Expressions of Agency within Complex Policy Structures: Science Teachers' Experiences of Education Policy Reforms in Sweden

Autor/inn/en	Ryder, Jim; Lidar, Malena; Lundqvist, Eva; Östman, Leif
Titel	Expressions of Agency within Complex Policy Structures: Science Teachers' Experiences of Education Policy Reforms in Sweden
Quelle	In: International Journal of Science Education, 40 (2018) 5, S.538-563 (26 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Zusatzinformation	ORCID (Ryder, Jim)
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0950-0693
DOI	10.1080/09500693.2018.1435921
Schlagwörter	Science Teachers; Educational Policy; Educational Change; Foreign Countries; Faculty Development; Teaching Experience; National Curriculum; Semi Structured Interviews; Secondary School Teachers; Sweden + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Science; Teacher; Teachers; Science teacher; Wissenschaft; Lehrer; Lehrerin; Lehrende; Politics of education; Bildungspolitik; Bildungsreform; Ausland; Schweden
Abstract	We explore the experiences of school science teachers as they enact three linked national curriculum and assessment policy reforms in Sweden. Our goal is to understand teachers' differing responses to these reforms. A sample of 13 teachers engaged in 2 interviews over a 6-9-month period. Interviews included exploration of professional background and school context, perceptions of the aims of the policy reforms and experiences of working with these reforms in the classroom. Analysis was guided by an individual-oriented sociocultural perspective on professional agency. Here teaching is conceptualised as an ongoing interplay between teachers' knowledge, skills and personal goals, and the characteristics of the social, institutional and policy settings in which they work. Our analysis shows that navigating the ensuing continuities and contradictions results in many different expressions of teacher agency, e.g. loss of autonomy and trust, pushing back, subversion, transfer of authority, and creative tensions. Typically, an individual teacher's enactment of these reforms involved several of these expressions of agency. We demonstrate that the sociocultural perspective provides insights into teachers' responses to education policy reform likely to be missed by studies that focus largely on individual teacher knowledge/beliefs about reform or skills in 'implementing' reform practices. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01