Reflexivity and agency in university-based teacher educators: a critical realist analysis

Abstract

ABSTRACT Addressing university-based teacher educators’ complex work in current higher education contexts requires identifying the variables influencing their professional agency. However, limited related literature mostly falls within boundaries of the global North, while the specifics from those in the global South remain under-researched. Thus, focusing on Chile, a country with a highly marketised education, this study explores how teacher educators agentically navigate contextual and personal factors by drawing on Archer’s theory of reflexivity. Qualitative analysis reveals how participants’ reflexivity mediates factors (i.e. collegiality, precarity) and yields diverse forms of agency (i.e. weak, progressive), reflecting their professional identities, concerns and professionalism. The findings suggest that participants’ dominant communicative reflexivity relates to managerialism in education and Chilean society’s collectivist nature. Implications are presented for future research on broader structural and cultural factors influencing teacher educators’ reflexivity and agency and the role of policy implementation and institutional cultures in supporting their professionalism and careers.