ABSTRACT

This article examines the sociocultural shaping of teacher agency by focusing on how various conditions mediate teachers’ perceived professional space. Agency is understood from a sociocultural perspective as the mediated capacity to act, which is achieved and exercised in a professional space, and, consequently, shaped by the perceptions of this space. Based on thematic and interpretative analysis of interviews with Norwegian L1 upper secondary teachers, the article identifies several conditions that mediate the teachers’ perceived professional space: the exam, the curriculum, accountability demands, school leadership, colleagues, students, learning materials, and subject traditions and purposes. Two aspects of mediation are identified, what we respectively term extension and remodelling. Extension conveys how mediating conditions provide resources or constraints that contribute to expanding or narrowing the teachers’ perceived professional space. Remodelling, however, conveys how mediating conditions qualitatively transform the perceived professional space. Findings highlight the subject as a resource for teachers, and teacher agency as socioculturally shaped by the perceived size and character of professional space.

摘要

本文通过关注各种条件如何调解教师的感知专业空间，研究了教师代理的社会文化形态。从社会文化的角度将代理理解为行动的中介能力，这是在专业空间中实现和行使的，因此，受感知影响这个空间。基于对挪威L1高中教师访谈的主题和解释性分析，本文确定了调解教师感知的专业空间的几种条件：考试，课程设置，责任心要求，学校领导，同事，学生，学习材料和主题传统和目的。确定了调解的两个方面，分别称为扩展和重构。扩展传达了调解条件如何提供资源或约束条件，这些资源或约束条件有助于扩大或缩小教师的专业空间。然而，重塑传达了调解条件如何质变感知的专业空间。调查结果突出了该学科作为教师的资源，同时又根据专业空间的大小和特征在社会文化上塑造了教师机构。