Enriching and extending the ecological perspective on teacher agency

Purpose: Vocational education and training (VET) in Finland takes place more and more at workplaces. Hence, the teachers' cooperation with companies has become important. Little research has been done on the teacher's activities in business cooperation and the factors affecting business cooperation. The teacher's decisions and choices are made possible through the teacher's autonomy and agency. The teacher's agency is understood as a capacity to utilise autonomy. In this study, the teacher's agency is reflected in their activity in developing entrepreneurial learning environments and activity in developing regional entrepreneurship education (EE). The study was conducted among Finnish VET teachers. In Finland EE is understood in its broad sense and the teacher is in a significant position choosing where, how and with whom they implement EE. The main research question in this article is: How does the VET teacher's agency in EE affect their cooperation with entrepreneurs? Methods: The data consists of 933 vocational teachers' responses. An open online survey tailored for teachers was used in the data collection (Measurement Tool for Entrepreneurship Education). Ordinal regression analysis has been used to analyse the data.Results: The teacher's agency is a significant factor explaining his/her level of cooperation with entrepreneurs. The results show that the teacher's activity, desire, and ability to express agency, strengthens the use of companies in teaching. Surprisingly, the teacher's personal entrepreneurial background and the number of companies in the area do not act as explanatory factors for entrepreneurs' cooperation. The study makes several suggestions on teachers' perceptions of the factors explaining and creating agency as an entrepreneurship educator. Conclusions: In Finland, teachers' autonomy is high. Teachers have the freedom to utilise their agency in many ways. They can, for example, make their own decisions and renew their teaching in many ways if they are willing and encouraged to do so. It seems like the question is more about management and teacher identity. The teacher's agency should be strengthened, and the teacher should be given the option to act more freely. Furthermore, the teacher's autonomy is not enough; agency is also needed.

Teacher autonomy and teacher agency are positively related to teachers’ motivation and engagement in teaching. This paper combines the concepts of teacher autonomy and teacher agency to study how Brazilian and Norwegian lower secondary teachers respond to an accountability system marked by a centralised outcomes‐based curriculum and testing. Teacher autonomy concerns the relations between teachers’ scope of action and the state’s role in providing resources and regulations that extend or constrain this scope of action. Teacher agency refers to teachers’ professional action based on their perceptions and experiences of their scope of action as they navigate accountability to respond to educational dilemmas at hand. The findings show that teachers navigate policies in a variety of forms to fit their needs and beliefs and those of their students. Brazilian teachers have a constrained scope of action and possibilities for achieving agency in comparison with their Norwegian counterparts. Norwegian teachers also have their individual autonomy constrained by extended state control over the curriculum and testing. However, the practice of collective work opens up for the exercise of agency because of the possibility of reflection and collective construction of teaching plans and strategies that frame and legitimise teaching work.

In this paper, I think with agential realism to offer a re-conceptualization of teacher agency while considering the axiological significance, or response-ability, of such an undertaking. The ethical aspect of re-conceptualizing teacher agency is imperative since it produces significant implications on the power dynamics of teaching. I explore possibilities to re-conceptualize teacher agency through a diffractive approach, where I consider theoretical insights from humanist, posthumanist, and new materialist literature, and illustrative examples of a teacher from the United States. I explain how teacher agency could be referred to as teacher agencies which denote multicausal, multidirectional, and indeterministic characteristics. In line with a response-able re-conceptualization, I discuss key implications of thinking with teacher agencies, which includes working with teacher agencies as a paradox, divorcing from teacher autonomy, and re-configuring onto-epistemic makings of teachers and teaching.

The role of teacher agency in shaping school practices is receiving increasing attention from leadership and management researchers, who are beginning to recognise its significance in school improvement. This study aims to explore the ways and circumstances under which principals’ empowering leadership behaviours facilitate teacher agency. In this regard, data were collected from 1902 public secondary school teachers in Türkiye. The study first examined the relationship between empowering leadership and teacher agency. Then it tested the mediation effect of teacher autonomy and the moderating effect of distributed leadership on this relationship. Subsequently, the study investigated the relationship between empowering leadership and teacher agency, by testing the mediating role of teacher autonomy and the moderating effects of gender, school district, and seniority. The findings support a partial mediation model stating that the principal's empowering leadership approach affects teacher agency both directly and indirectly through teacher autonomy. Furthermore, distributed leadership and the school district were found to play a moderating role between empowering leadership and teacher agency. This study provides valuable insights for practitioners and researchers who work in similar hierarchical and collectivist cultures, such as Türkiye.

Teachers are both controlling agents and controlled subjects, in any educational system. Educational research has approached this dual role from a variety of practical and theoretical angles, the most notable perhaps being the perspective of teacher autonomy as it is negotiated between, simply speaking, structure and agency. This essay urges to more critically illuminate the relationship between our conceptions of teacher agency on the one side, and student empowerment on the other. It discusses under what circumstances increased teacher agency may lead to more student empowerment, and generally to a more democratic understanding of schooling; and conversely, how strengthened teacher agency may be able to constrain student empowerment. (DIPF/Orig.)

Purpose: This study aims to reinterpret the concept of agency that appeared in the 2022 revised curriculum, and to clarify that teacher agency and student agency are compatible by identifying the relationship between teacher agency and student agency. Methods: In this study, subject analysis is conducted focusing on literature review in order to re-conceptualize the agency revealed in the 2022 revised curriculum and the OECD Education 2030 project. Accordingly, in the light of Palmer's educational philosophy, the concept and establishment requirements of agency are defined to explore the relationship between teacher agency and student agency. Results: As a result of this study, it was confirmed that agency was established from a holistic self-understanding. However, according to Palmer's educational philosophy, teachers' holistic self- understanding for the realization of teacher agency can have a positive effect on students' holistic self-understanding for the realization of student agency because teachers' self-understanding is closely related to students' self-understanding through educational situations. Conclusion: Accordingly, it is suggested as the conclusion of this study that teacher agency and student agency are not a relationship that avoids each other, but rather can increase student agency through teacher agency.

This Element aims to elucidate the concept of language teacher agency by exploring the 'what' question, offering major conceptualisations of agency and explaining how they shape the way we approach teacher agency. The authors then continue with the 'why' question, and elaborate on the reasons that language teacher agency matters, based on a discussion of the varied purposes of teacher agency at multiple levels. They also acknowledge that teacher agency does not operate alone, and discuss how it intersects with such concepts as teacher identity, emotion, belief and knowledge. Based on this, they identify ways to promote teacher agency through making changes to contexts and/or actors. They then introduce the concept of collective agency and propose a multi-layered model based on an illustrative study. The Element ends with a call for a trans-perspective on understanding language teacher agency so as to facilitate the professional development of language teachers.

This study investigates the integration of feature films and television series (FF/TV) into higher education teaching through the lens of the Teacher Agency and Professional Autonomy (TAPA) model. While FF/TV is recognised for its potential to enhance student engagement, facilitate learning diversity and create interactive teaching environments, challenges such as cognitive overload, emotional bias, and the need for critical media literacy persist. Drawing on survey responses (n = 50) and semi-structured interviews with 18 university lecturers across disciplines in Australia, the study reveals how educators exercise teacher agency and professional autonomy in their decision-making processes. Findings show that the teacher agency is not linear but influenced by past experiences, present evaluations, and future aspirations—key dimensions of the TAPA model. Moreover, educators’ perceived autonomy varies according to institutional support, professional space and personal beliefs, affecting FF/TV integration strategies. The study emphasises the need for structured yet adaptable institutional support to enhance teacher agency, suggesting that collaborative learning and interdisciplinary engagement can refine FF/TV-based pedagogy. By exploring these dynamics, the study offers practical insights into balancing student engagement, critical analysis, and media literacy within a nuanced framework of professional autonomy.

Scarce studies have been conducted to understand teacher autonomy, teacher agency, and teacher identity exhibited by English as a foreign language (EFL) student teachers. This study was conducted to fill this gap by exploring how four student teachers take control of their teaching, conduct agentic behavior, and negotiate identities in the Chinese EFL context. Data included interviews, school documents, participants’ practicum reports, and lesson plans. Findings revealed that EFL student teachers encountered constraints related to the school curriculum, evaluation mechanisms, and social settings. Constraints affected their capacity to negotiate the gap between reality and ideals and fostered changes and innovations in teaching. These forces, influenced by the social, institutional, and physical settings, also affected the formation of their identities. The different development trajectories during the teaching practicums were found to be related to teacher autonomy, teacher agency, and teacher identity. While concluding with implications for teaching pre-service teachers and running teaching practicums, the present study also argues for considering the three interrelated constructs as essential parts of researching pre-service EFL teacher education.

This article examines the relationship between the professional learning of music teachers and their capacity and opportunity to act and engage agentically with the structures and discourses of music education. The authors begin by drawing on a range of education and music education scholarship to examine the concepts of teacher autonomy, teacher agency and professional development. They propose a socio-cultural understanding of teacher agency which draws on Gidden’s theory of structuration and Priestley, Biesta and Robinson’s ecological approach. Here, the relationship between structure and agency is not determinant but dynamic, with teacher agency dependent on the extent to which music teachers are able to engage in the discourses of music education. They explore the way professional development structures and policy in England and China affect teacher agency and especially how policy developments, the changing structures of music education, and the fetishization of advocacy narratives have constrained and marginalized the voice of the classroom music teacher. The authors conclude with a call for music teacher professional development to support music teachers to act agentically through reengaging with the epistemological and ontological dimensions of music and the policy discourses of music education.

abstract: This article reports on findings of an online survey on academic instruction librarians' conceptions and experiences of teacher agency in the context of their instruction work and, more specifically, on their affective orientations (positive, ambivalent, or negative emotions and feelings) toward teacher agency. Two key dimensions of participants' conceptions of teacher agency are evident throughout this analysis: 1) views of teacher agency as an individual experience of autonomy (individual agency) and/or views of it as more relational and interactive (and thus potentially collective), and 2) beliefs about the feasibility of librarians' teacher agency, given librarians' roles and positions as educators. Participants generally expressed positive affect when they felt they were independently in control of their teaching (individual agency), or when they described reciprocal and collaborative relationships with faculty (potentially collective agency). Participants expressed negative affect about experiences of lacking teacher agency. Almost all participants expressed 1) a desire to experience meaning and purpose in teaching and 2) a sensitivity to the highly relational nature of librarians' instructional work. Finally, the author discusses potential implications for academic instruction librarians' teaching practices, professional development, and work environments.

The purpose of this study is to empirically examine how teacher agency is represented through linguistic patterns and semantic structures within educational discourses. To this end, a corpus of 2,335 English-language texts—including academic articles, national education policy documents, and reports from international organizations published between 2000 and 2025—was compiled and analyzed using corpus-based semantic techniques to investigate word co-occurrence relationships and community structures. The analysis identified four major thematic clusters shaping discourses on teacher agency. First, the “Teacher Professionalism and Identity” cluster highlights teachers’ professional growth and the development of autonomous identities through reflective practice and experiential learning. Second, the “Educational Policy and Systems” cluster illustrates teachers’ transformative roles in reconstructing institutional and curricular frameworks as agents of pedagogical change. Third, the “Teachers’ Experience and Perception” cluster demonstrates that teachers’ emotions, experiences, and perceptions form the psychological foundations of agency. Fourth, the “Teacher Leadership and Support” cluster shows that teacher agency is reinforced through relational leadership grounded in trust, collaboration, and collective efficacy. Taken together, these findings indicate that teacher agency is an ecological construct shaped by the interplay of personal, structural, relational, and affective dimensions. This study contributes to the field by systematically organizing the multifaceted concept of teacher agency and by visualizing its semantic networks across academic, policy, and international discourses through a corpus-driven analytical approach.

Teacher agency and learner agency in teaching and learning a new school subject, Leaving Certificate Computer Science, in Ireland: Considerations for teacher education

Drawing on the concept of agency and teacher agency and engaging with figurational sociology, this paper explores the extent to which teacher agency plays a role in one teacher’s enactment of a new school subject (Leaving Certificate Physical Education (LCPE), an examinable subject assessed in a high‐stakes environment) in a period of curriculum change and reform in Irish post‐primary schools. Through a case study design, one teacher was interviewed regularly (19 times) during their 1st year of teaching LCPE. The findings are presented in three teaching episodes. In analysing the three teaching episodes, the process (and fluctuation) of achieving agency is evident. The achievement of agency should not be conceptualised as a product (achieved) but rather, it should be viewed as something that is processual (achieving). We offer a figurational viewpoint of teacher agency through a constructed Figure in the paper. We argue that it is impossible to link the achievement of agency with one element (including the teacher). It is the combination of interdependent relationships (past and present, recognised and unrecognised) in a teacher’s figuration, the overarching social processes, and the contextual and structural factors surrounding and within a figuration. The paper provides considerations in how best to support teachers in their process of achieving agency.

This qualitative literature review synthesizes contemporary research (2020–2024) on the interplay between learner autonomy and teacher agency in language education. Findings reveal learner autonomy as a multifaceted construct encompassing cognitive (metacognitive awareness), affective (motivation), and behavioral (self-regulation) dimensions, essential for lifelong language learning. Crucially, teacher agency emerges as the cornerstone for fostering autonomy, with educators adopting dynamic roles—facilitator, guide, evaluator, instructional designer—to empower students. Structural barriers (e.g., rigid curricula, exam-oriented systems), cultural constraints, and institutional limitations impede implementation, yet teachers’ professional freedom, reflective practices, and context-sensitive pedagogies bridge theory-practice gaps. The study identifies systemic challenges, including learner dependence, time constraints, and inadequate teacher training. Implications call for educational policies prioritizing decentralized decision-making, tailored professional development, and flexible curricula. Future research should employ mixed-method designs to explore socio-cultural mediators of autonomy. Sustainable frameworks must position teacher agency and learner autonomy as interdependent pillars to cultivate self-directed learners in globalized contexts.