Understanding spaces of teacher agency: a case study of the experiences and practices of secondary school teachers in England

Abstract

Drawing on conceptual frameworks of the ecological approach to teacher agency and spaces of agency, we explored how and in what ways secondary school teachers in England (n = 269) identify, move between, and create spaces of agency, and the features of spaces of agency. Drawing on data gathered from an online survey, we considered the ways in which the different dimensions of agency, and the different aspects within those dimensions, interact. Teachers negotiated spaces of agency in the present through the ‘messy entanglement’ of the cultural, material and structural aspects of the practical-evaluative dimension, together with the iterational dimension of agency. Spaces of agency are inherently relational, open and dynamic. In the context of educational reform, this research highlights the importance of agency as a key concept which informs the educational structures created by government and school leaders that constrain and enable teachers' practice.