Teacher Agency – Enabling teachers ability within their environments
I am shortly about to start a masters course in Teaching and Learning. One of the first reading tasks was an article; Teacher Agency in Curriculum Making: Agents of Change and Spaces for Manoeuvre.
It follows three teachers and examines their effectiveness as teachers within the constraints of the priorities and curriculum imposed by the school. The article discusses the different pedagogical approaches to the lessons delivered by the teacher and argues that these are affected by each individual teacher’s past experience. The best lessons were delivered by a teacher who was only covering for another and so was not necessarily constrained to the priorities of the school, and could impact their lessons with previous workplace experience.
The impact this article will have on practice in my school is that there was a definite feeling that teachers are constrained by school policies and priorities determined by senior managers. High quality learning can often be replaced by “teaching to the test” in an effort to secure grades and positions in league tables. .
There is a theme throughout the article that teachers can perform better (teacher agency), when they are involved in curriculum and policy planning within their school.
As a head of department I feel that often my teachers are wanting me to tell them the direction to go and they will enact it. I will be seeking opportunities this term to increase the involvement of teachers in the curriculum planning and policies, in an effort to increase teacher agency.
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