Collaborative Strategies for Moving From Teacher Policy Agency to Teacher Policy Advocacy

• In Event: Reflexive and Engaged Policy Studies: Critical Policy Research With K–12 Teachers and Teacher Educators

Abstract

Objectives/Purposes:

This paper examines teachers’ beliefs and practices sensemaking relating to policy advocacy as a component of their professional practice. We draw from data collected with pre-service and practicing teachers in two state contexts. We argue that teacher policy agency and teacher policy advocacy are distinct, though equally important components of teacher policy engagement, and that this distinction is critical to increasing teacher policy engagement. We identify strategies with promise for supporting teachers’ evolution from policy agents to policy advocates, emphasizing partnerships with other stakeholders in the policy process.

Theoretical framework:

We draw from a critical policy studies framework, which assumes the policy process is neither rational nor linear, but instead an endeavor resulting from relationships of power (Diem et al, 2014; Stovall, 2013; Taylor, 1997; Welton & Mansfield, 2020) through complex, often contentious social processes that are historically situated and culturally mediated (Ball, 1993; Stone, 2002). A critical policy stance is particularly useful for exploring the experiences of those who have historically been marginalized in the policy cycle, such as pre-service and practicing classroom teachers. Within this framework, we place a purposeful emphasis on two key elements of critical policy analysis: critical reflection and the application of research to practice.

Methods and Data Sources:

Data was gathered beginning in 2018 and ending in the summer of 2023 in Wisconsin and in Massachusetts with a sample of approximately 70 pre-service and practicing teachers. Data includes reflections, survey responses, individual interviews, self-reflections, samples of collaborative writing, and other artifacts gathered during session formats ranging from one-time, teacher-directed small group meetings, virtual policy workshop modules, and sustained mentorship learning experience focused on policy advocacy.

Results:

First, there is notable variability in teachers’ views of policy advocacy. Some teachers view it as a critical component of their professional role and responsibility as educators, while others view it instead as adjacent, accessory, or in some cases, outside the scope of teachers’ work. Multiple factors matter in how teachers relate to policy advocacy, including school context and leadership, state factors such as political discourse or collective bargaining laws, and sociopolitical conditions such as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Importantly, teachers’ sensemaking around policy points to a distinction between the knowledge, dispositions, and self-efficacy around policy agency versus policy advocacy. Second, there are specific interventions that can be impactful in increasing teacher knowledge, dispositions, and self-efficacy in both policy agency and advocacy. Third, partnerships across researchers, teacher educators, local policymakers, and non-profit organizations are critical to supporting teachers’ professional growth as policy agents and advocates for systemic change.

Significance:

Teacher policy engagement is critically important to effective policy. We seek to contribute to extant scholarship by analyzing how pre-service and practicing teachers understand their relationship to policy agency and advocacy, and by identifying strategies that might increase support for teacher policy agency and advocacy towards systemic change. This work has implications for collaborative partnerships between teacher educators, school leaders, policymakers, non-profit organizations, and educational researchers as they seek increased teacher policy advocacy.

Authors

• May Hara, Framingham State University

• Annalee G. Good, University of Wisconsin - Madison