Investigating Teacher and Teacher Leader Perspectives on Agency in Teacher-Driven Science PLCs (Poster 6)

• In Event: Research on STEM Professional Learning Communities: Attending to Teacher Learning, Agency, and Equity

Abstract

Objectives. In the United States, professional learning can be prescriptive without clear consideration of the assets and needs of educators (e.g., Kennedy, 2016; Miller et al., 2024), contributing to deprofessionalization and attrition (Bell, 2019; Carter Andrews et al., 2016; Ingersoll et al., 2022). This interview-based study examined teachers' perspectives on a different approach – science instruction professional learning communities (PLCs) intended to be highly responsive in focus and orchestration. Specifically, we asked: 1) In what ways did teacher leaders (TLs) and teachers in the PLCs experience agency? and 2) Why did such agency matter, from their perspectives?
Perspectives. We draw on conceptualizations of agency that foreground people’s inherent capacity to engage with, act on, and reshape structures, while recognizing how interactional and sociocultural forces dynamically shape enactments and experiences of agency (e.g., Kumpulainen et al., 2018; Miller-Rushing & Hufnagel, 2023; Varelas et al., 2015.
Methods. The science instruction PLCs were part of a district-wide initiative for high school science teachers in a large urban district. Teachers could apply to be teacher leaders (TLs) and facilitate PLCs on instructional foci they identified as areas of interest or need, or they could apply to participate in PLCs. To analyze TLs’ and teachers’ perspectives in this study, we foregrounded their first-person accounts (Espinoza et al., 2020) and inductively developed generative themes (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
Data Sources. Data included 13 semi-structured interviews with nine TLs and four teachers.
Results. Addressing question 1, TLs and teachers described experiences of agency that were somewhat distinct from each other. TLs consistently depicted agency in defining PLC foci and reshaping PLC processes and structures (with appreciated district support). However, TLs expressed different perspectives on how they orchestrated directions with teachers in the PLCs. Some foregrounded shaping foci and processes in interaction with teachers; other TLs had specific learning goals in mind that shaped opportunities for teachers’ agency. Teachers described experiences of agency in a) deciding which PLC to join, b) choosing specific instructional strategies based on their knowledge of their own classrooms, and c) feeling some space to shape conversations with peers that expanded beyond the PLC’s focus.
Addressing question 2, three themes emerged across TLs and teachers in terms of why such agency mattered. First, interviewees emphasized how teachers having agency in professional learning can enhance practical applicability in classrooms. Second, feeling ownership in the PLCs translated to deeper investment in learning. Third, TLs and teachers emphasized feeling uniquely recognized and valued as professionals. As a teacher described, “teachers are usually not treated as professionals... [but] when you give teachers independence, a lot of brilliant ingenuity can happen.”
Scholarly Significance. Findings contribute to the field’s understanding of teachers’ experiences of agency within responsive PLCs and varied ways such agency matters for teachers’ learning and sense of dignity (e.g., Espinoza et al., 2020; Gist et al., 2021). More broadly, we see this study and PLC initiative as a small part of efforts “to disrupt the discourses that deprofessionalize teaching” (Bell, 2019, p. 681).

Authors

• Jennifer Richards, Northwestern University

• Miray Tekkumru-Kisa, RAND Corporation

• Andre Botello, Chicago Public Schools

• Glennie King, Chicago Public Schools

• Joseph Seabloom, Chicago Public Schools