Beyond Survival: Fostering Teacher Wellbeing and Agency Through the Legacies of Educational Resistance

• In Event: AERA Poster Session Wednesday 9:45am
  In Poster Session: Exploring Teacher and Leader Well-Being

Abstract

This qualitative study explores how contemporary educators cultivate wellbeing and professional agency by drawing upon legacies of educational resistance movements. Amidst a global “polycrisis,” teachers face unprecedented pressures. This paper argues for an expansive understanding of teacher thriving, rooted in collective action, historical consciousness, and purposeful pedagogies challenging systemic inequities. Through thematic analysis of interviews with six experienced teachers, this research study examined how engagement with historical struggles for educational justice (e.g., Freedom Schools and Indigenous self-determination movements) fosters agency and sustains wellbeing. Findings reveal purpose-driven pedagogy, fueled by historical awareness and community engagement, transforms individual coping into collective empowerment, moving teachers “beyond survival” towards agentic, fulfilling professional lives.

Author

• Farshad Ghasemi, University of Missouri