The teacher study group as a space for agency in an era of accountability and compliance
Abstract
This paper examines the impact of discourses upon teachers who strive to be professionals amidst the US No Child Left Behind era. Using qualitative research methodology and ethnographic techniques, a case study was conducted within the context of a teacher learning community comprised of two female secondary teachers and the researcher. Data were collected via transcripts of the conversations, teacher interviews, written reflections and field notes. Discourse analysis was employed to unpack discourses operating within the context of the teacher learning community. The study illustrates the push–pull relationship between constraint and possibility for teacher professionals. The paper illuminates how a teacher learning community becomes a space for agency for the ‘teacher as professional’ and how teacher development can be sustained within a contemporary context of compliance and accountability.
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Connections have been made between professional learning communities and teacher agency, with professional learning communities seen as an affordance for the exercise of teacher agency.
“Connections have been made between professional learning communities and teacher agency, with professional learning communities seen as an affordance for the exercise of teacher agency.”
From Teacher agency and professional learning communities; what can Learning Rounds in Scotland teach us? (2017) · cites this paper as Masuda 2010
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Teacher agency and professional learning communities; what can Learning Rounds in Scotland teach us?
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“…learning communities and teacher agency, seeing professional learning communities as an important affordance for the development and exercise of teacher agency both in terms of learning and responding to, or driving, reform (Masuda 2010, Lipponen and Kumpalainen 2011, Riveros et al. 2012).”
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“This has important implications for the current state of professional development, which in many cases is mandated and controlled (Masuda 2010, Stillman 2009).”
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“In addition, study groups combat teacher isolation (Brooks et al., 2010; Masuda, 2010; Musanti & Pence, 2010), promote sustained professional growth through dialogue (Crafton & Kaiser, 2011), and help teachers value a variety of social capital (Moll & Gonzalez, 1997) to positively influence the educational outcomes of…”
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“It has been examined as an embedded piece of continuous professional development (Hargreaves et al. 2013), and as a practice in teacher learning communities (Bryk et al. 1999, Masuda 2010, Wardrip et al. 2015).”
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“An increased emphasis on measuring teachers’ performance with test scores of their students in the United States renders teachers powerless to make autonomous decisions based on the local classroom context (Masuda, 2010).”
BackgroundSelf-directed professional development activities: An autoethnography
Koay, J. (2023) · Teaching and Teacher Education · doi:10.1016/j.tate.2023.104258 · Cited by 21 · see citing works
“Masuda (2010, p. 472) asserts that creating “ a safe and risk-free space ” allows teachers to discuss curriculum and pedagogy related issues freely, particularly issues that appear to challenge established systems.”
Transformative Inquiry in teacher education: evoking the soul of what matters
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“In addition, how might those preparing art teachers in universities extend their interest in disrupting static school art practices beyond pinning hopes on graduates, to include intentional, even fieldwide efforts to advocate that teachers be valued asProfessionals8 (Masuda, 2010) inpublic schools?”
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“Another has been a recognition of the value of “job-embedded learning” (Hawley & Valli, 1999; Masuda, 2010; Moon, Passmore, Reiser, & Michaels, 2014; Wayne, Yoon, Zhu, Cronen, & Garet, 2008).”
Whom Is the National Curriculum for? Politics in the National Curriculum System of South Korea
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Huddleston, A. P., Talley, S., Edgington, S., et al. (2024) · Review of Educational Research · doi:10.3102/00346543241291835 · Cited by 12 · see citing works
“…of the sources we located provided examples of teachers who were deeply frustrated by the curricular control they experienced but followed the directives out of a sense of obligation (e.g., Brezicha et al., 2024; Crocco & Costigan, 2007; Duarte & Brewer, 2019; Hikida & Taylor, 2020; Masuda, 2010).”
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“In other contexts, such widespread compliance to school policy has been found to correlate with years of experience, gender, and participation in a community of learners (Masuda, 2010; Sezgin, 2009).”
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“For example, Masuda (2010) conducted a case study of two secondary teachers who worked in a school that had been restructured according to the provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (e.g., if schools adopted reading programs that did not meet the federal government’s approval, they…”
Chien, C. (2016) · Studies in English Language Teaching · doi:10.22158/selt.v4n4p439 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“Eight studies involve collaboration between K-12 teachers and a university (Arnold, 2002; Carroll, 2005; Chiu, 2001; Grisham, 1999; Males, Otten, & Herbel-Eisenmann, 2010; Masuda, 2010; Stanley, 2009, 2011).”
Masuda, A. M. (2014) · The New Educator · doi:10.1080/1547688x.2014.900594 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“, 1998) or through other types of practitioner inquiry or teacher research, both inside and outside of school (Baumann & Duffy, 2001; Lieberman & Miller, 2001; Masuda, 2010; Masuda & Ebersole, 2012; Rice & Pinnegar, 2010).”
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Practitioner Research in Schools: Revealing the Efficacy Agency Cycle
Resnick, E. B. (2018) · doi:10.36837/chapman.000030
“Teacher collaboration and networking provided empirical evidence to show how the presence of teacher agency influenced student learning and social justice reforms (Charteris & Snardon, 2015; Masuda, 2010).”
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“Through an increasing focus on their potential to enhance collaborative, teacher-led professional learning and support the transformation of practices, some scholars see the PLC as an appropriate vehicle for the development and exercise of teacher agency (Masuda 2010, Brodie 2021, Riveros et al .”
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“Estas experien-cias coinciden con la afirmación de Masuda (2010) de que ‘los contextos de mandatos, rendi-ción de cuentas y cumplimiento posicionan a los docentes como deficientes o inadecuados incluso si tienen años de conocimiento adquirido con mucho esfuerzo’ (p. 468).”
Jin, M., Zhou, X. (., & Mann, S. (2026) · European Journal of Education · doi:10.1111/ejed.70865
- Authors
- Masuda, A. M.
- Affiliations
- University of Hawaii System (US)
- Corresponding author
- Masuda, Avis M.
- Venue
- Teacher Development
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2010-11
- Volume
- 14
- Issue
- 4
- Pages
- 467-481
- ISSN
- 1366-4530 (ISSN-L)
- 1747-5120
- OpenAlex
- W1986547046
- Semantic Scholar
- 63ec54cf15c0c5f42f8d77b5883f61c09d20fb7c
- Cited by
- 28
- References
- 54
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2020: 1 · 2019: 1 · 2018: 4 · 2017: 1 · 2016: 3 · 2015: 4 · 2014: 5 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 3.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Teacher Development (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Evaluation of Teaching Practices
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Assessments
- Keywords
- teacher study groups, teacher learning communities, teacher agency, teacher professionalism, No Child Left Behind Act, educational accountability, compliance
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