Teacher Agency in Enacting Physical Education in a Period of Curriculum Change in Ireland

• In Event: Physical Activity, Health, and Change in Physical Education

Abstract

This study explores the extent to which teacher agency (Priestley, Biesta & Robinson, 2013) plays a role in one teacher’s enactment of a new school subject (Leaving Certificate Physical Education (LCPE)) in a period of curriculum change in Irish post-primary schools. Through a case study design, one teacher was interviewed 19 times during their first year of teaching LCPE. The findings are presented in three teaching episodes. Throughout these teaching episodes, we argue that it is impossible to link the achievement of agency with one element (including the teacher). It is the combination of interdependent relationships (past and present) in a teacher’s figuration (Elias, 1978), the overarching social processes, and the contextual and structural factors surrounding and within a figuration.

Authors

• Dylan Scanlon, University of Limerick

• Antonio Calderón, University of Limerick

• Ann MacPhail, University of Limerick