Teachers' Agency Beliefs and Perceptions of the Learning Culture in Schools: How Are They Related?

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 41
  In Roundtable Session: The Multidimensional Enactment of Teacher Leadership

Abstract

Teachers’ professional agency can be seen as a crucial element of teacher leadership and teacher quality. Teacher’s (sense of) agency is for a large part dependent on the learning culture and opportunities in schools to act upon that agency. However, how teachers’ agency beliefs are related to their perceptions of the school context (is largely understudied. Through interviews with 54 Dutch secondary school teachers we uncovered that the relationship is manifested in different ways: 1) non-existent, 2) constraining or 3) contributing. These results are discussed by considering the relationships to be reciprocal; the learning culture affects teachers’ beliefs about professional agency and vice versa but not for all teachers in the same way.

Authors

• Monika Leonie Louws, Utrecht University

• Rosanne Zwart, The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO)

• Itzel Zuiker, Utrecht University

• Jacobiene Meirink, ICLON-Leiden University

• Helma Oolbekkink, Radboud University Nijmegen

• Harmen Schaap, Radboud Docentenacademie

• Anna van der Want, Leiden University