Teacher Agency in Curriculum Making: Agents of Change and Spaces for Manoeuvre
Open accessAbstract
In the wake of new forms of curricular policy in many parts of the world, teachers are increasingly required to act as agents of change. And yet, teacher agency is under‐theorised and often misconstrued in the educational change literature, wherein agency and change are seen as synonymous and positive. This article addresses the issue of teacher agency in the context of an empirical study of curriculum making in schooling. Drawing upon the existing literature, we outline an ecological view of agency. These insights frame the analysis of a set of empirical data, derived from a research project about curriculum making in a school and further education college in Scotland. Based upon the evidence, we argue that the extent to which teachers are able to achieve agency varies from context to context based upon certain environmental conditions of possibility and constraint, and that an important factor in this lies in the beliefs, values and attributes that teachers mobilise in relation to particular situations.
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Agency is understood both temporally and spatially in the ecological approach.
“So too is the idea that agency is understood both temporally and spatially (Priestley et al., 2012).”
From Space as a lens for teacher agency: A case study of three beginning teachers in England, <scp>UK</scp> (2024) · cites this paper as Priestley et al., 2012
Priestley et al (2012) cite Biesta (2004) to argue that accountability is more of a constraint on teacher agency than the prescription of means.
“Priestley et al (2012) cite Biesta (2004) to argue that accountability is more of a constraint on teacher agency than the prescription of means.”
From Teacher agency and professional learning communities; what can Learning Rounds in Scotland teach us? (2017) · cites this paper as Priestley et al (2012)
As long as the goals and measure of success are set by others and teachers are held to account in relation to these, the scope for teacher agency will be limited.
“As long as the goals and measure of success are set by others and teachers are held to account in relation to these, the scope for teacher agency will be limited.”
From Teacher agency and professional learning communities; what can Learning Rounds in Scotland teach us? (2017) · cites this paper as Priestley et al (2012)
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References 67 · Cited by 707
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- Authors
- Priestley, M., Edwards, R., Priestley, A., & Miller, K.
- Affiliations
- University of Stirling (GB)
- University of the West of Scotland (GB)
- Venue
- Curriculum Inquiry
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-03
- Volume
- 42
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 191-214
- ISSN
- 0362-6784 (ISSN-L)
- 1467-873X
- OpenAlex
- W1644135000
- Cited by
- 707
- References
- 67
- Citations by year
- 2026: 64 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 53 · 2023: 63 · 2022: 80 · 2021: 63 · 2020: 69 · 2019: 64 · 2018: 56 · 2017: 36 · 2016: 30 · 2015: 38 · 2014: 18 · 2013: 8 · 2012: 2
- FWCI
- 69.62
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- hdl.handle.net
- Licence
- public-domain
- Locations
- Curriculum Inquiry (publishedVersion)
- Stirling Online Research Repository (University of Stirling) (submittedVersion, public-domain)
- Funders
- Economic and Social Research Council (RES-000-, ES/F018975/1)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Educational Theory and Curriculum Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Teacher Education and Leadership Studies
- Social Sciences › Education › Education Pedagogy and Practices
- Keywords
- teacher agency, curriculum making, curriculum policy, educational change, further education colleges, school curriculum
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