Making Space for Teacher Agency

doi:10.1017/9781009285841.016

12 - Making Space for Teacher Agency

Partnerships as Sites of Promise

from Part II - Teachers and Learning to Teach in School–University Partnerships

Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 November 2025

Janna Dresden and

Katherine F. Thompson

Edited by

Janna Dresden ,

JoAnne Ferrara ,

Jane E. Neapolitan and

Diane Yendol-Hoppey

Edited in association with

Jori S. Beck ,

Morgan Z. Faison ,

Sonia E. Janis ,

Kathleen Provinzano and

Logan Rutten

Show author details

Janna Dresden: Affiliation:
University of Georgia
JoAnne Ferrara: Affiliation:
Manhattanville University
Jane E. Neapolitan: Affiliation:
Towson University
Diane Yendol-Hoppey: Affiliation:
University of North Florida
Jori S. Beck: Affiliation:
Old Dominion University
Morgan Z. Faison: Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Sonia E. Janis: Affiliation:
University of Georgia
Kathleen Provinzano: Affiliation:
Binghamton University
Logan Rutten: Affiliation:
University of North Dakota

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Summary

Agency is fundamental to the work of all professionals and attempts to improve or reform education and schools must attend to teacher agency. This chapter provides a conceptual understanding and begins with an examination of terms used to describe the ways teachers act or are positioned, including agency, empowerment, autonomy, identity, self-efficacy, and voice, and explores the interrelationships among these terms. Contextual factors that impact teacher agency such as school culture, administrative style, practitioner inquiry, collaboration, measures of accountability, time constraints, and prior experience are reviewed. The fact that teacher agency may be expressed through professional attitudes and action, leadership, curriculum curation, and resistance to imposed mandates is explored, and finally, the authors highlight the benefits of agentic teachers to schools and students. School–University partnerships provide a unique opportunity to support teachers as agentic professionals and the chapter concludes with a set of specific recommendations to facilitate such an endeavor.

Keywords

teacher agency teacher empowerment teacher voice School–University partnerships

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Type: Chapter
Information: The Cambridge Handbook of School–University Partnerships , pp. 188 - 214

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009285841.016 [Opens in a new window]

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Print publication year: 2025

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