ABSTRACT
Building on theories proposed by Pierre Bourdieu, Theodore Schatzki, and John Dewey, the chapter presents the conceptual framework underpinning the author’s discussion of teaching practice. An initial discussion clarifies the central notion of practice, highlighting how this embraces concrete activities, the process of teaching, and the contexts in which such performance is enacted. This is followed by a consideration of the location of practice, from Bourdieu’s field theory, which is used to highlight how the rules governing action relate to specific action sites. Practices, in the form of actual activities performed by teachers, are examined with reference to Schatzki’s notion of Doings & Sayings, to which is added the third element of Relatings. Following this is a reflection on the question of ‘changing practice’, which uses Dewey’s principle of Learning by Doing to stress the possibility of transformation emerging as the result of experience-based, experimental learning. A concluding part discusses practice theory in relation to globalisation and internationalisation, thus preparing the ground for subsequent chapters on international education.
