Teacher Agency: An Ecological Approach

Description

Recent worldwide education policy has reinvented teachers as agents of change and professional developers of the school curriculum. Academic literature has analyzed changes in how teacher professionalism is conceived in policy and in practice but Teacher Agency provides a fresh perspective on this issue, drawing upon an ecological theory of agency. Using this model for understanding agency, Mark Priestley, Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson explore empirical findings from the 'Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change' project, funded by the UK-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Drawing together this research with the authors' international experiences and perspectives, Teacher Agency addresses theoretical and practical issues of international significance. The authors illustrate how teacher agency should be understood not only in terms of individual capacity of teachers, but also in respect of the cultures and structures of schooling. Title Page Imprint Page  Contents Acknowledgements Introduction: Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change Introduction Focusing on the teacher: What this book is not about Scotland’s ‘Curriculum for Excellence’ The ‘Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change’ project A preview of the chapters: What this book is about Chapter 1 Understanding Teacher Agency Introduction Conceptualizing agency Theorizing agency: An ecological approach Understanding teacher agency The iterational, practical–evaluative and projective aspects of teachers’ work Concluding comments Chapter 2 Teacher Beliefs and Aspirations Introduction Teacher beliefs: An overview of the literature Exploring teacher beliefs Discussion and conclusions Chapter 3 Teacher Vocabularies and Discourses Introduction Talking about education (1) Talking about education (2) Discussion and conclusions Chapter 4 The Importance of Relationships Introduction Teacher professional networks Relationships and teacher agency Conclusions Chapter 5 Performativity and Teacher Agency Introduction Performativity, professionalism and agency Performativity in Scotland Performativity and teacher agency Conclusions Chapter 6 Individual, Cultural and Structural Framings of Agency Introduction What have we found? Fostering teacher agency What does teacher agency make possible? Or why teacher agency is needed! Conclusions: Fostering Teacher Agency Introduction Macro-level policy Meso-level curriculum development Micro-level curriculum enactment Conclusions Notes References Index