Cultivating teacher candidates who support student agency: Four promising practices

ABSTRACT

In this article, we consider how teacher educators can support the development of agency in teacher candidates. Using a sociocultural understanding of agency, we describe four promising practices for helping teacher candidates develop agency as individuals and as a collective. We consider helping teacher candidates develop their own professional identities, their long-term goals and visions for teaching, their focus on students, and their ability to conduct systematic examinations of their own practices through teacher research.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional Resources

1. Edwards, S. (2017). Like a chameleon: A beginning teacher’s journey to implement active learning. RMLE Online, 40, 1–11.

In this article, the author follows one teacher as she tries to implement a learning environment that was intellectually active, socially active, and physically active. Edwards attributes commitment and vision for teaching, as well as agency, for the teacher’s ability to persist in the face of challenges.

2. Gustein, E. (2007). “And that’s just how it starts”: Teaching mathematics and developing student agency. Teachers College Record, 109, 420–448.

This study of the author’s own middle-level mathematics classroom showcases how practitioner research can support agency for both teacher and students. Gutstein relied on his reflections, students’ reflections, and indicators of academic achievement in the mathematics classroom, to determine the successes of this approach and reiterated the importance of teachers’ creating “conditions for students to develop agency” (p. 440).

3. Lattimer, H., & Caillier, S. (Eds). (2015). Surviving and thriving with teacher action research: Reflections and advice from the field. New York, NY: Peter Lang.

This book describes the experiences of 32 educators from elementary schools to universities. These educators are honest about the challenges of conducting action research. They also speak to the power of action research to bring change to their practices. Engaging in action research is a way for teachers to enact agency.