Agency seems to be in short supply in our schools—at every level. Students want more voice and choice in classrooms and schools. Educators fight for their own agency to make decisions about instruction and assessment and to support students’ needs. And in many places, administrators are also feeling a lack of agency. Considering this, who actually has all the agency? And why are they denying it to so many of the players in our system of schooling?
I would argue that there’s no one hoarding all the agency. Instead, maybe we actually have more agency than we think. Maybe part of the issue is that we are too compliant in advance of regulations, laws, or mandates. Many of us are rule followers by nature. We do what is expected of us and what we are told to do. It is a part of why we were good at school as students and why we wanted to become teachers. (Note: Some of the best teachers are the ones for whom school didn’t work that well. Those educators, because of their experience and perspective, can support many students who also find school challenging.) For a great many of us, however, following directions and complying with instructions is our norm. Sometimes, I believe, to our great detriment. Is there any difference between lacking agency and not asserting agency? Isn’t the end result the same?
The Slippery Slope
We see how easily educators can have their agency challenged on a grand scale in states like Florida, where legislators are passing laws, often fairly vague laws, about what materials and instruction are and aren’t allowed. Teachers and schools are working hard to determine what they can teach about race and gender, what books they can have in classroom and school libraries, and more generally how to appropriately follow these laws. Sometimes, the limitations teachers and schools put on themselves are more extreme than what these laws require. As a result, schools are eliminating materials and lessons or drastically changing instruction to meet an unclear expectation. That’s an absolute lack of agency.
But not complying, even when the expectations are unclear or blurry, is, of course, a risk. Pushing back against vague laws and regulations can result in serious, negative repercussions. Teachers, administrators, schools, and districts can find themselves being punished in small or large ways—from having to submit justifications for every single lesson they teach to being fired or moved into other positions.
Complying in advance can set up expectations to comply more rigidly in the future.
However, when we opt to not take that risk, to not hold onto or grasp our agency, we risk something else. We accept more and more restrictions. We let go of more and more of our values and principles that drew us to teaching in the first place. And that slope feels awfully slippery. Complying in advance can set up expectations to comply more rigidly in the future.
Taking Back Our Agency
As educators and professionals, we should feel the freedom to exercise our judgment and do what we think is best, rather than complying to not make waves. Right now, for instance, I’m exercising my agency to do what I think will best serve my 4th graders. Their entire experience in public schools has been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and it shows in both their academics and social-emotional skills. I have focused on academics because my district’s planning and pacing guide doesn’t give me time to do differently, but I also know this is not serving my students well. So, my class is currently taking a step back, easing up on the frenzied academic push, to focus on developing and strengthening empathy, self-awareness, and self-regulation skills. I believe, in the long run, my students will be more successful academically as a result, but I also know that many people, from my administrators on up, could easily disagree. I am using my professional judgment and knowledge to serve my students, whether or not that meets expectations from my school or district. That is, I believe, the role of a professional.
Another way we can push back against our tendency to comply is to make sure we have all the information. In his book De-Implementation (Corwin, 2022), Peter DeWitt has found that sometimes educators make choices because they believe they are expected. Maybe those choices used to be expected from a different administrator and the current one feels differently. Or maybe those expectations were never actually required but educators thought they were.
On my team this year, we had a long conversation about the common assessments we give our 4th graders. Some teachers believed we were expected to give multiple choice, online assessments for each unit in math, reading, science, and social studies. I was new to the 4th grade team, having looped up with my students, and I found this to be surprising, as it severely limits other forms of assessment and results in an immense amount of instructional time being used for these tests. We also have a new principal this year, so I decided it was worth asking. As it turns out, our current principal doesn’t feel the tests are necessary. Her expectations are that we assess students regularly, discuss what we are finding, and collaborate together to ensure our instruction is as strong as possible. There are times when she expects multiple choice, online assessments, but not for every unit in every content area. We could easily have found ourselves complying with an expectation that did not exist.
We need to push back, clasping any and all agency we have, and not let go.
As our profession loses our most experienced and long-term teachers to retirement or other fields, holding on to teacher agency may be even more difficult. Teachers who are newer to their roles may be more likely to not question what is being done around them, both because the job is overwhelming already and because risks are greater earlier in one’s career. Those of us who have been in the profession for some time, then, need to be paying attention to what is happening with teacher agency in our schools, our districts, and our states. We need to push back, clasping any and all agency we have, and not let go.
