A Preliminary Study on Teacher Agency for Inclusive Education: Narratives of Special Educators

• In Event: Teacher Agency, Teacher Leadership, and Teacher Activism

Abstract

The concept of teacher agency acknowledges both teachers’ efforts in providing better inclusive education services and contextual factors’ vital role in shaping such work. This preliminary study explores what personal and contextual factors affect teacher agency for teaching students with disabilities in an inclusive environment and how inclusion and justice-oriented special educators make sense of their professional agency. Preliminary analysis of the interview data from four special educators indicated that navigating the mismatch between the professional identity and school contexts, engaging in collegial collaboration, seeking principal support, and being in a leadership position were perceived as the major enabling and/or constraining factors. Furthermore, special educators’ sense-making of teacher agency demonstrated the multifaced, relational, and temporal nature of teacher agency.

Author

• LINGYU LI, University of Wisconsin - Madison