In this post I would like to introduce some concepts from a well-known social theory, namely, structuration theory and provide an argument as to how these concepts allow us to think of education, and in particular, teaching. The post is to emphasise the role of students and not just the teacher in creating an environment that encourages deep-learning. The post begins by briefly describing the main concept of structuration theory and then moves on to its application to teaching.
Structuration Theory
Structuration was developed by Anthony Giddens and has been applied to many fields including IS and organisational studies (Giddens, 1984). The duality of structure as proposed by Giddens is the central aspect of structuration theory, where structure and agency are viewed as being mutually constitutive; structure is not independent of agency and agency is not independent of structure. Importantly, structuration theory views the social agent as being reflexive, knowledgeable, purposive, and always possessing the ability to act otherwise. Despite the social agent having a high level of autonomy, social practices are not random and purely voluntaristic, but rather they are recursive and routinised; ordered and stable across space and time. In constituting social practices, social agents draw upon rules and resources which can be enabling and restrictive and are institutionalised features of society.
Application to Teaching
Thinking of teaching through the lens of structuration theory immediately highlights the role of normal everyday practices and the impact that these can have on the environment of the ‘classroom’. As teachers, we acknowledge the importance of the environment of the classroom, and the role that we play in maintaining or developing this. Notably, as structuration theory emphasises the reflexivity, knowledgeability and purposiveness of every social agent, further to our role as teachers, we should also appreciate the role of our students in contributing to the class environment, and the impact that their participation can have on this. By encouraging our students to continually participate and engage, we can recurrently reproduce an environment which fosters deep-learning. On the flip side, if we find that our classroom environment is stagnate, we should take action and think of those practices that may help in reproducing a different environment. We know that despite our actions influencing environment and this developed environment influencing our actions, this is not absolute or set in stone, as we can always do something to promote deep-learning in our classrooms; the challenge is to think with our students and not independent of them, of those practices that may help to encourage this deep-learning.
References
Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: Polity.
The Role of Students in Environment Building
In this post I would like to introduce some concepts from a well-known social theory, namely, structuration theory and provide an argument as to how these concepts allow us to think of education, and in particular, teaching. The post is to emphasise the role of students and not just the teacher in creating an environment that encourages deep-learning. The post begins by briefly describing the main concept of structuration theory and then moves on to its application to teaching.Structuration Theory
Structuration was developed by Anthony Giddens and has been applied to many fields including IS and organisational studies (Giddens, 1984). The duality of structure as proposed by Giddens is the central aspect of structuration theory, where structure and agency are viewed as being mutually constitutive; structure is not independent of agency and agency is not independent of structure. Importantly, structuration theory views the social agent as being reflexive, knowledgeable, purposive, and always possessing the ability to act otherwise. Despite the social agent having a high level of autonomy, social practices are not random and purely voluntaristic, but rather they are recursive and routinised; ordered and stable across space and time. In constituting social practices, social agents draw upon rules and resources which can be enabling and restrictive and are institutionalised features of society.Application to Teaching
Thinking of teaching through the lens of structuration theory immediately highlights the role of normal everyday practices and the impact that these can have on the environment of the ‘classroom’. As teachers, we acknowledge the importance of the environment of the classroom, and the role that we play in maintaining or developing this. Notably, as structuration theory emphasises the reflexivity, knowledgeability and purposiveness of every social agent, further to our role as teachers, we should also appreciate the role of our students in contributing to the class environment, and the impact that their participation can have on this. By encouraging our students to continually participate and engage, we can recurrently reproduce an environment which fosters deep-learning. On the flip side, if we find that our classroom environment is stagnate, we should take action and think of those practices that may help in reproducing a different environment. We know that despite our actions influencing environment and this developed environment influencing our actions, this is not absolute or set in stone, as we can always do something to promote deep-learning in our classrooms; the challenge is to think with our students and not independent of them, of those practices that may help to encourage this deep-learning.References
Giddens, A. (1984). The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: Polity.