Teacher Activist Organizations and the Development of Professional Agency

• In Event: 29.048 - Cutting Against the Grain: Moral Dimensions of Educator Development

Abstract

In this paper, we show how teacher activist organizations can assist in the acquisition and development of professional agency. Teacher activist organizations function as mobilizing structures that accumulate resources, focus interests, sustain passions, and train leaders. These organizational roles are particularly consequential in educational contexts that favor technicians over professionals. To illuminate, we study one such teacher activist organization in a large urban district in the United States. We find that the benefits teacher activist organizations provide to its members can include the development of classroom and school-level practices, empowerment to address districtwide issues, and capacity for collective action.

Authors

• Rand Quinn, University of Pennsylvania

• Nicole Mittenfelner Carl, University of Pennsylvania