Using Contested and Ambiguous Spaces: Teacher Agency, Inclusion, and Discursive Activism

• In Event: Pedagogical Spaces and Places for Teacher and Student Agency

Abstract

The study seeks to provide insight into how contested and ambiguous spaces provide opportunities for teacher agency. Data was drawn from a grounded theory study of teacher agency conducted with 17 public school teachers and one administrator in a co-taught inclusion program in a large middle school. Discourse theory, sociological theory, and empirical evidence contribute to demonstrating that teachers employ discursive activism to push against macro- and micro-structures within contested and ambiguous spaces.

Author

• Tina Y. Gourd, University of Washington