Understanding Teacher Agency and Organizational Response to Reform Mandates

ABSTRACT

This paper reports findings from a study of two beginning English teachers and the relationship between their sense of agency and their respective contexts. The qualitative study followed two teachers through their first year of teaching. How the perception of agency and the role of being a teacher evolved was determined to be related to the organizational behavior and expectations that both teachers experienced in their respective contexts. This study suggests that organizational context matters in the continuing development and maintenance of agency of beginning teachers and the type of agency that teachers might develop is influenced by organizational expectations.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.