Teacher Agency in Shifting Policy and Technological Landscapes: Comparative Insights from Urban Schools in the U.S. and Taiwan

• In Event: Digital Dilemmas and Opportunities: Teacher Agency, Burnout, and Competence in the Tech Era

Proposal

Purpose

In an increasingly divided world, the integration of technological innovation such as generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education presents both opportunities and challenges. Teachers must navigate reform mandates while preserving learner-centered values. This study investigates how teacher agency shaped by internal deliberations, leadership, and contextual factors is enacted in urban schools in a large Southern U.S. city and in Taipei, Taiwan. By illuminating how educators interpret innovations and negotiate professional identity across distinct policy environments, the study contributes to comparative and international education discourse and responds to the conference theme, “Peace and Education in a Divided World,” by highlighting educators’ roles as mediators of inclusive and equitable learning.

Theoretical Framework and Context

This research is firmly grounded in Archer’s (2003) morphogenetic framework, which conceptualizes teacher agency as emergent through the interplay of institutional structures, cultural resources, and reflective individual action as an “internal conversation.” Complementing this, Biesta, Priestley, and Robinson (2015) frame teacher agency as an ecological achievement, contingent upon individual capacities and contextual affordances such as leadership and collaboration. Distributed leadership theory (Spillane, 2006) and Fullan’s (2007) insights into change dynamics further elucidate how school-level culture and leadership mediate teachers’ capacity for innovation. Studies on building communities of practice, constructivist pedagogy, and shared leadership as mechanisms for developing teacher learning power and capacity (Cravens & Hunter, 2021; Pan et al., 2024) further highlight how collaborative inquiry and leadership structures can bolster teacher agency in reform contexts.

We aim to further the extant theoretical and empirical arguments by studying two divergent contexts: the U.S., where decentralized governance, heterogeneity in accountability regimes, and market-driven reforms shape the policy environment; and Taipei, characterized by centralized curricular guidelines and high cultural expectations for academic achievement, with increasing emphasis on digital fluency and innovation. We ask:
1. How do teachers in urban U.S. and Taipei schools perceive and enact their professional agency in the context of educational reform and AI integration?
2. What structural, cultural, and leadership factors enable or constrain teacher agency in each setting?
3. How do similarities and differences between the two contexts contribute to cross-cultural understanding of teacher agency in times of technological change?

Modes of Inquiry

The study employs a qualitative and comparative design to capture the complexity of teacher agency across two distinct urban educational systems. Purposive sampling targets teachers known for strong professional agency, who then nominate school leaders with track-records of supporting teachers, ensuring diverse representation of subject areas, school types, and experience levels.
Semi-structured interviews are being conducted with teachers (approximately 15 per site) and several school leaders in each city. Interview protocols are informed by Archer’s internal conversation concept, ecological agency theory, and leadership models. Questions prompt participants to reflect on how policy mandates and initiatives, including curriculum reform and technological integration, shape their professional identities, instructional practices, and sense of autonomy.

Thematic analysis is used to code interviews, guided by both deductive codes derived from our theoretical frameworks and inductive codes that emerge from participants’ narratives. NVivo software supports data structuring, and comparative cross-case synthesis identifies patterns in how structure, leadership, collaboration, and identity interplay with agency.

Preliminary Findings

In the U.S. context, teachers describe navigating a complex policy landscape defined by national and state political climate, standardized testing, budget constraints, and shifting district expectations. Yet, many assert agency by forming informal collaboration networks, often creating learner-centered innovations independently. Leadership support, especially when distributed and professional, enables those teachers to experiment and sustain practice change. AI tools are often adopted pragmatically, mediated by peer support and critical reflection rather than top-down directives.

In the Taipei context, while data collection is ongoing, teacher interviews suggest a more structured policy environment with cohesive guidance for AI integration and curriculum reform. Preliminary themes include strong institutional support for professional learning and collective innovation, though pressures related to examination systems and curricular mandates may limit experimentation. Teachers appear to engage AI thoughtfully, balancing centrally guided initiatives with their own beliefs about pedagogy, demonstrating reflexive agency fostered through professional learning communities akin to lesson study models.
The comparative analysis reveals that teacher agency flourishes when supportive leadership, collaborative structures, and reflective practice converge regardless of policy centralization. Both contexts illustrate that AI integration can amplify teacher agency when educators are positioned as co-designers of innovation, rather than passive implementers.

Implications
This study offers theoretical and practical contributions at multiple levels. Theoretically, it strengthens cross-cultural applications of Archer’s framework, highlighting how teacher agency interacts with leadership structures and culturally embedded reform narratives. Empirically, it foregrounds the roles of professional communities, collaborative inquiry, and instructional leadership in mediating reform and innovation. Further, it underscores the relevance of constructivist, teacher-centered pedagogies in harnessing AI for learning rather than supplanting professional autonomy.

For practitioners and policymakers, the findings point to the importance of designing reform and technology initiatives that empower rather than displace teachers by investing in collaborative professional development, creating conditions for teacher leadership, and framing AI as a tool for reflective practice and equitable learning.

In alignment with the conference’s focus on education as a force for peace, this research asserts that empowering teachers through agency contributes to inclusive, context-responsive education. It fosters social cohesion by enabling educators to adapt innovations to local realities and to sustain trust in divided or rapidly changing societies. In a world marked by disruption and division, directing attention and resources toward teacher agency, and away from technocratic imposition, can be a powerful act of educational peacebuilding.

Authors

• Xiu Cravens, Vanderbilt University

• HL Wendy Pan, Tamkang University