Teacher Response Process to Bureaucratic Control: Individual and Group Dynamics Influencing Teacher Responses

ABSTRACT

Educational organizations can be characterized by the institution’s bureaucratic controls and the varied ways teachers respond to these controls. Although different controls and responses are studied in disparate theories and empirical research, the process of how teachers respond is not often studied and integrated in a singular theoretical framework. In this conceptual article, I argue that the teacher response process is characterized by three distinct, nonlinear phases of individual cognition, social formation, and response execution. Within these phases are dynamics and tensions, which are mediated and appropriated by the relationship between the educational institution and teachers.

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Sara Ray Stoelinga of the University of Chicago's Urban Education Institute for helpful comments on the original drafts, and the reviewers and editors of this article. The author also extends thanks to Kevin Zheng, Akshaya Suresh, Kailey White, Eleanor Koh, and Matthew Koo for their valuable insights and comments.