Peter John Grootenboer

• EdD
• Professor at Griffith University

The role of middle leaders in Australian schools as influencers on classroom practice has been the focus of increased attention in recent years. Although there is recognition of the importance of middle leaders, there are gaps in what we understand about their practices and the nuances of practice that occur due to site-based conditions, or practic...

The theory of practice architectures has been emerging in common parlance in qualitative research investigating the nature and conduct of education (and other) practices since it was first introduced in 2008. The theory was developed to capitalize on “the practice turn” in social life and organizational activity. Since its inception, the theory of...

School systems in Australia, and internationally, are focused on improving classroom teaching and learning to enhance student outcomes. Middle leaders (MLs) are increasingly required to lead school-based development initiatives to improve classroom practices. Informed by previous research on middle-leading and the theory of practice architectures,...

This chapter addresses an important aspect of research—the dissemination of findings. Reporting practice-based research assists in sharpening understandings and developing deeper insights about the significant and influential dimensions of practices as they are experienced in different practicescapes. Since practices have an indissoluble relationsh...

This chapter addresses the study of practice within a practice paradigm that suggests the legitimacy of the evidence and, according to the theory of practice architectures, the interpretation of it must centre on practices and their practice architectures. This idea is necessary since the basic unit of analysis is practices. Specifically, the chapt...

This chapter describes the characteristic interconnections between practices by specifically outlining the theory of ecologies of practices that accounts for how practices are ecologically arranged (in practice arrangement bundles) amid broader exigencies and locally encountered contingencies. This is an important conceptual resource that makes it...

In this chapter, we expand on ideas about the critical importance of understanding and accounting for the locally situatedness, and so site ontological nature, of practices as a key foundation of the theory of practice architectures. According to the theory, understanding the nature of practices demands attention to the realities of the kind of nua...

This chapter presents the theory of practice architectures as a social practical and critical theory for understanding practices, practice architectures, and practicescapes. The theory is located in a broad family of practice theories which typically seek to explain society, culture, and human interactions within the social, material, and semantic...

This chapter provides a critical review of Australasian research in the affective domain in mathematics education from 2020 to 2023. We first locate the chapter in relation to broader discussions of the affective domain and previous developments in this area, and then discuss the recent developments in affective research related to students, mathem...

This paper presents an examination of identity in and as practice as it relates to a group of educational practitioners known as middle leaders. Drawing on the theory of practice architectures as a site‐ontological approach for conceptualising educational leading, the paper considers an individual's identity as being informed by, and accomplished a...

While educational institutions are increasingly acknowledging the importance of middle leaders for improving teaching, there is little research on middle leaders’ specific leading practices compared with, for example, principals. Evidence delineating and describing specific middle leading practice is scant. Drawing on practice theory, this article...

This systematic quantitative literature review was conducted to analyse and synthesise the extant corpus of knowledge on dialogic pedagogy within school settings, and thus identify theoretical and methodological gaps in the literature, which might suggest new avenues for research. A search of eight databases (2014-2020) revealed an initial pool of...

This short paper reports on changes to two compulsory mathematics education courses for pre-service teachers (PSTs) that were modified as a response to the Covid-19 outbreak in 2020. The modification required that all elements of the course-lectures, workshops, and tutorials were to be offered fully online. Our findings indicate three main themes a...

This article proposes a way of engaging students in mathematical open inquiry using a video clip as stimulus. It discusses findings from a recent study conducted in a Year 5 (9-10 years old) classroom in which the students' problem-posed and developed personal mathematical inquiries based on a video prompt. The article highlights the benefits for t...

In this paper, a site ontological approach to practice seeks to understand how educational development can be accomplished through the practices of ‘middle leaders’ - educators who exercise their leading ‘between’ the principal and the teaching staff. Analysis of two vignettes of leading in extraordinary circumstances untangles the web of interrela...

Critical action research is a praxis-oriented professional learning practice. Such practice requires a move beyond viewing action research as simply a technical or practical method for teacher development; instead, it strives for critical and participatory research. When action research is reduced to a technicist process for professional learning,...

The study reported here was conceptualised using a theoretical framework that included three dimensions of engagement; emotional, behavioural, and cognitive, and these were used to structure the data collection and analysis vis- -vis learning mathematics outdoors. This comparative case study involved 34 students from two Year 6 classes at a Queensl...

This paper argues for reconceptualising an educational curriculum that locates its primacy in practices. The argument is framed around the core purpose of education: to help people ‘live well in a world worth living in’. Living well and learning about what this means is typically guided by epistemologically based curricula, and conversely, school c...

Research to date is rich in its claim that practice development in schools, and the leadership and professional learning that it demands, requires relational trust. However, reasonings for, and understandings about, relational trust are described mainly in general terms, leaving its complexity and multidimensionality implicit. Much trust research i...

This chapter backgrounds and critically reviews Australasian research in the affective domain in mathematics education from 2016–2019. It first locates the body of research within broader considerations of an affective domain and then explores the individual affective aspects of beliefs, self-efficacy, identity, attitudes, motivation and interest,...

The current interest and focus on STEM education is largely a response to affective issues related to participation and engagement in mathematics and science. Concerns about low levels of interest and engagement are key factors in students opting out of these subjects, attaining low levels of achievement leading to declining enrolments and concerns...

Uncovering the hidden imperative of communicative spaces: Negotiating uncomfortable truths through action research Critical action research is a praxis-oriented professional learning practice. Such practice requires a move beyond viewing action research as simply a technical or practical method for teacher development; instead, it strives for rese...

Increasingly, educational systems are appreciating the importance of middle leaders leading educational improvement in schools. Schools depend on middle leaders to lead site-based educational development in areas including curriculum development, teacher professional learning and student learning improvement. Middle leaders are in a unique but comp...

Over the last two decades, changes in educational policies have led to increased teacher accountability and the advent of high stakes testing. In Australia, concern has been expressed over the results from international and national tests such as NAEP and NAPLAN Key stakeholders in education have therefore, explored ways to improve learner results....

Purpose The authors argue that middle leaders are the key educators in school-based educational development. Schools often secure small-scale funding to engage in government or systemic initiatives, and these projects require a leadership “close to the classroom” if they are to realise sustainable educational gains. This leadership often comes from...

Financial literacy education (FLE) typically focuses on teaching skills and capabilities that promote individual wealth accumulation—for example, the importance of working, budgeting and saving. In this article, we argue the need to move from an individual wealth accumulation focus in FLE to a praxis approach to FLE. We outline the shortcomings of...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how Catholic district offices support school leaders’ instructional leadership practices at times of major reform. Design/methodology/approach The paper employs the theory of practice architectures as a lens through which to examine local site-based responses to system-wide reforms in two Australian...

Learning mathematics is an important and integral part of the primary school curriculum. For many, mathematics achievement is typically associated with skills and formulae application. However, an unintended outcome of learning mathematics in the primary years of schooling is that many students learn to dislike mathematics and regard it as dull and...

Bullying is known to be prevalent across social settings for children, particularly, for those who have disability and intermittently gifted students. What remains relatively underresearched is the phenomenon of bullying in the lives of twice-exceptional children. This article presents findings about the bullying experiences of eight twice-exceptio...

This study presents an exploration of the lived experiences of eight twice-exceptional children through their own voices. The narratives reveal a meta-narrative of stigma where identified contextual factors related to discrimination, perceptions of difference, and stigmatized views of disability, giftedness, and subsequently twice-exceptionality. E...

This study presents an exploration of the lived experiences of eight twice-exceptional children through their own voices. The narratives reveal a meta-narrative of stigma where identified contextual factors related to discrimination, perceptions of difference, and stigmatized views of disability, giftedness, and subsequently twice-exceptionality. E...

This article presents a practice perspective of mathematics pedagogy and mathematics learning, by considering the interconnections between how developing a mathematics identity is bound up with the sayings, doings and relatings one experiences in classroom mathematical encounters. Broadly, mathematics education is fundamentally about stirring stude...

Educational researchers have invested much in isolating the specific ‘drivers’ that influence school change and teacher professional development. In this vein, this article draws attention to necessarily situated understandings of practice development through research into the nature of ‘middle leading’ for site based education development in one p...

Det har länge varit känt att ledarskap är viktigt för utveckling av förskola och skola och att ett bra ledarskap är en nyckelfaktor för en lyckad utbildning. Att ledarskap gör skillnad i utbildningssammanhang, och har betydelse på alla nivåer och för alla skolformer, är ett påstående grundat i många års forskning från olika länder och kontinenter....

What are the possibilities for education in an era of schooling? This is a persistent question and indeed challenge, for educators and educational researchers in contemporary times. At its core, education is always a promise for and process of renewal, growth and change; thus, the job of renewal, growth and change too must work to fulfil its promis...

There are always perennial and critical questions to be asked about the nature, conduct and study of education. Who is it for? What is its purpose? Is it just? How does it happen? How does one educate? What is education? Such questions lead us into the complex territory of interrelated educational practices involving student learning, teaching, lea...

Leadership is an area of focused attention in the educational literature, and it is widely acknowledged that effective leadership is essential for the provision of quality education in schools (Leithwood et al., 2006; Robinson, Hohepa, & Lloyd, 2009). Indeed, there is a plethora of books and articles that are based both on research studies and scho...

What will be clear from the previous chapters is that educational middle leading (like any practice), is a site-based practice. Also, there has been a consistent thread concerning middle leading as focused on curriculum and professional development. These two key features will be the focus of this chapter. To ground this discussion, the chapter ope...

Practice philosophy and theories are the philosophical/theoretical framework for the analysis in this book. Practices are coherent human activities that are made up of characteristic ‘sayings’, ‘doings’, and ‘relatings’ in the ‘cultural–discursive’, ‘material–economic’, and ‘social–political’ dimensions, respectively. Practices are situated and soc...

In the previous chapter, a detailed account was provided of middle leading as a practice—that is, to understand and appreciate middle leading as being made up of characteristic sayings, doings and relatings. This way of interrogating this form of leading is an alternative approach to the qualities and characteristics perspective that has dominated...

In this final chapter, the ideas and arguments set out previously are drawn together by conceptualising educational middle leading practices as a form of praxis. This has been noted throughout the book, now the purpose is to emphasise the moral and ethical dimension of middle leading practice, and that this is only understood in the actual doing of...

In this chapter, the focus will be on leadership as it has been conceptualised and understood in the literature. This will be a selective review of the educational leadership literature, primarily focusing on those which have some connection to middle leading. Specifically, a significant part of this chapter is devoted to shared models and/or theor...

In this chapter, middle leading practices are considered in relation to other practices that are apparent in the particular educational site. Indeed, the interaction between middle leading practices and other practices was evident in the previous chapter, where the focus was on practice architectures, and, for example it was clear that the practice...

In the preceding chapters, the empirical, theoretical and literature foundations related to middle leading have been outlined. Now, I draw on these foundations to consider middle leading as a practice. This practice turn (Schatzki, Knorr Cetina, & von Savigny, 2001) is an ontological perspective on educational leading and is a deliberate focus on t...

The claim has been made earlier that the practice approach to middle leading presented in this book is fundamentally an ontological approach. Therefore, in this chapter, some empirical studies are outlined that show the ontological nature of middle leading practices. To understand the practices of middle leading, a range of research approaches are...

This book is a Festschrift for Emeritus Professor Stephen Kemmis, who has a long and eminent career as an educational researcher and academic spanning over 40 years. His work in curriculum, evaluation, critical practice, action research and practice theory has been influential across all continents of the world. The book examines critical perspecti...

Learning in primary schools is typically located in the province of a classroom. Classrooms provide the cultural, linguistic, physical, and relational space for student learning. One way to understand the nature of this space – the learning space – is to reach beyond the boundaries of the four walls of the classroom (as a type of container object)...

The development of Early Childhood Education in Sweden is a central concern for national and local government, and for school districts and preschools. While principals have the responsibility for, and a particular role in, leading education in the preschools, they are somewhat removed from the core work of teachers. In this article, we argue that...

Literature relating to student satisfaction with university teaching has increasingly drawn attention to the impact of positive staff-student relationships on how students rate the overall quality of their learning experience. These positive relationships are characterised, we argue, not by excessive friendliness or “dumbed-down” courses, but rathe...

Drawing upon key ideas taken from practice theory and making use of philosophical concepts developed by Parker Palmer, this chapter identifies diverse approaches to the development of rapport among university students studying in different learning contexts. Acknowledging the inherent complexity of rapport as a term, the chapter goes on to highligh...

This chapter describes the fluid methodologies used in a narrative research study involving interviewing children identified as gifted and also having a disability—twice exceptional children. Within the qualitative literature encompassing young people identified as twice exceptional, there is limited discussion of interview techniques and protocols...

This book examines the way in which the “practice turn” in education and pedagogy offers unique perspectives on the nature of educational work. Through a plurality of “practice theories” deeper understandings emerge about a range of education and concepts, providing useful tools for advancing and developing practice theory in education and pedagogy...

Although much has been written about tertiary students’ and pre-service teachers’ ideas about mathematics very little has included the voices of school students. In this chapter we report on findings from a large quantitative New Zealand study (n = 1784) and four smaller qualitative studies (from Australia and New Zealand) of middle years students...

It is widely acknowledged that students come to dislike mathematics, and see it as more irrelevant and distasteful, the further they progress through their schooling. In this chapter we examine this issue through empirical data and relevant literature to identify possible stages in students’ schooling where their affective views of mathematics appe...

The teaching and learning of Geometry has been identified in much of the literature as being problematic and the mathematics strand where many teachers feel least knowledgeable and least confident to teach. This paper describes a school-based project which sought to develop teacher knowledge and confidence in this strand via the use of Professional...

Practices such as formal focused professional dialogue groups, coaching conversations, mentoring conversations and professional learning staff meetings have been taken up in schools and pre-schools as part of long-term action research and development activities to improve the learning and teaching practices. The development of relational trust has...

This is the fourth chapter on affective issues to appear in the Mathematics Education Research Group of Australasia (MERGA) reviews of research in mathematics education. In our review of topics and findings of studies that have been published in Australasia during the period 2012–2015, some themes and issues have been identified that appear notewor...

In this article, we utilise recent theorising on praxis and educational development to explore how academics in universities can foster public, institutional and more personal development, even as they are challenged by what are sometimes described as more ‘managerial’ and ‘neoliberal’ conditions. The research draws upon a variety of sources of dat...

This book examines the beliefs, attitudes, values and emotions of students in Years 5 to 8 (aged 10 to 14 years) about mathematics and mathematics education. Fundamentally, this book focuses on the development of affective views and responses towards mathematics and mathematics learning. Furthermore, it seems that students develop their more negati...

Through their middle school years (Years 5–9) students develop beliefs about mathematics and mathematics education which are substantially influenced by their experiences in mathematics classrooms. In this chapter we report and discuss the findings from our empirical studies related to the mathematical beliefs and attitudes of middle year’s student...

There has been a long and consistent history of poor affective outcomes in mathematics education however the findings reported in this book give hope that issues of the past can be overcome. Following a selective review of literature related to mathematics teaching and learning, the concept of mathematical identity is discussed as a way of addressi...

There is a general understanding that mathematics is not popular or well-liked among students and people in general. In this chapter we report on findings of t-tests and ANOVAs from a large quantitative New Zealand study (n = 1784) which investigated the affective responses of students vis-à-vis gender, cultural identity, socio-economic status (SES...

The affective domain has been of interest to mathematics educators and researchers for many years. However, there has been a lack of clarity about the nature and make-up of the affective domain, and so in this chapter we begin by first discussing a conceptual background and framework of affect in relation to mathematics education. This is a contest...

This book examines the beliefs, attitudes, values and emotions of students in Years 5 to 8 (aged 10 to 14 years) about mathematics and mathematics education. Fundamentally, this book focuses on the development of affective views and responses towards mathematics and mathematics learning. Furthermore, it seems that students develop their more negati...

The importance of leadership for improving educational outcomes in schools has been widely promoted. However, the nature of leadership practices, in context, has received less attention in the educational leadership literature. In this article, we present a case study of the specific leadership practices that developed in one school site serving th...

This article examines practices in English education through the lens of praxis and the theory of practice architectures. Drawing on empirical material collected in two case study schools in New South Wales and Queensland, we outline a view of praxis and practice that allows English educators to re-imagine the nature of their pedagogical work. It d...

To improve the quality of education, the Kuwaiti Ministry of Education has encouraged schools to implement inquiry-based instruction. This study identifies psychosocial factors that predict teachers’ intention to use inquiry-based instruction in their science classrooms. An adapted model of Ajzen’s (1985) theory of planned behaviour—the Science Ado...

While principals and systemic leaders have a significant role to play in leading, supporting and structuring mathematics education, their influence tends to be indirect and general. However, middle leaders such as curriculum leaders, senior teachers, and faculty heads, exercise their leadership much closer to the classroom, and as such they can hav...

This article reveals the nature of actions, discussions and relationships which helped forge school-community partnerships for engaged student learning and wider community participation for students and families living under difficult socio-economic circumstances. Specifically, the article draws upon interviews with key personnel and staff involved...

This is the third chapter on affective issues to appear in MERGA reviews of research in mathematics education and as such reflects the ongoing importance of affective issues to the mathematics education research community. The first two chapters (Grootenboer, Lomas, & Ingram, 2008; Schuck & Grootenboer, 2004) noted a continuing move away from studi...

In this article we present a case study of a school community engaging in what we describe as educational praxis ‐ a form of committed learning to meet the needs of poor and refugee students in a disadvantaged community in Australia. The school, part of the Catholic systemic school sector in Australia, shares its site with the local Catholic parish...

We argue the importance of praxis in financial literacy education teaching practices that is, the moral and ethical nature of teaching and learning. Post the global financial crisis of 2008, the teaching of financial literacy has become a priority for many countries. Indigenous communities are often the target of broad FLE strategies and/or governm...

The relevance of financial literacy education (FLE) in a remote Canadian First Nation community was explored after a generic FLE workshop failed to gain traction. To understand the relevance of FLE in the Community, group interviews, a Community Summit and field notes were used as sources of evidence. During the analysis phase practice theory was u...

In this chapter, a view of praxis and practice is outlined that allows us to re-imagine the work of teaching, learning and leading. It does so, first, by reconnecting with a lifeworld perspective on practice as a human and social activity with indissoluble moral, political and historical dimensions. Practice always forms and transforms the one who...

In this Chapter, we describe how teachers in a school district re-imagined professional development as practice development. While many people in education see professional development and professional learning as the development of people, here we discuss it as a practice of developing practices. The chapter is organised in four parts. First, we p...