Understanding and Developing Teachers as Agents of Change to Promote Inclusion

• In Event: 49.088 - Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: 49.088-6 - International Perspectives on Teacher Leader Development

Abstract

Policies worldwide increasingly call for teachers to become ‘agents of change’, often linked to social justice agendas. However, there is little clarity about the kind of competence such agency involves and even less evidence about the ways it develops within school contexts and in teacher education. This paper draws on theory and research in the areas of teacher agency and inclusive education to discuss the kinds of ‘knowing, doing and believing’ that is needed to actively challenge exclusion and underachievement. The resulting conceptualization of teachers as agents of change for inclusion and social justice is then extended to consider the implications for research design.

Authors

• Natasa Pantic, University of Edinburgh

• Lani Florian, University of Edinburgh