Teacher Agency of Novice Teachers: A Scoping Review

Öz

Global policies, accountability standards, and various challenges in education around the world have a negative impact on the professional lives of novice teachers. Teacher agency has gained attention as a popular topic that offers different, new perspectives for teachers' professional development and efforts to improve the quality of education. The present study aims to examines the agency of novice teachers. For this purpose, the distribution of the compiled studies by years, countries, research method, sample size, experience level, and subject was examined. It also examined the barriers to novice teachers' agency and the findings of studies focusing on novice teacher agency. In order to identify the relevant peer-reviewed studies in the literature for scoping, research was conducted in the Web of Science, ERIC, Scopus, PsychINFO, and MEDLINE databases. The studies obtained from the databases were accessed in 53 studies using PRISMA research methodology. The study was prepared according to the stages of the scoping review methodology created by Hilary Arksey and Lisa O'Malley. As a result, the conditions affecting the agency of novice teachers were evaluated from teacher education, school context, and policy perspectives, and recommendations were made to researchers, teacher educators, and policymakers.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Teacher Agency
• Beginner Teacher
• Early Career Teacher
• Novice Teacher
• Scoping Review

Acemi Öğretmenlerin Etkenliği: Kapsam Belirleme İncelemesi

Öz

Dünya genelinde eğitimde egemen olan küresel politikalar, hesap verilebilirlik standartları ve çeşitli zorluklar acemi öğretmenlerin mesleki hayatını olumsuz etkilemektedir. Etken öğretmenlik, öğretmenlerin mesleki gelişimleri ve eğitimde kaliteyi artırma çabaları için farklı, yeni perspektifler sunan, popüler bir konu olarak dikkat çekmektedir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, acemi öğretmenlerin etkenliklerinin inceleyen bir kapsam belirleme çalışmasıdır. Bu amaçla derlenen çalışmaların yıllara, ülkelere, araştırma yöntemine, örneklem büyüklüğüne, deneyim düzeyine ve konuya göre dağılımı incelenmektedir. Aynı zamanda acemi öğretmenlerin eylemliliği önündeki engelleri ve acemi öğretmen eylemliliğine odaklanan çalışmaların bulgularını da incelenmektedir. Kapsam belirlemeye yönelik literatürde var olan ilgili hakemli çalışmaların belirlenmesi için Web of Science, ERIC, Scopus, Psych INFO, MEDLINE veri tabanlarından araştırma yapılmıştır. Veri tabanlarından elde edilen çalışmalar PRISMA araştırma metodolojisi kullanılarak 53 çalışmaya ulaşılmıştır. Çalışma Hilary Arksey ve Lisa O'Malley’in oluşturduğu kapsam belirleme inceleme metodolojisi aşamalarına göre hazırlanmıştır. Sonuç olarak acemi öğretmenlerin etkenliklerini etkileyen durumlar öğretmen eğitimi, okul bağlamı ve politik açıdan değerlendirilmiş, araştırmacılara, öğretmen eğitimcilerine ve politikacılara önerilerde bulunulmuştur.

Anahtar Kelimeler

• Öğretmen Etkenliği
• Yeni Başlayan Öğretmen
• Erken Kariyer Öğretmeni
• Acemi Öğretmen
• Kapsam Belirleme İncelemesi

Kaynakça

1. Arksey, H., & O'Malley, L. (2005). Scoping studies: Towards a methodological framework. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8(1), 19-32. https://doi.org/10.1080/1364557032000119616
2. Ashton, K. (2021). Novice teacher agency in the multi-level language classroom. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 34(3), 242-256. https://doi.org/10.1080/07908318.2020.1818766 Ball, S. J. (2016). Neoliberal education? Confronting the slouching beast. Policy Futures in Education, 14(8), 1046-1059. https://doi.org/10.1177/1478210316664259
3. Bamber, P., Bullivant, A., Clark, A., & Lundie, D. (2019). Beginning teacher agency in the enactment of fundamental British values: A multi-method case study. Oxford Review of Education, 45(6), 749-768. https://doi.org/10.1080/03054985.2019.1612344
4. Bartell, T., Cho, C., Drake, C., Petchauer, E., & Richmond, G. (2019). Teacher agency and resilience in the age of neoliberalism. Journal of Teacher Education, 70(4), 302-305. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487119865216
5. Beauchamp, C., & Thomas, L. (2011). New teachers’ identity shifts at the boundary of teacher education and initial practice. International Journal of Educational Research, 50(1), 6-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2011.04.003
6. Biesta, G., & Tedder, M. (2006). How is agency possible? Towards an ecological understanding of agency-as-achievement. Learning Lives: Learning, Identity, and Agency in the Life Course, 132-149.
7. Brunetti, G. J., & Marston, S. H. (2018). A trajectory of teacher development in early and mid-career. Teachers and Teaching, 24(8), 874-892. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2018.1490260
8. Buchanan, J., Prescott, A., Schuck, S., Aubusson, P., & Burke, P. (2013). Teacher retention and attrition: Views of early career teachers. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 38(3), 124-141.

9. Carver-Thomas, D., & Darling-Hammond, L. (2017). Teacher turnover: Why it matters and what we can do about it. Learning Policy Institute.
10. Caspersen, J., & Raaen, F. D. (2014). Novice teachers and how they cope. Teachers and Teaching, 20(2), 189-211. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2013.848570
11. Castro, A. J., Kelly, J., & Shih, M. (2010). Resilience strategies for new teachers in high-needs areas. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(3), 622-629. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2009.09.010
12. Chaaban, Y., & Sawalhi, R. (2021). A professional agency perspective on novice teachers' development of a teacher leadership stance. Journal of School Leadership, 31(6), 548-568. https://doi.org/10.1177/1052684620980355
13. Cobb, D. J. (2022). Metaphorically drawing the transition into teaching: What early career teachers reveal about identity, resilience and agency. Teaching and Teacher Education, 110, 103598, 1-10. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2021.103598
14. Connors, S. P., & Bengtson, E. (2020). Understanding teacher agency and organizational response to reform mandates. The New Educator, 16(4), 313-332. https://doi.org/10.1080/1547688X.2020.1797258
15. Çelik, O. T., & Kahraman, Ü. (2020). Göreve yeni başlayan öğretmenlerin yaşadıkları güçlükler. Pamukkale Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi, 51, 179-205. https://doi.org/10.9779/pauefd.684913
16. Dunn, A. H. (2018). Leaving a profession after it's left you: Teachers’ public resignation letters as resistance amidst neoliberalism. Teachers College Record, 120(9), 1-34. https://doi.org/10.1177/016146811812000906
17. E, L., Toom, A., Sullanmaa, J., Pietarinen, J., Soini, T., & Pyhältö, K. (2022). How does teachers’ professional agency in the classroom change in the professional transition from early career teachers to more experienced ones? Learning: Research and Practice, 8(2), 169-190. https://doi.org/10.1080/23735082.2022.2076148
18. Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What is agency? American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 962-1023. https://doi.org/10.1086/231294
19. Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., & Hökkä, P. (2015). How do novice teachers in Finland perceive their professional agency? Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 660-680. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044327
20. Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work. Educational Research Review, 10, 45-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2013.05.001
21. Fantilli, R. D., & McDougall, D. E. (2009). A study of novice teachers: Challenges and supports in the first years. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25(6), 814-825. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2009.02.021
22. Federičová, M. (2021). Teacher turnover: What can we learn from Europe? European Journal of Education, 56(1), 102-116. https://doi.org/10.1111/ejed.12429
23. Fisher-Ari, T. R., & Lynch, H. L. (2015). Archeology, legos, and haunted houses: Novice teachers’ shifting understandings of self and curricula through metaphor. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 47(4), 529-552. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2015.1049297
24. Gan, Z. (2018). Success and failure in first-year teaching: Mainland Chinese ESL teachers in Hong Kong schools. Cogent Education, 5(1), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1080/2331186X.2018.1455631
25. Glas, K., Martínez-Miranda, M., & Dittmar, P. (2021). Novice teachers’ developing beliefs on learner motivation: An agentic perspective. International Journal of Educational Research, 109, 101820, 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2021.101820
26. Heikkilä, M., Iiskala, T., Mikkilä-Erdmann, M., & Warinowski, A. (2022). Exploring the relational nature of teachers’ agency negotiation through master-and counter-narratives. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 43(3), 397-414. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2022.2038541
27. Heikonen, L., Pietarinen, J., Pyhältö, K., Toom, A., & Soini, T. (2017). Early career teachers’ sense of professional agency in the classroom: Associations with turnover intentions and perceived inadequacy in teacher–student interaction. Asia-Pacific Journal of Teacher Education, 45(3), 250-266. https://doi.org/10.1080/1359866X.2016.1169505
28. Huang, J. (2021). Sustainability of professional development: A longitudinal case study of an early career ESL teacher’s agency and identity. Sustainability, 13(16), 1-13. https://doi.org/10.3390/su13169025
29. Huang, J., Lock, K. Y. N., & Teng, F. (2019). Autonomy in English language teaching: A case study of novice secondary school teachers in Hong Kong. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics, 42(1), 3-20. https://doi.org/10.1515/CJAL-2019-0001
30. Huang, J., & Yip, J. W. (2021). Understanding ESL teachers’ agency in their early years of professional development: A three-layered triadic reciprocity framework. Frontiers in Psychology, 12, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.739271
31. Ingersoll, R. M. (2003). Is there really a teacher shortage? (Research report). Philadelphia, PA: Consortium for Policy Research in Education. Retrieved from http://www.cpre.org/there-reallyteacher-shortage
32. Kayi-Aydar, H., & Steadman, A. (2019). Teacher agency in thecontext ofteacher retention. In C. R. Rinke & L. Mawhinney(Eds.), Opportunities and Challenges in Teacher Recruitment and Retention (pp. 173– 195).
33. Keogh, J., Garvis, S., Pendergast, D., & Diamond, P. (2012). Self-determination: Using agency, efficacy and resilience (AER) to counter novice teachers' experiences of intensification. Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online), 37(8), 46-65.
34. Kettle, M., Burnett, B., Lampert, J., Comber, B., & Barnes, N. (2022). Conceptualising early career teachers' agency and accounts of social action in disadvantaged schools. Australian Journal of Teacher Education (Online), 47(8), 1-17. https://doi.org/10.14221/ajte.2022v47n8.1
35. Kneyber, R. (2015). On neoliberalism and how it travels: Interview with Stephen Ball. In R. Kneyber, and J. Evers (Eds.), Flip the System: Changing Education from the Bottom up (pp. 39-47). Routledge.
36. Lane, J. L., & Sweeny, S. P. (2019). Understanding agency and organization in early career teachers’ professional tie formation. Journal of Educational Change, 20(1), 79-104. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-018-9329-0
37. Lavigne, A. L. (2014). Beginning teachers who stay: Beliefs about students. Teaching and Teacher Education, 39, 31-43. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2013.12.002
38. Lim, S., & Yun, S. (2022). Narratives of three novice in-service science primary school teachers: Their journey of achieving teacher agency and teacher belief. Journal of Baltic Science Education, 21(6), 1040-1051. https://doi.org/10.33225/jbse/22.21.1040
39. Lockton, M., & Fargason, S. (2019). Disrupting the status quo: How teachers grapple with reforms that compete with long-standing educational views. Journal of Educational Change, 20(4), 469-494. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-019-09351-5
40. Logan, J., Webb, J., Singh, N., Walsh, B., Tanner, N., Wall, M., & Ayala, A. P. (2021). Scoping review search practices in the social sciences: A scoping review protocol. OSF, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.31219/osf.io/cdf9h
41. Losano, L., Fiorentini, D., & Villarreal, M. (2018). The development of a mathematics teacher’s professional identity during her first year teaching. Journal of Mathematics Teacher Education, 21(3), 287-315. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10857-017-9364-4
42. Lu, X., Leung, F. K. S., & Li, N. (2021). Teacher agency for integrating history into teaching mathematics in a performance-driven context: A case study of a beginning teacher in China. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 106(1), 25-44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-020-10006-z
43. Manuel, J., & Carter, D. (2016). Sustaining hope and possibility: Early-career English teachers' perspectives on their first years of teaching. English in Australia, 51(1), 91-103.
44. Marco‐Bujosa, L. M., McNeill, K. L., & Friedman, A. A. (2019). Becoming an urban science teacher: How beginning teachers negotiate contradictory school contexts. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(1), 3-32. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21583
45. McMullen, M. B., Lee, M. S., McCormick, K. I., & Choi, J. (2020). Early childhood professional well-being as a predictor of the risk of turnover in child care: A matter of quality. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 34(3), 331-345. https://doi.org/10.1080/02568543.2019.1705446
46. Miles, M. B., & Huberman, A. M. (1994). Qualitative Data Analysis: An Expanded Sourcebook. Newbury Park, CA: Sage.
47. Naraian, S. (2022). Diffractively narrating teacher agency within the entanglements of inclusion. Teaching Education, 33(1), 13-26. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210.2020.1796957
48. Naraian, S., & Schlessinger, S. (2018). Becoming an inclusive educator: Agentive maneuverings in collaboratively taught classrooms. Teaching and Teacher Education, 71, 179-189. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2017.12.012
49. Narayanan, M., & Ordynans, J. (2022). Self-efficacy is a story: Teachers’ possible selves in a pandemic world. Journal for Multicultural Education, 16(1), 64-76. https://doi.org/10.1108/JME-08-2021-0157
50. Nolan, K. T. (2016). Schooling novice mathematics teachers on structures and strategies: A Bourdieuian perspective on the role of “others” in classroom practices. Educational Studies in Mathematics, 92(3), 315-329. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10649-015-9668-1
51. Noyes, A. (2008). Choosing teachers: Exploring agency and structure in the distribution of newly qualified teachers. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(3), 674-683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.09.005
52. OECD [Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development] (2019). TALIS 2018 Results (Volume I): Teachers and School Leaders as Lifelong Learners. TALIS, OECD Publishing, Paris, France. https://doi.org/10.1787/1d0bc92a-en
53. Olitsky, S. (2021). Identity, agency, and the internal conversations of science and math teachers implementing instructional reforms in high-need urban schools. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 16(1), 19-45. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-019-09965-4
54. Paris, C., & Lung, P. (2008). Agency and child-centered practices in novice teachers: Autonomy, efficacy, intentionality, and reflectivity. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 29(3), 253-268. https://doi.org/10.1080/10901020802275302
55. Powell, S. R. (2019). Structure and agency in novice music teaching. Research Studies in Music Education, 41(2), 206-218. https://doi.org/10.1177/1321103X18794514
56. Priestley, M., Biesta, G. J. J., & Robinson, S. (2015). Teacher agency: What is it and why does it matter? In R. Kneyber, and J. Evers (Eds.), Flip the System: Changing Education from the Bottom up (pp. 134–148). Routledge.
57. Pyhältö, K., Pietarinen, J., & Soini, T. (2012). Do comprehensive school teachers perceive themselves as active professional agents in school reforms? Journal of Educational Change, 13, 95-116. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-011-9171-0
58. Ro, J. (2019). Seeking the meaning of the job: Korean novice secondary teachers’ professional identity. Asia Pacific Education Review, 20(1), 135-146. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-018-9573-2
59. Rodriguez, A. J. (2015). Managing institutional and sociocultural challenges through sociotransformative constructivism: A longitudinal case study of a high school science teacher. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(4), 448-460. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21207
60. Ronfeldt, M., Loeb, S., & Wyckoff, J. (2013). How teacher turnover harms student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 50(1), 4-36. https://doi.org/10.3102/0002831212463813
61. Rostami, F., & Yousefi, M. H. (2020). Iranian novice English teachers’ agency construction: The complexity dynamic/system perspective. Asian-Pacific Journal of Second and Foreign Language Education, 5(1), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40862-020-00082-2
62. Ruohotie-Lyhty, M. (2011). Constructing practical knowledge of teaching: Eleven newly qualified language teachers' discursive agency. The Language Learning Journal, 39(3), 365-379. https://doi.org/10.1080/09571736.2010.544750
63. Schaefer, L., Hennig, L., & Clandinin, J. (2021). Intentions of early career teachers: Should we stay or should we go now? Teaching Education, 32(3), 309-322. https://doi.org/10.1080/10476210.2020.1730317
64. Schaefer, L., Long, J. S., & Clandinin, D. J. (2012). Questioning the research on early career teacher attrition and retention. Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 58(1), 106-121. https://doi.org/10.11575/ajer.v58i1.55559
65. Soini, T., Pietarinen, J., & Pyhältö, K. (2016). What if teachers learn in the classroom? Teacher Development, 20(3), 380-397. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2016.1149511
66. Sorensen, L., & Ladd, H. (2020). The hidden costs of teacher turnover. AERA Open, 6 (1), 1-24. https://doi.org/10.1177/2332858420905812
67. Starkey, L. (2010). Supporting the digitally able beginning teacher. Teaching and Teacher Education, 26(7), 1429-1438. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.05.002
68. Sullivan, A., Johnson, B., Simons, M., & Tippett, N. (2021). When performativity meets agency: How early career teachers struggle to reconcile competing agendas to become ‘quality’teachers. Teachers and Teaching, 27(5), 388-403. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2020.1806050
69. Taylor, L. A. (2019). Rights, duties and spaces of agency amidst high-stakes testing: Narrative positioning as resource for teacher agency. English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 18(2), 204-217. https://doi.org/10.1108/ETPC-11-2018-0098
70. Toom, A., Pyhältö, K., & Rust, F. O. C. (2015). Teachers’ professional agency in contradictory times. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 615-623. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044334
71. Trent, J. (2017). Discourse, agency and teacher attrition: Exploring stories to leave by amongst former early career English language teachers in Hong Kong. Research Papers in Education, 32(1), 84-105. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2016.1144215
72. Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., Eteläpelto, A., Rasku-Puttonen, H., & Littleton, K. (2008). Teachers’ professional identity negotiations in two different work organisations. Vocations and Learning, 1, 131-148. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-008-9008-z
73. Vähäsantanen, K., Räikkönen, E., Paloniemi, S., Hökkä, P., & Eteläpelto, A. (2019). A novel instrument to measure the multidimensional structure of professional agency. Vocations and Learning, 12, 267-295. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12186-018-9210-6
74. Villegas-Torres, P., & Lengeling, M. M. (2021). Approaching teaching as a complex emotional experience: The teacher professional development stages revisited. Profile Issues in Teachers Professional Development, 23(2), 231-242. https://doi.org/10.15446/profile.v23n2.89181
75. Wei, B., Avraamidou, L., & Chen, N. (2021). How a beginning science teacher deals with practical work: An explorative study through the lens of identity. Research in Science Education, 51(1), 1-19. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-019-9826-z
76. Wei, B., & Chen, N. (2019). Agency at work: two beginning science teachers’ stories in a context of curriculum reform in China. International Journal of Science Education, 41(10), 1287-1302. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2019.1600205
77. Wei, B., Chen, N., & Chen, B. (2020). Teaching with laboratory work: The presentation of beginning science teachers’ identity in school settings. Research Papers in Education, 35(6), 681-705. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2019.1615117
78. Weldon, P. (2018). Early career teacher attrition in Australia: Evidence, definition, classification and measurement. Australian Journal of Education, 62(1), 61-78. https://doi.org/10.1177/0004944117752478
79. Wilson, E., & Deaney, R. (2010). Changing career and changing identity: How do teacher career changers exercise agency in identity construction? Social Psychology of Education, 13, 169-183. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11218-010-9119-x
80. Woodhouse, J., & Pedder, D. (2017). Early career teachers’ perceptions and experiences of leadership development: Balancing structure and agency in contrasting school contexts. Research Papers in Education, 32(5), 553-577. https://doi.org/10.1080/02671522.2016.1225794
81. Wray, K. A., & Richmond, G. (2018). Factors shaping the agency of beginning science teachers working in high-poverty schools. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 29(8), 785-803. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560X.2018.1514824
82. Wright, D. S., Weinberg, A. E., Sample McMeeking, L. B., Lin Hunter, D. E., & Balgopal, M. M. (2023). I will survive: Teachers reflect on motivations to remain in education amidst a global pandemic. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 60(6), 1266-1291. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21831
83. Xun, Y., Zhu, G., & Rice, M. (2021). How do beginning teachers achieve their professional agency and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic? A social-ecological approach. Journal of Education for Teaching, 47(5), 745-748. https://doi.org/10.1080/02607476.2021.1945415
84. Zhukova, O. (2018). Novice teachers’ concerns, early professional experiences and development: Implications for theory and practice. Discourse and Communication for Sustainable Education, 9(1), 100-114. https://doi.org/10.2478/dcse-2018-0008