Professional agency in the stream of change : Understanding educational change and teachers' professional identities

Abstract

The qualitative meta-study reported here investigated Finnish vocational teachers' professional agency amid an educational reform. Differences were found in teachers' agency regarding their work, their involvement with the reform, and their professional identity. The manifestations of agency could remain stable or could change over time, and agency drew on various resources (e.g. teacher identity and the organizational management culture). The theoretical conclusions encompass professional agency as multidimensional, largely individually varied, temporally imbued, and both socially and individually resourced. Based on the findings, an agency-centered approach is proposed as a means of understanding and supporting educational change and teacher identity negotiation.