Advertisement

Journal of Educational Change

, Volume 15, Issue 3, pp 303–325 | Cite as

Comprehensive school teachers’ professional agency in large-scale educational change

  • Kirsi Pyhältö
  • Janne Pietarinen
  • Tiina Soini
Article
First Online:

Abstract

This article explores how comprehensive school teachers’ sense of professional agency changes in the context of large-scale national educational change in Finland. We analysed the premises on which teachers (n = 100) view themselves and their work in terms of developing their own school, catalysed by the large-scale national change. The study included theory-driven interventions in the case school communities, as well as pre- and post-test measurements. The results suggested that the learning of active professional agency was facilitated among teachers during the 2 years of development work. A significant number of teachers had adopted a more holistic orientation towards the reform. Moreover, the number of teachers who considered themselves as the subjects of the development work increased slightly. This increase suggests that teachers’ intentional and responsible management of new learning proceeds from the interpersonal meaning-making process to the internal process that regulates the elements of a teacher’s professional agency.

Keywords

School reform Comprehensive school Agency Teacher learning Longitudinal design 
This is a preview of subscription content, log in to check access.

References

  1. Aho, E., Pitkänen, K., & Sahlberg, P. (2006). Policy development and reform principals in basic and secondary in Finland since 1968 (Education Working Paper Series No. 2). Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
  2. Anderson, S. E., & Togneri, W. (2005). School district-wide reform policies in education. In N. Bascia, A. Cumming, A. Datnow, K. Leithwood, & D. Livingstone (Eds.), International handbook of educational policy (pp. 173–194). Dordrecht: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  3. Bakkenes, I., Vermunt, J. D., & Wubbels, T. (2010). Teacher learning in the context of educational innovation: Learning activities and learning outcomes of experienced teachers. Learning and Instruction, 20, 533–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  4. Bakkenes, T. I., Vermunt, J. D., Wubbels, T., & Imants, J. G. (2006). Teachers’ perceptions of the school as a context for workplace learning. In Education research in the public interest (pp. 117). Washington: American Educational Research Association.Google Scholar
  5. Bandura, A. (1997). Self-efficacy: The exercise of control. New York: Freeman.Google Scholar
  6. Bandura, A. (2001). Social-cognitive theory: An agentic perspective. Annual Review of Psychology, 52, 1–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  7. Basic Education Act, 628 (1998).Google Scholar
  8. Basic Education Degree, 852 (1998).Google Scholar
  9. Battista, M. T. (1994). On Greeno’s environmental/model view of conceptual domains: A spatial/geometric perspective. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 25, 86–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  10. Bell, P. L. (2004). On the theoretical breadth of design-based research in education. Educational Psychologist, 39, 243–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  11. Brett, C. (2002). Developing epistemic agency as pre-service elementary mathematics teachers supported through online community. New Orleans: Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.Google Scholar
  12. Brown, A. (1992). Design experiments: Theoretical and methodological challenges in creating complex interventions in classroom settings. The Journal of the learning sciences, 2, 141–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  13. Bryman, A. (2004). Social research methods (2nd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
  14. Ciani, K. D., Summers, J. J., & Easter, M. A. (2008). A ‘‘top-down’’ analysis of high school teacher motivation. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 33, 533–560.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  15. Cobb, P., Confrey, J., diSessa, A., Lehrer, R., & Schauble, L. (2003). Design experiments in educational research. Educational Researcher, 32(1), 9–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  16. Collins, A., Joseph, D., & Bielaczyc, K. (2004). Design research: Theoretical and methodological issues. The Journal of the Learning Sciences, 13, 15–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  17. Creswell, J. W. (2003). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods approaches (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
  18. Damsa, C. I., Kirschner, P. A., Andriessen, J. E. B., Erkens, G., & Sins, P. H. M. (2010). Shared epistemic agency—An empirical study of an emergent construct. Journal of the learning sciences, 19, 143–186.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  19. Davies, D., & McMahon, K. (2004). A smooth trajectory: Developing continuity and progression between primary and secondary science education through a jointly-planned projectiles project. International Journal of Science Education, 26(8), 1009–1021.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  20. Day, C. (2002). School reform and transitions in teacher professionalism and identity. International journal of educational research, 37, 677–692.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  21. Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2008). Facilitating optimal motivation and psychological well-being across life’s domains. Canadian psychology, 49, 14–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  22. Eccles, J. (2008). Agency and structure in human development. Research in human development, 5, 231–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  23. Edwards, A. (2005). Relational agency: Learning to be a resourceful practitioner. International journal of educational research, 43, 168–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  24. Edwards, A. (2007). Relational agency in professional practice: A CHAT analysis. Actio: An international journal of human activity theory, 1, 1–17.Google Scholar
  25. Edwards, A., & D’Arcy, C. (2004). Relational agency and disposition in sociocultural accounts of learning to teach. Educational review, 56, 147–155.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  26. Engeström, Y. (1999). Innovative learning in work teams: Analysing cycles of knowledge creation in practice. In Y. Engeström, R. Miettinen, & R.-L. Punamäki (Eds.), Perspectives on activity theory (pp. 377–406). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  27. Engeström, Y. (2005). Developmental work research: Expanding activity theory in practice. Berlin: Lehmanns Media.Google Scholar
  28. Engle, R. A., & Faux, R. B. (2006). Fostering substantive engagement of beginning teachers in educational psychology: Comparing two methods of case-based instruction. Teaching educational psychology, 1(2), 3–24.Google Scholar
  29. Evers, W. J. G., Brouwers, A., & Tomic, W. (2002). Burnout and self-efficacy: A study on teachers’ beliefs when implementing an innovative educational system in the Netherlands. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72, 227–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  30. Finnish National Board of Education. (2010). The curriculum. http://www.oph.fi/english/education/basic_education/curriculum.
  31. Friedman, I., & Kass, E. (2002). Teacher self-efficacy: A classroom-organization conceptualization. Teaching and teacher education, 18, 675–686.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  32. Fullan, M. (2003). Change forces with a vengeance. New York: RoutledgeFalmer.Google Scholar
  33. Fullan, M. (2007). The new meaning of educational change (4th ed.). New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
  34. Galton, M., & Hargreaves, L. (2002). Transfer from the primary classroom: 20 years on. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  35. Gioia, D. A., Corley, K. G., & Fabbri, T. (2002). Revising the past (while thinking in the future perfect tense). Journal of organizational change management, 15, 622–634.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  36. Glaser, B., & Strauss, A. (1967). The discovery of grounded theory. New York: Aldine Publishing Company.Google Scholar
  37. Greeno, J. G. (2006). Authoritative, accountable positioning and connected, general knowing: Progressive themes in understanding transfer. The Journal of learning sciences, 15, 537–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  38. Hakkarainen, K., Lonka, K., & Lipponen, L. (2004). Tutkiva oppiminen. Järki tunteet ja kulttuuri oppimisen sytyttäjinä. Porvoo: WSOY.Google Scholar
  39. Hargreaves, A., & Goodson, I. (2006). Educational change over time? The sustainability and nonsustainability of three decades of secondary school change and continuity. Educational administration quarterly, 42, 3–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  40. Hargreaves, A., Lieberman, A., Fullan, M., & Hopkins, D. W. (Eds.). (1998). International handbook of educational change. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.Google Scholar
  41. Harry, B., Sturges, K. M., & Klinger, J. K. (2005). Mapping the process: An exemplar of process and challenge in grounded theory analysis. Educational researcher, 34(2), 3–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  42. Hoadley, C. M. (2004). Methodological alignment in design-based research. Educational psychologist, 39, 203–212.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  43. Hoy, A. W. (2008). What motivates teachers? Important work on a complex question. Learning and instruction, 18, 492–498.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  44. Hoy, A., Hoy, W. K., & Kurz, N. M. (2008). Teacher’s academic optimism: The development and test of a new construct. Teaching and teacher education, 24, 821–835.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  45. Hoyle, E., & John, P. (1995). Professional knowledge and professional practice. London: Cassell.Google Scholar
  46. Huusko, J., Pietarinen, J., Pyhältö, K., & Soini, T. (2007). Yhtenäisyyttä rakentava peruskoulu. Yhtenäisen perusopetuksen ehdot ja mahdollisuudet. [The preconditions for undivided basic education in comprehensive school]. Turku, Finland: Finnish Educational Research Association.Google Scholar
  47. James, M., & McCormic, R. (2009). Teachers learning how to learn. Teaching and teacher education, 25, 973–982.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  48. Johnson, P. (Ed.). (2007). Suuntana yhtenäinen perusopetus: Uutta koulukulttuuria etsimässä. [Towards undivided basic education: Searching for a new school culture]. Jyväskylä, Finland:PS-Kustannus.Google Scholar
  49. Jurasaite-Harbison, E. (2009). Teachers’ workplace learning within informal contexts of school cultures in the United States and Lithuania. Journal of workplace learning, 21, 299–321.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  50. Kruse, S. D., & Seashore Louis, K. (2008). Building strong school cultures: A guide to leading change. Thousand Oaks: Corwin Press.Google Scholar
  51. Kvalsund, R. (2000). The transition from primary to secondary school level in smaller and larger rural schools in Norway: Comparing differences in context and social meaning. International Journal of Educational Research, 33(4), 401–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  52. Kwakman, K. (2003). Factors affecting teachers’ participation in professional learning activities. Teaching and teacher education, 19, 149–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  53. Lam, S. F., Cheng, R. W. Y., & Choy, H. C. (2010). School support and teacher motivation to implement project-based learning. Learning and instruction, 20, 487–497.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  54. Lasky, S. (2005). A sociocultural approach to understanding teacher identity, agency and professional vulnerability in a context of secondary school reform. Teaching and teacher education, 21, 899–916.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  55. Lipponen, L., & Kumpulainen, K. (2011). Acting as accountable authors: Creating interactional spaces for agency work in teacher education. Teaching and teacher education, 27, 812–819.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  56. Martin, J. (2004). Self-regulated learning, social cognitive theory and agency. Educational psychologist, 39, 135–145.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  57. McLaughlin, M., & Mitra, D. (2004). The cycle of inquiry as the engine of school reform: Lessons from the bay area school reform collaborative. Stanford: Paper from the Center for Research on the Context of Teaching, Stanford University.Google Scholar
  58. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative data analysis: An expanded sourcebook (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks: Sage.Google Scholar
  59. Moos, L., & Moller, J. (2003). Schools and leadership in transition: The case of Scandinavia. Cambridge journal of education, 33, 353–370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  60. Muschamp, Y., Stoll, L., & Nausheem, M. (2001). Learning in the middle years. In C. W. Day & D. Van Veen (Eds.), Educational research in Europe yearbook 2001 (pp. 323–350). Belgium: Garant Publisher.Google Scholar
  61. Parpala, A., Lindblom-Ylänne, S., Komulainen, E., Litmanen, T., & Hirsto, L. (2010). Students’ approaches to learning and their experiences of the teaching–learning environment in different disciplines. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 269–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  62. Pyhältö, K., Soini, T., & Pietarinen, J. (2011). A systemic perspective on school reform: Principals’ and chief education officers’ perspectives on school development. Journal of educational administration, 49, 46–61.Google Scholar
  63. Rainio, A. (2005). Emergence of a playworld: The formation of subjects of learning in interaction between adults and children (Working Paper No. 32). Helsinki, Finland: Center for activity theory and developmental work research.Google Scholar
  64. Rainio, A. (2008). From resistance to involvement. Examining agency and control in playworld. Mind, culture and activity, 26, 115–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  65. Resnick, L., & Glennan, T. K. (2002). Leadership for learning: A theory of action for urban school districts. In A. T. Hightower, M. S. Knapp, J. A. Marsh, & M. W. McLaughlin (Eds.), School districts and instructional renewal. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
  66. Rimpelä, M., Kuusela, J., Rigoff, A-M., Saaristo, V. and Wiss, K. (2008), Hyvinvoinnin ja terveydenedistäminen peruskoulussa 2. Perusraportti kyselystä 1.-6. vuosiluokkien kouluille (School Health Promotion Study. Grades 1-6), Ministry of Education, National research and development center for welfare and health, Helsinki.Google Scholar
  67. Sahlberg, P. (2010). Rethinking accountability in a knowledge society. Journal of Educational Change, 11, 45–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  68. Salomon, G. (1996). Unorthodox thoughts on the nature and mission of contemporary educational psychology. Educational psychology review, 8, 397–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  69. Sandoval, W. A. (2004). Developing learning theory by refining conjectures embodied in educational designs. Educational psychologist, 39, 213–223.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  70. Sannino, A. (2010). Teachers’ talk of experiencing: Conflict, resistance and agency. Teaching and teacher education, 26, 838–844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  71. Sarason, S. B. (1991). The predictable failure of educational reform. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
  72. Scardamalia, M. (2002). Collective cognitive responsibility for the advancement of knowledge. In B. Smith (Ed.), Liberal education in a knowledge society (pp. 67–98). Chicago: Open Court Publishing.Google Scholar
  73. Scardamalia, M., & Bereiter, C. (1991). Higher levels of agency for children in knowledge building: A challenge for the design of knowledge media. The journal of the learning sciences, 1, 37–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  74. Scarr, S. (1985). Constructing psychology: Making facts and fables our time. American Psychologist, 40, 499–512.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  75. Schacter, D. L., Addis, D. R., & Buckner, R. L. (2008). Episodic simulation of future events: Concept, data and applications. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1124, 39–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  76. Seashore Louis, K., & Miles, M. B. (1990). Improving the urban high school: What works and why. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
  77. Seikkula, J., & Arnkil, T. (2006). Dialogical meetings in social networks. London: Karnac Books.Google Scholar
  78. Siegel, S., & Castellan, N. J, Jr. (1988). Nonparametric statistics for the behavioral sciences (2nd ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
  79. Smith, R. (2006). Epistemological agency in the workplace. Journal of workplace learning, 18(3), 157–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  80. Soini, T., Pietarinen, J. & Pyhältö, K. (2013). Design research approach in the large scale educational innovations. In I. R. Haslam, M. S. Khine and I. M. Saleh (Eds.), Large scale reform and social capital building (pp. 70–92). London: Routledge.Google Scholar
  81. Stein, M. K., & Wang, M. C. (1988). Teacher development and school improvement: The process of teacher change. Teaching and teacher education, 4, 171–187.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  82. Stoll, L., Bolam, R., McMahon, A., Wallace, M., & Thomas, S. (2006). Professional learning communities: A review of the literature. Journal of Educational Change, 7, 221–258.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  83. Stronach, I., Corbin, B., McNamara, O., Stark, S., & Warne, T. (2002). Towards an uncertain politics of professionalism: Teacher and nurse identities in flux. Journal of education policy, 17, 109–138.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  84. Tschannen-Moran, M., & Hoy, A. (2001). Teacher efficacy: Capturing an elusive construct. Teaching and teacher education, 17, 783–805.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  85. Vähäsantanen, K., Saarinen, J., & Eteläpelto, A. (2009). Between school and working life: Vocational teachers’ agency in boundary-crossing settings. International journal of educational research, 48, 395–404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  86. Van Eekelen, I. M., Vermunt, J. D., & Boshuizen, H. P. A. (2006). Exploring teachers’ will to learn. Teaching and teacher education, 22, 408–423.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  87. Van Veen, K., Sleegers, P., & Van de Ven, P. (2005). One teacher’s identity, emotions and commitment to change: A case study into the cognitive-affective processes of a secondary school teacher in the context of reforms. Teaching and teacher education, 21, 917–934.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  88. Vermunt, J.D., Bakkenes, I., Brekelmans, M., & Wubbels, T. (2008). Personal and contextual factors and secondary school teachers’ adaptation of innovation. Paper presented at the 11th International Conference on Motivation (August 2008), Turku, Finland.Google Scholar
  89. Vermunt, J. D., & Endedijk, M. D. (2011). Patterns in teacher learning in different phases of the professional career. Learning and individual differences, 21, 294–302.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  90. Vygotsky, L. S. (1962). Thought and language. Cambridge: MIT Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  91. Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
  92. Ward, R. (2000). Transfer from middle to secondary school: A New Zealand study. International Journal of Educational Research, 33(4), 365–374.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  93. Wenger, E. (1998). Communities of Practice. Learning, Meaning and Identity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  94. Wheatley, K. (2005). The case for reconceptualizing teacher efficacy research. Teacher and teacher education, 21, 747–766.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
  95. Yin, R.K. (1994). Case study research: Design and methods. (2nd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
  96. Zerbe, C. (1993). Integrating separate and connected knowing: The experiential learning model. Teaching and psychology, 20, 7–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2013

Authors and Affiliations

  • Kirsi Pyhältö
    • 1
  • Janne Pietarinen
    • 2
  • Tiina Soini
    • 3
  1. 1.Centre for Research and Development of Higher Education, Institute of Behavioral SciencesUniversity of HelsinkiHelsinkiFinland
  2. 2.School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher EducationUniversity of Eastern FinlandEastern FinlandFinland
  3. 3.School of EducationUniversity of TampereTampereFinland

Personalised recommendations

Cite article

Buy options