Early Career Teacher Agency in K–12 Education : A Scoping Review of Empirical Studies

Abstract

The perspective of early career teachers (ECTs) in need of support has often been criticized for leaving their potential and strengths out of view. Researchers have explored the concept of teacher agency to understand how ECTs take proactive roles in their induction and development, beyond the view that they are immature. This scoping review aimed to provide an overview of empirical studies published between 2018 and 2022, focusing on ECT agency in K–12 education. In particular, this research investigated how the previous studies approached ECT agency methodologically, conceptually, and practically.

To ensure reliability, a research protocol was developed in advance. Following the five steps of the scoping review process, peer-reviewed articles were gathered from three electronic databases. Study selection criteria were developed by incorporating the participants, concept, and context that this scoping review aimed to encompass. Thirty-seven articles were finally included as meeting the criteria. Data analysis involved simple statistics and content analysis, with the results presented using narrative terms, tables, and figures.

The findings confirmed that teacher agency is a valuable concept for understanding the proactive perspective of ECTs. In addition, the results provide the present status of ECT agency studies in K–12 education in terms of their trends, conceptualization, and key influences on ECT agency. Moreover, influences on ECT agency were identified at both individual and contextual levels, highlighting the importance of considering temporal and contextual influences for a comprehensive understanding of ECT agency.