Social practice, as a theoretical construct, seeks to determine the link between practice and context within social situations. This construct has long been an interest of mine, as an underscoring consideration in the classroom and as a means for evaluating and negotiating the greater school organization.

Just as an architectural structure is formed and supported by its framework, a democratic education is formed and supported by the infrastructures of a school. In order to create an environment of sustainable and transferable democratic learning, schools must provide opportunities for reflection and problem solving, supported and fostered by tangible experiences occurring in classrooms every day. We have come to know that no educational program is one-dimensional; every classroom and every school is multi-faceted, with many complexities that interplay, that interweave, and that unravel for students and teachers every day. In attempting to offer opportunities to all involved, a democratic education must uphold the responsibility of preparing students for the wider society where there is not equal opportunity. Therein lies the paradoxical role of a democratic education – hoping to teach about equal opportunity when equal opportunity is not always available in reality. According to Giroux (1992), this educational dilemma parallels a broader circumstance of democracy’s meaning and practice outside of the classrooms’ walls, which has been oftentimes trivialized and has gone unquestioned in schools.

A democratic education has largely gone unquestioned in schools. Historically, schools promoted a one-size-fits-all assumption of education. According to Kliebard (1995), humanists, such as Eliot and Harris, viewed the schools as responsible for transmitting the academic traditions of Western civilization. In the late 1800s, schools were seen as the ultimate democratic promise; in that, students were schooled in the “five windows of the soul,” focusing on morality, religion, and citizenship (Kliebard, 1995; Spring, 2001).

Many generations of thought-leaders later see the school curriculum as a hopeful and measured way of linking the interests of the community with the children it serves (Silin, 1992). Rather than being pre-determined and standardized, this approach to curriculum is emergent and negotiated, which epitomizes a democratic education. This democratic model to school involves the presentation and critical reflection of multiple perspectives and voices.

The Taking-Up of a Social Practice Perspective

Coupled with a multiplicity of voices, classroom practices must enable students to examine conflicting knowledge, claims, and perspectives. Students should be invited to leave “familiar shores” of learned habits and engage in critical inquiry in order to navigate through cherished beliefs, take the risk to “see differently,” and make the familiar strange, so that we do not simply perpetuate what we have been taught without consideration (Boler, 1994; Heubner, 1975; Pailliotet & Callister, 1999), but rather, consider deeply what we have been taught and perpetuate those ideas, along with others. Concepts and assumptions of democracy and citizenship should be problematized and multiplicity appreciated (Fine et al., 1997; Orner, 1992).

Teachers and students must become thinkers who are committed to positioning themselves and to participating in action to help our nation, as a whole, “…close the gap between its ideals and realities” (Banks, 1993, p. 5). A closer step to a democratic education does not require the resolution of all conflicts, but, rather, it must compel educators to accept the challenge that all our students deserve the right to think for themselves and to dream (Greene, 1971). To fundamentally re-conceptualize these educational underpinnings is the embrace of a social practice perspective, which is critical to building democratization. Embracing a social practice perspective allows teachers and students the opportunity to explore democratic skills and practices.

A social practice perspective is teaching and learning for possibility more so than for accomplishment. It typically involves themes of democracy, self-awareness, imagination, public space, history, and long-standing social structures. When teaching and learning through social embrace, teachers and students begin to connect the conduct of themselves to others. Students begin to understand that actions and thoughts are not mutually exclusive, and, regardless of the position one assumes in society, everyone could have something to contribute. The taking-up of a social practice perspective, ultimately, strives for all students to become informed, active, and respectful members of their communities (Wade, 2007).

An Implicit and Explicit Social Practice Perspective in One School

Most schools embrace social practices that are quite prevalent yet often unrecognized, as they are embedded in everyday routines. However, it is based on these implicit practices that more explicit programs have the foundation to be built. Commonly, schools that teach with and about care and fairness, beginning at the earliest grades, have the start of a social practice education. Teachings that address empathy, points of view, and relating to others are solid building blocks for more explicit programming. Schools that value and model dignity and decency as an approach more so than the content they produce are inherently child-centered (Wade, 2007). Those who value processes as collaborative and respectful of voice naturally uphold the underpinnings of a social practice perspective.

Recognizing the power of verbal and nonverbal interactions within classrooms and the power of the implicit teaching, middle school years are particularly formative ones. Kahn (2001) advocated that students who are no longer children, but not yet fully adolescent, require an appropriate program to meet their specific needs. For this reason, professional middle school educators must rely on many roles in order to meet the needs of and interact with middle school students. Cognizant of the interactive impact between middle school students and adults, teachers must be decision-makers and, most of all, reflective thinkers (Zaragoza, 1997). Our district’s middle school made conscious steps to embrace a social practice perspective. Stemming from our school district’s Statement of Purpose (2020), which states, “We exist to foster a community of learners in which each participant’s interests, gifts and talents, dreams, and personal-best are explored, cultivated, expressed, and celebrated” (oldtappanschools.org), middle school teachers began to look for opportunities to allow their students to think critically, acknowledge their multiplicity of voices, and learn more deeply about themselves and the community through the eyes of others.

To do this, teachers developed an Environmental Awareness course for seventh graders. Throughout this course, students explore recycling in our local area, learn about sustainability, learn how to grow foods, and donate foods to a local food pantry. Another group of teachers developed Changemaker Projects for eighth graders. Through this initiative, the students learn about multiplicity of perspectives, analyzing sources for validation, researching, and forming arguments to support causes of their choosing. Students’ interests range from local issues to global issues. This is an endeavor that allows students to have an impact on a something in their lives, while also learning about social responsibility. They create, execute, document, and reflect upon a plan that is in-service of others.

Through this school’s Environmental Awareness course and Changemaker Project initiative, reflective conversations shape and are shaped by the work of our teachers and students. Acknowledging the power of classroom dynamics and the voices of those who fill our classrooms is a basic tenet of a social practice perspective.

This approach to curriculum and teaching is emergent and negotiated, which is at the heart of a democratic education. This democratic model honors multiple perspectives and voices. Herein, there is a firm belief – in schools – that students’ and teachers’ experiences are rife with opportunities to learn to think critically, to problematize, and to consider alternate possibilities for real-world issues.