are constituted by the particular words used (scientific terminology is required to make the lesson characteristically a science lesson or an English lesson), the particular activities done (like the discussion that required students to recall the scientific terms encountered earlier) and the particular relationships which exist between the teachers and students present as they listen to one another, comply with the teachers expectations. But added to this, practices are also influenced by other conditions (like the curriculum or a teacher's professional development program) that may prefigure but not necessarily predetermine what actually happens in the discursively-produced flow of lesson interactions (like the student's actual responses to a teacher question). This means that pedagogy in the moments of enactment is influenced, but not predetermined by prefiguring

The pedagogical practices experienced and produced here in this lesson are thus encountered as, and made evident through, the social exchanges between the teacher and students that formed *sayings* in and though particular language, that formed *doings* in and through particular activities, and that formed *relatings* in and through particular ways of relating reflecting different roles and relationships. These three dimensions of practices formed the basis of *how* and *what* practices meet the students, and as the 'lessons' progresses through the realities of time students display their understandings of the particular lesson context - the language, the activities and the ways of relating in the lesson as a context for learning something new – by their responses and actions in the practice itself. Furthermore, the students (as individuals and as a collective) are recognisably co-producers of the pedagogy [25], contributing to shap-

As Schatzki [1] recognised, and Baker [26] identified empirically, persons (like students and the teacher) proceed individually in the practice but as interlocutors through shared activities, actions, interactions and interrelationships, and at the same time co-create the very context

Specifically, by examining the turn-by-turn moments of classroom dialogue the focus shifts towards considering how pedagogy works interactively at the moment it happens; that is, showing how through turn-by-turn exchanges teachers and students co-create meaningful talk and interaction, pedagogical activities and roles and relationships. These are the very practices upon which they rely to support learning in this lesson. Broadly, across this phase of the Year English lesson, teaching and learning practices are held in place or bundled together as a constellation of pedagogical practices amid the particular:


Not one of these arrangements exists as an entity on its own, but each is a practice architecture for the other. Examining the particular arrangements that enable and constrain the characteristics of the practice ([3], p. 32) offers insight into questions that asks us to consider what influences pedagogical decision making as it happens in the flow of instruction. Transcript analysis shows the distinctive and dynamic dimensions of classroom dialogues as produced in lesson practices, and how this works to influence student's learning and teacher's teaching as these unfold in the moment-by-moment interactions which occur in lessons. Furthermore, at a deeper level, examining transcripts reveals how pedagogical practices are composed as interlocutory activities primarily concerned with intersubjective meaning making. **Table 1** brings together an example of the constellation of practices and practice architectures that shape the conduct of pedagogical practices found in a lesson (evident in Extract 2).

37. look, there it is, the thorny devil, looks like granite,

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42. T: moss, yeah Eva, called lichen, but lichen's stuff that grows on rocks, do you

45. T: No, but they made him look like that-or he looks like that so, he can hide

48. T: His predators? yes good Ewan, so he's really gotta a pretty good defence

51. T: Ok::ay Jaxon, who would like to catch the lizard, what do you think?

55. Sara: [I know (0.1) a cat, a feral cat would like to eat that nice little juicy lizard

60. T: What sort of a bird-a little willie wag tail? What sort of a bird? Mel? 61. Mel: No, a big bird, like magpies and, and a big, big wedgetail eagle

as a constellation of pedagogical practices amid the particular:

62. S(s): [foxes][the ferals][feral cats]((overlapping responses from other students)) 63. T: woa::ah, hang on, good discussion points but let's listen to each other, 64. no calling out, you all have such good information to build on and add

Specifically, by examining the turn-by-turn moments of classroom dialogue the focus shifts towards considering how pedagogy works interactively at the moment it happens; that is, showing how through turn-by-turn exchanges teachers and students co-create meaningful talk and interaction, pedagogical activities and roles and relationships. These are the very practices upon which they rely to support learning in this lesson. Broadly, across this phase of the Year English lesson, teaching and learning practices are held in place or bundled together

**1.** *cultural-discursive* arrangements found in (or brought to) the lesson as a site of pedagogical practice; these arrangements enable and constrain the *sayings* characteristic of the practice,

**2.** *material-economic* arrangements found in (or brought to) the lesson; these arrangements en-

**3.** *social-political* arrangements found in (or brought to) a site; these arrangements enable and

able and constrain the *doings* characteristic of teaching and learning, and

constrain the *relatings* characteristic of teaching and learning practices.

57. T: a cat might, but wowee::ee! what beautiful adjectives Sarah! what an express-58. -ive sentence, it gives us a clear image in our minds. Yes? hands up, Mel?

38. what's he look as if he's got on him=

41 S(s): ((overlapping utterances from students))

49. because it's very hard to spot him there.

50. Jax: Mrs Kallo, I know its predators

43. think he really has got lichen growing on him?

39. S7: =grass or something

46. from who? Ewan? 47. Ewan: His pred, predators

40. Eva: it's moss

44. Eva: No↑

52. Jax: a wedgy

56. Mel: [a bird

53. T: be more explicit 54. Jax: a big wedgetail eagle

59. Mel: A bird might↑

As **Table 1** illustrates, grasping the intricacies of the pedagogical enactment, requires understanding how the bundles of practice architectures arrange practices as they unfold discursively through language and sequences of time, in actions and interactions. In lessons, these occur as a body or constellation of practices intertwined or enmeshed in the doing; and further simultaneously enable particular kinds of sayings, doings and relatings to exist or come to exist in classroom lessons at the moment of enactment. In other words, teaching and learning practices in classrooms both constitute and are constituted by the particular words used (scientific terminology is required to make the lesson characteristically a science lesson or an English lesson), the particular activities done (like the discussion that required students to recall the scientific terms encountered earlier) and the particular relationships which exist between the teachers and students present as they listen to one another, comply with the teachers expectations. But added to this, practices are also influenced by other conditions (like the curriculum or a teacher's professional development program) that may prefigure but not necessarily predetermine what actually happens in the discursively-produced flow of lesson interactions (like the student's actual responses to a teacher question). This means that pedagogy in the moments of enactment is influenced, but not predetermined by prefiguring conditions or practice architectures.

The pedagogical practices experienced and produced here in this lesson are thus encountered as, and made evident through, the social exchanges between the teacher and students that formed *sayings* in and though particular language, that formed *doings* in and through particular activities, and that formed *relatings* in and through particular ways of relating reflecting different roles and relationships. These three dimensions of practices formed the basis of *how* and *what* practices meet the students, and as the 'lessons' progresses through the realities of time students display their understandings of the particular lesson context - the language, the activities and the ways of relating in the lesson as a context for learning something new – by their responses and actions in the practice itself. Furthermore, the students (as individuals and as a collective) are recognisably co-producers of the pedagogy [25], contributing to shaping or influencing how the lesson unfolds at the time.

As Schatzki [1] recognised, and Baker [26] identified empirically, persons (like students and the teacher) proceed individually in the practice but as interlocutors through shared activities, actions, interactions and interrelationships, and at the same time co-create the very context


and the conditions that form the practice itself. Underpinning this perspective is the knowledge that all classrooms share one thing in common - they are unique social sites whereby teaching and learning activities happen whilst simultaneously constructing the roles and relationships between teachers and students [13]. These exist and evolve as enmeshed conditions which enable and constrain the kind of practices that can happen there. Teachers and students use their knowledge and past experiences of these contexts to generate appropriate behaviours, and the appropriateness of those behaviours, in turn, serve to define the context in which they interact [27]. These are mutually constitutive as students learn the ways of

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Data (presented in Extracts 1 & 2 and **Table 1**) show that in real lessons in real sites, pedagogical practices are socially, dialogically, ontologically and temporally formed. That is, pedagogical practices are socially constituted (among people like students and teachers), dialogically formed (through language and communication comprehensible to those present), locally situated (in the particular classroom in the particular school in the particular community) and accomplished in real-time happenings (in the real-time flow of activity, action and interaction). This is a site-based view that regards as central the reciprocity of influence between and

• *cultural-discursive* dimension of practices, whereby the different language and discipline knowledge and communicative linguistic competencies *influence the semantic space* and the particular sayings brought to bear on the pedagogic interactions in the lesson as it occurs; • *material-economic* dimension of practices, whereby the different actions, activities, resources and material set ups present *influence the physical space–time* and how people present can do

• *social-political* dimensions of practices, whereby the different roles students and teachers have in the doing of the teaching and learning and *shape the social space* and how they relate to one another, what power they have to act, how they act in solidarity with others and the

These arrangements occur as intertwined or enmeshed dimensions of practice, enabling particular kinds of sayings, doings and relatings to exist or come to exist in classroom lessons. In other words, practices in classrooms both constitute and are constituted by the particular words used, the particular things done and the particular relationships which exist in the interactions between the people and things involved. A site based view also regards students and the teacher as being equally influential in the happeningness of accomplishing pedagogy, yet recognises too that the ways students are positioned with greater or lesser degree of power, solidarity and agency also influences the conduct of practice in the end. In these three dimensions, therefore, the extent to which the practice architectures exist in a site and influence the conduct of the practice at the time, appear to a greater or lesser degree as practices are made and remade each time, through time. These form part of the mediated nature of practices and

practice architectures that also influence the possibility of other practices in the future.

In this vein, pedagogy cannot be taken to be simply an overarching term since i) this would gloss the complexity of teaching and learning as it happens at the time; ii) teaching and learning as it happens responds to the individual persons and the circumstances present in the

agency or capacity for decision-making or acting autonomously.

learning in lessons by participating from the moment they enter the practice.

across the practice architectures made apparent in the

their work and relate to one another; and,

**Table 1.** Practices and practice architectures of lessons.

and the conditions that form the practice itself. Underpinning this perspective is the knowledge that all classrooms share one thing in common - they are unique social sites whereby teaching and learning activities happen whilst simultaneously constructing the roles and relationships between teachers and students [13]. These exist and evolve as enmeshed conditions which enable and constrain the kind of practices that can happen there. Teachers and students use their knowledge and past experiences of these contexts to generate appropriate behaviours, and the appropriateness of those behaviours, in turn, serve to define the context in which they interact [27]. These are mutually constitutive as students learn the ways of learning in lessons by participating from the moment they enter the practice.

**Practice architectures**

the *culturaldiscursive* arrangements

the *materialeconomic* arrangements

the *social-political* arrangements

**Broader prefiguring practice architectures (examples)**

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the externally mandated national curriculum; the school's local policy outlining the integration of English with other disciplines like Science; student's prior knowledge of local fauna (like wedgetail eagles, blue tongue lizards, the impact of feral animals on native fauna) and specific usage of technical terminology; teacher's knowledge of the student's rural background experiences; teacher's prior knowledge of science and

English instruction

reading'

arrangements of desks in the room; resources like books and computers are differently arranged in the English lesson as distinct from the science lesson to enable this particular reading activity to be 'done'; the teaching and learning resources available at the school; prior participation in science groups; prior participation in the science lesson on terrariums; teacher's prior knowledge of the kinds of activities and resources required for teaching reading, writing and science; student's knowledge of 'the way we do

teacher's prior knowledge of the students (interest, abilities and behaviours); teacher's pedagogical knowledge about the benefits of group work; the teacher's recent professional development about dialogic pedagogies [22–24]; prior experiences of the interactional conduct and behaviour

management of students in lessons e.g. teachers nominating the next speaker, complying with the

teacher's requests

**Table 1.** Practices and practice architectures of lessons.

**Practices found in (or brought to)** *the lesson* **as a site of pedagogical** 

*sayings* constituted by the discipline content or technical language of science which has particular meanings attributed to them in

the language of the English curriculum which has particular meanings attributed to English instruction

how the physical setups of material objects in the classroom space or how the students are positioned, seated or arranged in the space influence what is or can **Examples from Extract 2**

e.g. *terra, terrarium* (line 13); *aquarium* (line 14); *camouflage* (line 15); *granite* (line 29); *thorny devil* (line 31), *moss* (line 40); *lichen* (lines 42, 43); *predators* (line 47); *wedgetail eagle*

e.g. *getting ideas* (line 1); *rich vocabulary* (line 10–11; a *good metaphor* (line 36); *beautiful adjectives* (line 57); *expressive sentences* (line 57–8); *clear images in our minds* (line 58); *good discussion points* (line 63); *good information to build on and add* (line 64)

e.g. *get in a comfy spot on the floor* (line 2); *everyone facing front so you can see* (line 2); sitting *beside your talking buddies* (line 3); seated in *science gro*ups (line 10); moving *away from the bin* (line 10); or *on the floor* or sitting next to their *partner* (line 11); seeing *the picture* on the cover of the

e.g. reading - *have a bit of a read* (line 1); *getting ideas* (line 1); revising *remembering and recalling* vocabulary (lines 10); *learning* (line 11); answering teacher questions *I am gonna ask you two in a minute* (line 17); being *more explicit* (line 53); adding *good discussion points* (line 63); *listen to each other* (line 63), *you all have such good information to build on and add* (64)

e.g. working in *g*roups (11); like working with their *partner* (line 12); like *being fair* (line 20) and *waiting your turn* (line 21); *we all get a say here* (line 20); addressing the teacher appropriately *Mrs. Kallo* (line 19, 50); teacher asking for students opinion, *what do you think?* (line 51); teacher calling for *'hands up'* (line 58); or *listening to others* (line 63); *no calling* 

*everyone facing front* (line 3); sitting *beside your talking buddies* (line 3) or

book (line 17–8)

*out* (line 64)

*partner* (line 12)

(line 54)

**practice**

science

be done

*doings* shaped by particular activities forming this lesson phase like learning 'big words', having a whole class discussion, remembering and recalling

*relatings* shaped by the ways teachers relate to their students would be different to how students would relate to their peers; students address the teacher in a formal way; following

positioning of students on the floor beside their 'talking buddy' but facing towards the teacher influences how they relate to others

lesson rules

Data (presented in Extracts 1 & 2 and **Table 1**) show that in real lessons in real sites, pedagogical practices are socially, dialogically, ontologically and temporally formed. That is, pedagogical practices are socially constituted (among people like students and teachers), dialogically formed (through language and communication comprehensible to those present), locally situated (in the particular classroom in the particular school in the particular community) and accomplished in real-time happenings (in the real-time flow of activity, action and interaction). This is a site-based view that regards as central the reciprocity of influence between and across the practice architectures made apparent in the


These arrangements occur as intertwined or enmeshed dimensions of practice, enabling particular kinds of sayings, doings and relatings to exist or come to exist in classroom lessons. In other words, practices in classrooms both constitute and are constituted by the particular words used, the particular things done and the particular relationships which exist in the interactions between the people and things involved. A site based view also regards students and the teacher as being equally influential in the happeningness of accomplishing pedagogy, yet recognises too that the ways students are positioned with greater or lesser degree of power, solidarity and agency also influences the conduct of practice in the end. In these three dimensions, therefore, the extent to which the practice architectures exist in a site and influence the conduct of the practice at the time, appear to a greater or lesser degree as practices are made and remade each time, through time. These form part of the mediated nature of practices and practice architectures that also influence the possibility of other practices in the future.

In this vein, pedagogy cannot be taken to be simply an overarching term since i) this would gloss the complexity of teaching and learning as it happens at the time; ii) teaching and learning as it happens responds to the individual persons and the circumstances present in the moment; iii) at the moment of happening pedagogical practices (made visible in the specific language, the specific activities and the specific ways of relating at the time) are influenced by the specific practice architectures encountered at the time; and iv) practices are also influenced by what has been encountered previously [23]. Thus, in any one lesson, like the English lesson presented in Extract 2, practices and practice architectures may be different from those encountered and produced in any subsequent English lesson, or different to the arrangements found in a Science lesson in the same classroom (since different and characteristic vocabulary or terminology is used that render it a discipline-specific lesson, or different configurations of student groups are used). In the conduct of lessons, therefore, teachers must respond adeptly to student and community reality and diversity: cultural, linguistic, economic, regional and social differences. And as Kemmis et al. [3] showed, that responding to diversity requires understanding pedagogy as it is enacted in real sites, under real conditions at every school; that is as *site based education*.

purchase on how teachers and students enter into and create shared spaces for understanding and extending each other as learners and teachers in the semantic, physical and social spaces that form lessons. This is a view that orients to understandings about how the semantic, physical and social spaces of practice form the intersubjective nature of learning and teaching in classrooms. According to this view of practice, students become practitioners of learning practices by co-inhabiting particular intersubjective spaces with their teachers and peers in classroom lessons (over historical time and in physical space–time), and by employing particular sayings, doings and relatings appropriate to the practices of particular disciplines. Going further, the study of transcripts, like those presented in this chapter, reveals 'the collaborative ways in which members manage their conduct and their circumstances to achieve the orderly

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Returning to the questions that framed this chapter, the discussion shows how *the theory of practice architectures* adds insights into understandings about pedagogy as a practice, the ways the framework of the theory of practice architectures helps to conceptualise the sociality, situatedness and happeningness of pedagogy as it is produced in lessons. Furthermore, it offers enhanced perspectives about the local and broader systemic conditions or the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that influence pedagogical decision making as it happens in the flow of instruction. From this position, understanding the practice architectures of pedagogy, strictly applied, counters more narrow but universal conceptualisations about pedagogy as method to liberate an inherently social view of teaching and learning. It opens up more restrictive and ambiguous perspectives of pedagogy to reveal an intersubjective positioning that orients to this view: *that to speak about pedagogy is to speak about* 

The chapter aimed to offer a practice perspective on pedagogy through the lens of the theory of practice architectures and to do this it took up the challenge of reflecting critically on the teaching and learning that happens in lessons. Broadly, the chapter proposes the relevance and utility of considering the theory of practice architectures for research on pedagogy. The rendering of pedagogy presented is theoretically innovative in that it seeks to understand the more complex relationships between practices and practice architectures made apparent in the cultural-discursive, material-economic and social-political arrangements that influence the teaching and learning practices that occur in school settings. The ideas across the chapter have strong implications for teachers and leaders involved in practices of pedagogical decision making, since understanding how the practice architectures of pedagogy plays a decisive role in allocating life chances for young people is necessary for securing 'best practice' as a condition for efficacy, development and sustainability. Ultimately, this requires identifying the practice conditions that advance education itself in particular places as it leads to broader understandings about how and why some pedagogical practices persist and resist the constancy of change and the pressure of performativity, measurement and

*how practices are socially, dialogically, ontologically and temporally constituted*.

features of their activities' ([28], p. 7).

**6. Concluding remarks**

accountability.
