Exploring Early Career Teachers' Professional Agency

• In Event: Embracing Early Career Teachers: Getting Beyond a Deficit View on the Induction Phase

Abstract

Teachers entering the teaching profession bring their experiences, personal values and beliefs, as well as expectations with regards to excellent teaching to their teaching job (Warner, 2016). At the same time, they are confronted with expectations from the school, colleagues, parents, and students, which may or may not align with their values and expectations (Flores & Day, 2006). In this situation they need to make choices and take stances to influence their work both in the classroom and with colleagues in the broader school community (Eteläpelto et al. 2013). In other words, they have to learn to enact their professional agency. Although teachers’ professional agency has gained attention in research, research that specifically focuses on professional agency of early career teachers is scarce (e.g., Eteläpelto, et al., 2015). Also, early career teachers are more and more seen as ‘resources’, who have additional value for their pupils, colleagues and the school as an organization.
Teachers’ professional agency can be exercised in their teaching practice by making didactic and pedagogical choices and /or developing new ways of teaching among others. Also, teachers’ professional agency can be exercised within the broader school context in relation to for example colleagues and collaborative development of materials. Teachers’ exercise of agency is both influenced by the work culture, structure and circumstances within the school, and also by the teachers’ personal life history, personal capacities. Therefore with this study we aimed to gain more insight into early career teachers’ professional agency focusing on what they can add as professionals to schools while exercising their agency and which sociocultural resources and personal resources are at stake. These insights can also support both teachers’ in-service preparation and induction.
In order to study teachers’ professional agency, we chose a qualitative research design. We asked 42 early career teachers to fill out semi-structured and digital journals three times in their first year in the teaching profession. In the journal teachers were asked to describe a situation in the past three months related to their professional agency in their work within or beyond the classroom. Specific questions were added to specify this situation and reflect on it. Also, early career teachers were asked to describe a situation which characterized their development as a teacher and to describe how they see themselves as a teacher at this point in time. The journal data were analyzed qualitatively using thematic analysis.
Preliminary results show that early career teachers mainly exercise their agency within classroom contexts and only to a limited extend outside their classroom context. Also, the influence they exerted on their work both within and beyond the classroom was strongly related to their motivation and commitment as an early career teacher. Especially relations with other teachers were described both as encouraging and hindering the exercise of their agency. Also, their lack of personal capacities as early career teachers were mentioned as hindering them in exercising professional agency. Directions for future studies and implications for both pre-service and in-service education will be discussed.

Authors

• Helma Oolbekkink, Radboud University Nijmegen

• Anna van der Want, Radboud University Nijmegen

• Harmen Schaap, Radboud Docentenacademie

• Paulien C. Meijer, Radboud University Nijmegen