Practice Theory and Education

‘This book is an extremely rich, broad and beautifully theorised collection of essays that takes on the complexities of practice in an erudite and accomplished style that comes together across each piece and in the weave and fabric of what has been produced overall… This is a scholarly collection that repays detailed reading and indeed, requires detailed reading and rereading. The collection challenges us all to engage with a robust set of contrasting theories and demands serious attention.’

Meg Maguire, Professor, King’s College London, UK, writing in the Journal of Education Policy

‘Practice Theory and Education explores and maps relatively uncharted territory, to problematise and theorise practice. An impressive range of theoretical resources (including Bourdieu, Vygotsky, Deleuze) are mobilised to bring practice into question. This is a creative, adventurous and significant collection of papers, written by outstanding scholars, which marks a step-change in how we understand and research practices in education. Really exciting stuff!’
Stephen J. Ball, Professor, University College London, UK

‘Insightful, wide-ranging, scholarly, and innovative, this book is a welcome addition to the growing body of work on practice theory and professional education. An important contribution, breaking new theoretical ground, it rewards careful and attentive, diffractive reading!’
Bill Green, Emeritus Professor, Charles Sturt University, Australia

‘This stunning collection troubles all the clichés about practice that structure and weigh down an applied field like education, especially the theory/practice and research/practice binaries. Authors convince us that theory, practice, and research function in an onto-epistemological arrangement in which they are not distinct but completely imbricated. They encourage us to experiment in this arrangement to produce difference, the exceptional, rather than to repeat the same, the pedestrian, the normal they refuse.’
Elizabeth Adams St. Pierre, Professor and Graduate Coordinator, University of Georgia, USA

‘The need to theorise practice in education has never been greater than it is today. It is through theoretical analysis leading to the development of cogent critique that we should be able to resist the vagaries and short-termism of so many recent interventions into education policy. This volume brings together contributions from leading scholars around the world who draw on a wonderful array of theories to demonstrate the power of such research.’
Ian Menter, Emeritus Professor, University of Oxford, UK

‘In an age when education practice has become routinized and confined to "best practices," the contributors to this volume challenge how we connect theory and practice. The authors build on a diverse range of theorists to suggest numerous paths to reconceptualizing the theory-practice connection. The ideas are invigorating and, therefore, the book warrants a close reading and rereading.’
David Hursh, Professor, University of Rochester, USA

‘This is an important and timely book. I especially welcome its emphasis on drawing from many traditional sources, yet at the same time problematising their established canons and taken for granted assumptions. In the spirit of disruption, this overall approach creates a sense of resonance and dissonance while celebrating alterity and renegotiating what practice theory is all about. A much needed perspective at this time of turmoil and crisis in education and beyond.’
Anna Stetsenko, Professor, The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, USA

'The book is inquisitive, insightful and constructive, connecting diverse fundamental theories of practice and critical analyses of today’s approaches towards practices. The book also offers new avenues in the understanding of practices which honour their complexity, interrelatedness, dynamism and strong influence in the educational, professional and policy landscapes. In the higher education sector, where competitiveness may lead to simplification and standardisation of measures and understanding of practices, it is much necessary to acknowledge the evident yet challenging non-linearity of practices and act upon it in the continuous (re)construction of educational systems. This book is a highly recommended reading to researchers and social scientists.'

Andrea Detmer, Higher Education