Theory of practice architectures (TPA) fieldwork template

Theory of Practice Architectures (TPA) is increasingly used in educational research to examine how practices are shaped by cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements. Despite growing use of TPA, limited guidance exists regarding how researchers can operationalise the theory during fieldwork and analysis. This paper examines the methodological knowledge generated through operationalising TPA within a qualitative study investigating early career teachers' experiences and perspectives as inclusive educators in two New South Wales schools. The paper explores what was learned through translating TPA from a theoretical framework into a practical research approach. Findings suggest that operationalising TPA shaped what became visible during fieldwork, directing attention beyond observable actions towards the enabling and constraining conditions that influenced practice. Three key methodological findings emerged. First, the TPA fieldwork template provided a systematic structure for classroom and school observations. Second, the template supported the integration and organisation of evidence from multiple data sources, including observations, interviews and photographs. Third, the use of TPA facilitated deductive analysis by linking observable practices to the cultural-discursive, material-economic, and social-political arrangements that shaped them. The process also revealed the value of using a singular theoretical framework across observation, data generation, and deductive analysis, strengthening coherence throughout the research process and supporting the integration of multiple sources of evidence. Furthermore, a TPA informed approach enabled the identification of contextual influences on early career teachers' practices as inclusive educators that may otherwise have remained obscured, including leadership practices, mentoring structures, instructional provision, and historically embedded school arrangements. The methodological insights were generated through the development, application, and refinement of a TPA informed fieldwork template within an empirical study of early career teachers as inclusive educators, using observational, interview and photographic data. The paper contributes methodological knowledge regarding the practical application of TPA and argues that theory informed data collection can support researchers to move beyond description towards richer explanations of how educational practices are socially, materially, and historically constituted.