Teacher Agency An Ecological Approach

Recent worldwide education policy has reinvented teachers as agents of change and professional developers of the school curriculum. Academic literature has analyzed changes in how teacher professionalism is conceived in policy and in practice but Teacher Agency provides a fresh perspective on this issue, drawing upon an ecological theory of agency. Using this model for understanding agency, Mark Priestley, Gert Biesta and Sarah Robinson explore empirical findings from the 'Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change' project, funded by the UK-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). Drawing together this research with the authors' international experiences and perspectives, Teacher Agency addresses theoretical and practical issues of international significance. The authors illustrate how teacher agency should be understood not only in terms of individual capacity of teachers, but also in respect of the cultures and structures of schooling.

Mark Priestley is Professor of Education at the University of Stirling, UK. He is Chair of the Editorial Board of the Scottish Educational Review.

Gert Biesta is Professor of Educational Theory and Policy in the Faculty of Language and Literature, Humanities, Arts and Education at the University of Luxembourg, Luxembourg. He is editor-in-chief of Studies in Philosophy and Education.

Sarah Robinson is Associate Professor at the Centre for Teaching Development and Digital Media in the Faculty of Arts at Aarhus University, Denmark.

Preface
Introduction: Teacher Agency and Curriculum Change
1. Understanding Teacher Agency
2. Teacher Beliefs and Aspirations
3. Professional Knowledge and Teacher Discourses
4. The Importance of Relationships
5. Performativity and Teacher Agency
6. Individual, Cultural and Structural Framings of Agency
Conclusions: Teacher Agency and Curricular Futures
References
Index