Teachers’ agency: Do their values make a difference?

Linor L. Hadar; Maya Benish-Weisman

doi:10.1002/berj.3489

Teachers’ agency: Do their values make a difference?

Linor L. Hadar^*, Maya Benish-Weisman

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

16 Scopus citations

Abstract

This research explored antecedents and outcomes of teachers’ agency. Study 1 (n = 767) tested whether teachers’ values relate to an agentic capacity. Study 2 (n = 430) tested the relations between teachers’ values, their agentic capacity and their agentic behaviours. The findings show that attributing importance to promoting the self and being open to new experiences, whilst maintaining self-independence, is positively related to agentic capacity. Further, agentic capacity mediates the relations between values and agentic behaviour. These findings start to explain the broad motivations for teachers’ agency and its translation into behaviour.

Original language	American English
Pages (from-to)	137-160
Number of pages	24
Journal	British Educational Research Journal
Volume	45
Issue number	1
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3489
State	Published - 1 Feb 2019
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Both studies were conducted within the context of the Jewish state school system in Israel. Schools are funded and administered by a centralised Ministry of Education. The curriculum, syllabi, pre-service teacher education and support for teacher professional development are regulated by the Ministry. Classrooms usually comprise 30– 34 students, with 13.03 student/teacher ratio, and about 140 student/computer ratio (Dronkers & Avram, 2010). The state education system has recently been decentralised (Addi-Raccah & Ainhoren, 2009). Schools are responsible for defining their pedagogic goals within the framework of the national curriculum, monitoring students’ attainments and pedagogic goals and allocating budgets. They have some autonomy in curriculum development, with teachers able to initiate new programmes and become involved in school decision-making. This setting is ideal for an in-depth examination of teachers’ agency.

Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 British Educational Research Association

Keywords

agentic behaviours
agentic capacity
teacher agency
teacher values

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10.1002/berj.3489

Cite this

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Teachers’ agency: Do their values make a difference?

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

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