The Influence of the System of Head Start on Four Teachers' Agency and Identity

• In Event: 16.056 - Roundtable Session 4
  In Roundtable Session: 16.056-13 - What Does It Take to Be Successful? Reconsidering the Roles of Language, Social Capital, and Resources

Abstract

In the context of Head Start teachers, students, and parents function within a complex ecological system (Bronfenbrenner, 1989) designed to provide comprehensive child development services for children and families. Teachers are expected to demonstrate agency in child development. Bandura defined agency as "... to intentionally make things happen by one’s actions." (p. 2, 2001). The context of agency is defined as the consequence of triadic reciprocal causation (Bandura, 1997). Head Start teachers' identities, through the processes of socio-cultural reciprocity, may be affected. In this mixed methods study of four Head Start teachers of urban African American boys living in poverty, participants expressed agency and identity through describing beliefs, practices, and relationships with families.

Author

• John Michael Holland, Virginia Commonwealth University