Together We Thrive: Exploring the Connection Between Collective Teacher Agency and Job Satisfaction

• In Event: AERA Roundtable Session Wednesday 2:30 pm Four Seasons Ballroom 2-3
  In Roundtable Session: Teachers' Agency, Intentions, and Practices (Table 5)

Abstract

The U.S. teacher shortage crisis demands consideration of how teachers experience their professional lives, particularly concerning their perception of agency. This quantitative study (n = 2,560) uses the OECD’s (2018) U.S. TALIS data set to explore agency's role in teacher satisfaction. In part one, exploratory factor analysis identifies two different kinds of teacher agency: curricular agency and collective agency. Part two uses a stepwise regression to explore how curricular agency, collective agency, and additional variables impact teacher job satisfaction. Results show that collective teacher agency significantly affects teacher satisfaction with the environment. Findings contribute to the scholarship on collective teacher agency with implications for teacher renewal, retention, and collaborative reform.

Author

• Lindsay Rosoff, Fordham University