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Teacher agency and professional learning: Rethinking fidelity of implementation as multiplicities of enactment
Author(s) -
Buxton Cory A.,
AllexsahtSnider Martha,
Kayumova Shakhnoza,
Aghasaleh Rouhollah,
Choi YounJeng,
Cohen Allan
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
journal of research in science teaching
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 3.067
H-Index - 131
eISSN - 1098-2736
pISSN - 0022-4308
DOI - 10.1002/tea.21223
Subject(s) - framing (construction) , professional learning community , professional development , pedagogy , agency (philosophy) , fidelity , teacher education , sociology , structure and agency , dialectic , mathematics education , psychology , epistemology , computer science , social science , engineering , telecommunications , philosophy , structural engineering
In this paper we use practice theory, with its focus on the interplay of structure and agency, to theorize about teacher engagement in professional learning and teacher enactment of pedagogical practices as an alternative to framing implementation research in terms of program adherence and fidelity of implementation. Practice theory allowed us to reconsider assumptions about characteristics of effective teacher professional learning, and to rethink our own notions of agency. Using data from our three‐year middle school science teacher professional learning project, Language‐rich Inquiry Science with English Language Learners (LISELL), we discuss how individual teachers negotiated power structures of schooling and exerted their agency in ways that were influenced by their project participation. Framing our work in terms of engagement and enactment, we theorize about how a structure‐agency dialectic challenging assumptions about effective teacher professional learning can support new ways of thinking about implementation research in education. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 52: 489–502, 2015