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Permission-seeking as an agentive tool for transgressive teaching: An ethnographic study of teachers organizing for curricular change

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Teachers are teaching teachers in this building. It creates a unique environment. We were given permission to do that.

–Bobbi[1], Cavanaugh High School Teacher

I gave myself permission to look at it differently.

–Dory, Cavanaugh High School Teacher

Abstract

This study describes how a group of teachers in a US public school developed and used permission-seeking moves as strategic and agentic tools to change their school curriculum and challenge norms of teaching. Although the notion of asking permission is typically considered disempowering in educational contexts, this study demonstrates that certain forms of permission-seeking (and giving) can foster collaboration and teacher agency across multiple constituent groups in a school community. This 2-year ethnographic study occurred within a context of a test-driven teaching environment with shifting student racial and economic demographics. Our research offers a reconceptualized theory of permission within a teacher agency framework and new possibilities for practitioners to engage in transgressive teaching with diverse learners in hyper-standardized teaching contexts.

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Notes

  1. Names of places and people are pseudonyms, with the exception of the Authors (Baker-Doyle and Gustavson).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Arcadia University School of Education, 450 S. Easton Rd, Glenside, PA, 19038, USA

    Kira J. Baker-Doyle

  2. Pacific University, 40 E Broadway, Suite 250, Eugene, OR, 97401, USA

    Leif Gustavson

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  1. Kira J. Baker-Doyle
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  2. Leif Gustavson
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Correspondence to Kira J. Baker-Doyle.

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Baker-Doyle, K.J., Gustavson, L. Permission-seeking as an agentive tool for transgressive teaching: An ethnographic study of teachers organizing for curricular change. J Educ Change 17, 51–84 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-015-9251-7

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