Teacher agency in challenging school conditions

Abstract

Teacher agency has recently gained prominence as an important conceptual tool that can help address the scope and complexity of the teaching profession. This study addresses the increasingly idealised concept of teacher agency from a contrasting perspective. Employing a qualitative approach, the study was conducted using semi-structured interviews with 60 public teachers working in problematic school facilities, and the data was analysed using content analysis methods. While the findings reveal that teachers are actors capable of asserting agency, they also show that this agency is not always nourished by educational ideals.