Questions 40-43 are based on the following passage:

The “Social Practice” of Teaching

Examining teaching from the context of a ‘social practice’

may provide us with fresh insights that will challenge the accepted

ways of seeing the world of teaching with important implications for

faculty development. First, we will look at what we mean by a social

practice and then see how teaching falls into that category. A social

practice needs to be understood in terms of purpose, context, and a

complex array of norms. A social practice is, first, a form of activity

that has grown out of common needs in a community to accomplish

certain purposes.

A system of etiquette and a means for communication

serve to make human society more civil. Second, a social practice

involves shared and mutually understood ways of behaving or

acting. Third, the patterns of action are guided by a complex array

or norms that we might call rules, standards, principles, precepts,

and unwritten policies. These norms have authority (people comply

willingly), and they are created and recreated in and through the

interactions of those involved in the practice (Case, 1990; Selman,

1989; MacIntyre, 1984; Taylor, 1983). The norms provide reasons

for the actions or behaviors of individuals. As in etiquette using

particular forms of address, handshaking, and removing or wearing

particular headwear are the behaviors that constitute the practice.

The behaviors have meaning only in terms of the context of

that particular community and purpose and can only be explained in

relation to the guiding norms. The feature of a social practice (they

develop out of the common needs of the community) is clearly

consistent with what has already been said about the purposive

nature of teaching. Teaching is an activity that has grown out of the

need in a community to pass on its knowledge, mores, and

behaviors and in medical schools these are formulated as mission

statements which include educational aims. To view teaching as a

social practice is to acknowledge, first and foremost, the

expectations society has for teaching, or in other words, the

particular purposes of teaching.

(Available in: D’Eon, M., Overgaard, V., & Harding, S. R. (2000). Advances in

Health Sciences Education, 5(2), 151–162. Accessed on May 18st, 2019.

Adapted.)