42.033 - Tensions in Division C: Shifting Between Building Individual Agency and Promoting Systemic Change

Session Type: Invited Speaker Session

Abstract

As learning and instruction researchers we esteem the study of individual attributes that promote academic and social health. However, does this ‘prize’ inoculate us from perceiving the influence of systems and structures that perpetuate inequity? Do researchers and practitioners fall into the trap of blaming students who do not measure well on our esteemed internal attributes? Should our intervention efforts target teacher conceptual change, individual child resilience, education policy, systemic racism? These tensions and others are addressed by a panel of senior researchers who have struggled with these questions over the course of their career. This session is for anyone looking to grapple with the complexities of balancing agentic versus systems perspectives in teaching, learning, and social change in education.

Sub Unit

• Division C - Learning and Instruction / Division C - Learning and Instructions

Cosponsor

• Division L - Educational Policies and Politics

Chair

• Jamaal Matthews, Montclair State University

Participants

• Sandra Graham, University of California - Los Angeles

• Avi Kaplan, Temple University

• Tara J. Yosso, University of Michigan

• Dennis M. McInerney, The Education University of Hong Kong