Expanding adaptive teacher expertise in higher education: using breakdowns and repairs to reinterpret teachers’ improvisation as a sociomaterial practice

This study explores adaptive teacher expertise in higher education, using heuristics of breakdown and repair from the sociology of knowledge to situate this concept in a sociomaterial exploration of classroom teaching practices and institutional environments. Data were collected through a four-month ethnographic research study including both observations and interview with university teachers in a Chinese university. It was coded and analysed to identify examples of breakdown and repair. This research shows that adaptive teacher expertise extends beyond responding to students; it also involves untangling tensions with the practices of the institute, which may lead to actions that could be regarded illegitimate. • Adaptive teacher expertise is not only about responding to students, but also to institutional demands. • Adaptive teacher expertise is not always recognised as legitimate, even when it successfully resolves a breakdown. • Adaptive teacher expertise has limits; teachers will not always be successful in resolving breakdowns.