Third Space as Teacher Agency: Enacting the National Integrated Curriculum

• In Event: Poster Session 15
  In Poster Session: The Lives of Teachers: Poster Session

Abstract

The purpose of this narrative inquiry is to explore what teacher agency is in the context of the national integrated curriculum culture. This research illuminates the role of teacher agency as in-between space in the current cultural context reflecting the Third Space Theory. As a qualitative research, this study examines two teacher participants and their classroom practices, using in-depth interviews and observations over two years. The stories of two teachers’ implementing the new national integrated curriculum reveal how teacher agency functions between the national curriculum as dominant culture and teacher culture as non-dominant culture. Finally, this paper shows the perspectives on how teacher agency deconstructs the dichotomy in the relationship of national and local culture.

Author

• Jungyun Kim, Seoul National University