From teacher agency to teacher agencies : A response-able re-conceptualization

Abstract

In this paper, I think with agential realism to offer a re-conceptualization of teacher agency while considering the axiological significance, or response-ability, of such an undertaking. The ethical aspect of re-conceptualizing teacher agency is imperative since it produces significant implications on the power dynamics of teaching. I explore possibilities to re-conceptualize teacher agency through a diffractive approach, where I consider theoretical insights from humanist, posthumanist, and new materialist literature, and illustrative examples of a teacher from the United States. I explain how teacher agency could be referred to as teacher agencies which denote multicausal, multidirectional, and indeterministic characteristics. In line with a response-able re-conceptualization, I discuss key implications of thinking with teacher agencies, which includes working with teacher agencies as a paradox, divorcing from teacher autonomy, and re-configuring onto-epistemic makings of teachers and teaching.

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