‘Living Well and Teaching Well’: Exploring How Beginning Teachers Enact Good Pedagogical Praxis in Their Everyday Practices in Historically Hard-to-Staff Schools

The notion of pedagogical praxis underpins the work of La Trobe University’s Nexus program: a social justice oriented, alternative pathway into secondary teaching for historically hard-to-staff secondary schools in Victoria, Australia. This chapter maps the experiences of beginning teachers in the Nexus program as they live and work in a time of complexity and rapid change. It explores the meaning of ‘living well’ and its relationship to ‘teaching well’ through a practice lens, arguing that sometimes the enactment of ‘good pedagogical praxis’ can be difficult amidst the pressures associated with early career teaching. We use the theory of practice architectures to discuss these challenges as beginning teachers balance their commitment to creating socially just and equitable spaces for learning with the realities of contemporary schooling. We draw on stories from four Nexus teachers to examine the site-based arrangements that enable and constrain their ability to ‘teach well’. Ways in which they can enact morally and ethically informed practices while negotiating the changing conditions of their school environment are identified. This leads to a discussion of beginning teachers and a praxis-oriented view of pedagogy.