Abstract
Introduction
Agency is perceived as people’s capacity to act on their ideas and plans to transform current thinking or practice (Virkkunen, 2006). Teachers’ agency refers to their active contribution to shaping their work and its conditions (Hadar & Benish-Weisman, 2019). As a construct, teachers’ agency emphasizes the capacity for doing the work of teaching and learning given the resources and limitations of the working environment, and considers teachers’ personal beliefs, values, and attributes (Gudmundsdottir & Hathaway, 2020).
The research on teaching in times of crisis and uncertainty indicates that pandemics put pressure on individual teachers’ established teaching practices. They also challenge the core organizational and technical infrastructure that generally supports the teaching process (Damşa et al., 2021). In this context, the customary practices and professional competencies of teachers may be revealed as irrelevant or insufficient (Jankowski, 2020). Teaching in the face of crises thus requires a skillful combination of assuming responsibility and acting, while managing resources (Eteläpelto et al., 2013).
The complex nature of teaching in times of crisis requires an understanding of teachers’ agency in relation to the constraints and opportunities brought on by the crisis (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). The notion of agency should incorporate the background constraints under which teachers operate, such as inadequate digital skills or pedagogical knowledge, limiting technical infrastructure or connectivity, or lack of time. This permits us to understand what types of expression of transformative agency are found when constraints prompt a different expression of agency and teaching resources.
In particular, the complexity of teaching in times of crisis requires an understanding of teachers’ agency relative to the constraints and opportunities presented by the crisis (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). Teaching in times of crisis results in blended learning environments, emphasizing the need to prepare teachers for teaching with training, guidance and learning design opportunities (Brevik et al., 2019; Gudmundsdottir & Hathaway, 2020), and thus focusing on teachers’ agentic capacity in times of adversity. Hence, this research explored the mechanisms by which teachers manage to exercise their agency, that is, to transform the difficult working environment in times of crisis and uncertainty.
The paper is organized as follows. It starts with a discussion of the notion of agency, and the way in which it is theorized and conceptualized in the current research. This is followed by a description of the study design. On this background, the findings of the research are presented and discussed.
The Concept of Agency
Agency is commonly described as the situated practice or temporary capacity of individuals or collectives to take action (Rigby et al., 2016). Mostly, agency can be understood as players’ capacity to alter rules, relational ties or the distribution of resources by using their and others’ power (Coburn, 2016). As can be inferred from these definitions, the desired agency is participative, innovative and compliant (Haapasaari et al., 2016).
In existing research, human agency usually has very positive connotations of creativity and motivation, well-being and even general happiness (Chen-Levi et al., 2022; Welzel & Inglehart, 2010). Agency is also related to autonomy and self-fulfillment, serving as a force that brings about change and resistance to structural power (Eteläpelto et al., 2013). In more general terms, agency describes how human beings function as influential agents who can change their environment (Bunnin & Yu, 2009; Goller & Harteis, 2017).
Teachers’ agency refers to an important combination of people’s “sense of intentionality and their perceived possibilities and opportunities” (Priestley et al., 2016, p. 3). Teachers must have the knowledge, skills, and ability to not only improve student learning but also critically reflect on and advocate for teaching and learning issues and policies (Coffman, 2015; Wilcox & Lawson, 2018). This requires teachers with a sense of agency and some sense of their own collective power (Colvin, 2013).
Teachers’ agency is influenced by school leaders who treat their teachers as professionals, prefer innovative implementation strategies, and have built trust–communication connections (Lawson et al., 2017). In fact, agency results from the interplay of individual and group/collective perceptions and intentions, and the conditions provided by the school, district, and surrounding community (Wilcox & Lawson, 2018). Researchers exploring teacher agency thus must examine the cultures, structures, and relationships that shape the particular “ecologies” within which teachers work, including school organizational climates, routines, and rituals (Lawson et al., 2017).
Transformative Learning for Transformative Agency
Transformative learning involves a deep shift in perspective. Mezirow (2003) defines transformative learning as the process of changing problematic frames of reference to make one more open, reflective, and emotionally able to change. These frames of reference include the assumptions and expectations that shape our thinking and inform our beliefs. Early influences on this theory came from Kuhn’s concept of paradigms, Freire’s notion of conscientization and Habermas’s domains of learning (Kitchenham, 2008). Mezirow continued developing and revising the theory to refine core concepts. Two key capabilities involved in transformative learning are critical self-reflection and reflective judgment. Critical self-reflection allows critiquing one’s own assumptions and beliefs. Reflective judgment enables engaging in critical discourse to assess beliefs, values, and assumptions. Discourse refers to the dialogue that evaluates beliefs and assumptions. For discourse to be effective, conditions of inclusion, empathy and openness to perspectives are necessary (Mezirow, 2003).
Transformative learning aims to develop frames of reference that are better justified and more integrative (Turdieva, 2022). Transformative learning is important for fostering the qualities needed for democratic citizenship, such as openness to differences, moral discourse, and self-reflection. It helps develop individual autonomy through participation in discourse. The goal of education should be to help learners realize their capabilities for critical reflection and reflective judgment (Mezirow, 2000).
Educators have a key role in creating conditions for effective reasoning, critical reflection, and discourse. This involves helping students develop the skills, insights and dispositions needed to critique assumptions and participate freely in discourse (Rombout et al., 2021). These skills allow adults to assess and transform the problematic assumptions and expectations that shape their thinking. Transformative learning aims to produce more justified and integrative frames of reference through processes of critical discourse and reasoning (Kitchenham, 2008). The transformative learning framework provides an influential scaffold for inquiring into transformative agency in times of crisis and uncertainty (Odell et al., 2020).
Recently, there has been a rapid accumulation of studies on transformative agency (Brevik et al., 2019; Kerosuo, 2017; Kramer, 2018; Lund & Eriksen, 2016; Lund & Vestøl, 2020; Virkkunen, 2006), raising the question: when is agency transformative? Focusing on humans’ capacity to shape the conditions in which they live enable identifying the transformative dimensions of the agency (Lund & Vestøl, 2020).
Mäkitalo (2016) links agency to transformation by identifying agency as “the capacity of humans to distance themselves from their immediate surroundings and…to intervene in, and transform the meaning of, situated activities” (p. 64). However, Haapasaari et al. (2016) create a clear distinction between transformation and agency by defining transformational agency as the development of participants’ joint activity in explaining and predicting new possibilities. This means that transformative agency is not limited to general decision-making, making choices, or opting for an alternative.
In transformative agency, the problem situation is perceived as worrying or conflicting by the subject(s) who experience it (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). Therefore, it involves personal investment, elements of risks, and an uncertain future outcome. It can be assumed that transformative agency involves basic dilemmas; from recognizing the problematic situation and actually engaging in changing it through an emotional commitment, to a distant intellectual position. Therefore, transformative agency applies to situations in which we seek to transcend contradictions, limitations or impasses (Virkkunen, 2006).
We are currently in a state of uncertainty (McDonald, 2021). Teachers are facing increasingly complex challenges and situations that require them to exercise agency and decision-making, using or developing resources to transform the situation (Brevik et al., 2019; Lund & Vestøl, 2020). Although teachers learn to “plan away uncertainty” (Beghetto & Jaeger, 2022) in the face of increased complexity, teachers as agents need to exercise agency that involves their “breaking away from the given frame of action and taking the initiative to transform it” (Virkkunen, 2006, p. 49). This kind of agency is termed transformative agency. Transformative agency challenges the management rhetoric and differs from the dominant individualistic perspective (Engeström et al., 2014).
The theoretical framework of the current research on transformative agency is based on cultural–historical activity theory (Lund & Eriksen, 2016; Sannino, 2015). The central concepts of the study are transformative agency and agentive actions. The cultural–historical activity theory emphasizes the connections between agency, development and learning. From this theoretical perspective, Kerosuo (2017) emphasized that “transformative agency is considered a quality of expansive learning in activity-theoretical studies” (p. 336). It seems that transformative agency goes beyond the individual and is often found in situations involving conflicts, contradictions and disturbances (Haapasaari et al., 2016). Transformative agency manifests itself when agents (teachers and school leaders) solve conflicts and disturbances while developing their local activity and work practices (Haapasaari et al., 2016).
Examining transformative agency, Sannino and Engeström (2017) showed that transformative processes are multistep and longitudinal. They not only involve negotiations but also go beyond traditional practices. Transformative agency includes questioning the status quo and searching for new possibilities (Kramer, 2018). In this sense, transformative agency is collective, varied, and evolves over time, moving from resistance to change toward taking action to change the activity (Haapasaari et al., 2016).
The boundaries between “general” agency and transformative agency are not always clear (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). Haapasaari et al. (2016) distinguished them as follows:
Transformative agency differs from conventional notions of agency in that it stems from encounters with and examination of disturbances, conflicts and contradictions in the collective activity. Transformative agency develops the participants’ joint activity by explicating and envisioning new possibilities (p. 233).
When a group of people collaboratively take initiatives to develop their activity, we can speak of shared transformative agency (Virkkunen, 2006). In developing the participants’ joint activity, transformative agency seeks possibilities for collective change efforts. In this respect, transformative agency underlines the crucial importance of expansive transitions from individual initiatives toward collective actions to accomplish systemic change (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). Based on the above conceptual framework, this study aims to understand the mechanisms through which teachers exercise their transformative agency.
Towards Transformative Agency in a Global Pandemic Crisis
Smiar defines crisis as “a time when we, literally, are not ourselves and the world around us is completely changed” (1992, p. 149). A crisis is an urgent situation that requires immediate and decisive action by an organization and, in particular, by the leaders of the organization (Smith & Riley, 2012). “Crisis” has been defined by Coombs and Holladay (2012) as the perception of an unpredictable event that threatens important expectancies of stakeholders and can seriously impact an organization’s performance. In a school setting, when a crisis occurs, it can have a negative effect on the well-being of the school and its community members (Karasavidou & Alexopoulos, 2019). A lack of preparedness will impact the system’s ability to cope and manage the crisis, particularly in meeting basic needs, providing medical aid and managing the economy (Howat et al., 2012).
In March 2020, educational institutions abruptly pivoted to remote instruction, sending students, teachers, principals and administrative staff away from schools in response to COVID-19 (Jankowski, 2020). In the context of the lockdown that followed the COVID-19 outbreak, teaching—predominantly online—was highly contingent. And, as may typically occur in a crisis, the pandemic triggered the emergence of countervailing forces. On the one hand, digitalization allowed teachers to expand educational repertoires and challenge the status quo (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). On the other, they were confronted with the challenges of online teaching, and pressured to mobilize digital competence, and to design and deliver a successful learning experience in a difficult and time-constrained context (Damşa et al., 2021). Thus, school faculties have had to rapidly adapt and change their normal approach to leading, teaching, and learning as work moves between online and face-to-face formats.
Teachers, as social agents, also become increasingly embedded in practices, situations, and spaces permeated by digitalization (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). Online teaching as an outcome of a crisis therefore becomes a function of a combination of diverse elements (disciplinary, pedagogical, personal, organizational, and technological)—with the expectation that teachers will productively manage the dynamics of this process. This aspect of a transformative agency and its instrumental value is expressed in understanding teaching under circumstances in which extraordinary effort is required, such as the extra time used by teachers to plan for online teaching and evaluation, and to identify, access, learn, and use digital resources for teaching (Damşa et al., 2021).
Methodology
Participants
This study aims to describe the “lived experience” of a phenomenon, focusing on the meaning that teachers attach to their experience, behavior and narrative regarding the complexity of times of crisis. The study included 20 teachers (16 women, 4 men) in the Israeli Jewish and Arab communities. Participants worked at schools of different levels (10 in elementary schools, and 10 in junior and high schools). Their average seniority was 5.1 years. All participants had BA degrees. Seeking to maximize the depth and richness of the data, maximal differentiation sampling was carried out (Creswell, 2014), a technique used to capture a wide range of perspectives and gain insights into a phenomenon by contemplating it from various angles (Merriam, 2009). The maximal differentiation sampling applied to teachers’ gender and years of teaching experience. Twenty teachers were selected who could represent a diverse sampling.
Data Gathering
The study was conducted during the first and second COVID-19 lockdowns in Israel (05/2020–03/2021). A “snowball” method was used based on recommendations of other teachers. Data was collected through semi-structured interviews designed to explore teachers’ personal perspectives (Rossman & Rallis, 2012). This enabled gaining in-depth knowledge of the participants’ viewpoints, exposing their perceptions, beliefs, emotions, and thoughts. It allowed interviewees to express an authentic voice and expose their world and actions (Merriam, 2009). Interviews with teachers generally lasted 1 hour. All interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verbatim. All of the participants were fully informed of the purpose of the study and guaranteed complete confidentiality, as well as full retreat options. All the participants agreed to be interviewed for this study, and they were assigned pseudonyms to maintain confidentiality.
Specific questions were asked to achieve deeper insight into teachers’ perceptions and actions related to practicing agency in times of crisis. The interviews focused on seven major questions: (1) Describe your role in times of crisis. How is it different from routine periods? (2) Share the more prominent characteristics of the crisis as reflected in your daily work. (3) In your opinion, how can a school principal assist the educational staff in Coping with the implications of a crisis? (4) Describe your most significant challenges during this crisis period. Please explain and provide examples. (5) What processes (formal and informal) did you and your colleagues implement to adjust to the changes to your school environment during this crisis period? (6) How do you perceive your ability to drive changes in the school during this crisis? Explain. (7) Describe the pedagogical opportunities presented by the crisis, and what is required at a personal and organizational level to succeed in implementing these opportunities. Participants were asked about their teaching experiences and agency properties during this period. This allowed us to obtain a deep understanding of participants’ viewpoints, and expose their perceptions, beliefs, emotions and thoughts. It allowed the interviewees to expose their world through their own perceptions (Merriam, 2009).
Data Analysis
Data were analyzed according to the principles of qualitative research, inductively, based on the participants’ varied perspectives. Each interview was analyzed separately. After reading each interview a few times, notes were written by the researchers. The analysis was conducted in three stages: condensing, coding and categorizing. In the condensing stage, the portions of the data that related to the research goal were located. In the coding stage, each segment of the relevant data (utterance) was coded according to the aspect of the interviewees’ expressed perception (Gibbs, 2007). This stage is data-driven: A-priori codes were not used but rather inductive ones, developed by direct examination of the perspectives articulated by the participants (Rossman & Rallis, 2012). After capturing the essence of the utterances in the second stage, clustered similar utterances were done to generalize their meanings and derive categories in the third stage (categorizing).
The dimensions of the categories were explored o identify the relationships between categories and test the categories against the full range of the data. The analysis was performed in two phases: first analyzed teachers’ voices separately, and then analyzed them together to generate common themes and elucidate the differences between the voices (Cohen et al., 2011). The generation of themes was an inductive process, grounded in the various perspectives articulated by the participants (Rossman & Rallis, 2012).
Several measures taken at different stages of the study ensured trustworthiness. First, the diversity of study participants was maintained, in terms of gender, seniority, school types and sectors within the Israeli educational system (state schools in both Jewish and Arab sectors), and geographical districts. Then, researchers reflected on the emerging themes and discussed them, and searched for data that would either confirm or refute them. Joint work was carried out, which included ongoing mutual reflection, led to develop an awareness of the conceptual and methodological issues pertaining to the current research.
In qualitative research, it is vital for researchers to acknowledge how their diverse backgrounds and personal experiences influence the theoretical and methodological aspects of the inquiry. As researchers in this study, our diverse backgrounds contribute unique perspectives: one team member served as an educational counselor in high school for 2 years and is currently an educational leadership researcher; another, served as a school principal for 20 years and is currently an educational leadership researcher; and the third researcher brings extensive experience in educational leadership research. Our collaborative efforts, accompanied by ongoing mutual reflection, have heightened our awareness of conceptual and methodological nuances related to the present research.
Findings
Analysis of the interviews revealed the mechanisms by which teachers manage to exercise their agency, that is, to transform the difficult working environment in times of crisis and uncertainty into an effective one. Three major themes were found. The first, Ecological climate, included specific beliefs related to the role of teacher and what it entails, personal beliefs, emotions, values, and attributes, contributing to ecological climate. The second related to digital and technical infrastructure, digital skills and teaching resources, referring to the many difficulties faced by teachers that must be overcome if they are to be able to teach in the new technological environment. The last theme was related to organizational infrastructure—describing teachers’ need to address school organizational constraints, limitations and challenges. Figure 1 presents the three mechanisms used by teachers to exercise transformative agency. Three mechanisms used by teachers to exercise transformative agency.
Theme 1: Ecological Climate: Teachers’ Personal Beliefs, Emotions, Values, and Attributes
This theme, referring to the human capital in the school system, stood out in its scope and intensity. It is of great importance in characterizing the personal/internal beliefs, emotions, values, and attributes that facilitated or delayed teachers’ implementation of agency practices. Moreover, the first category touches upon the fact that using technology is difficult for the participating teachers who have never used it as a direct pedagogical tool/medium, giving rise to difficult emotions and feelings; and provides examples of teachers’ proclaimed beliefs that, nevertheless, engagement with technology is important in today’s world. Here we delve further into this theme’s two prominent categories.
Enabling Emotions, Beliefs, Values, and Attributes
Agency derives from, among other things, interactions between perceptions, emotions, and personal/collective intentions. The relationship between these factors stabilizes the ecological climate in which teachers work. This category describes the feelings, beliefs, and emotions of teachers in times of crisis. Anne, a science teacher and eighth-grade educator, characterized them this way: A teacher walks around with a bag of positive and negative emotions that pop up, mix and disappear. The emotion I feel most of the time is a sense of appreciation and pride. Simply put, I am proud to be a teacher and appreciate my work.
Agency usually has a positive connotation in terms of well-being and even general happiness. John, a math teacher, shared his emotions of hope, pride and gratitude: “Throughout this period, there was nothing left but to feel compassion and empathy for frightened students and everyone else. One can expect and believe that better days will come.” Findings revealed that emotions of support and encouragement are part of the skills needed in practicing agency in times of crisis. Leann, a fifth-grade educator, addressed these emotions “I was proud in my students. I was thrilled to see the personal responsibility that they discovered in learning. They entered in time for Zoom sessions, diligently performed tasks.”
Motivation and satisfaction were also related to agency; Tina, a second-grade educator, proclaimed her sense of satisfaction as follows: I managed to give certificates to 30 students, making it clear to them how much I value them and what they need to improve on...I finished the year with most of them reading beautifully and knowing the multiplication table up to five.
Data analysis yielded characteristics of transformative agency. This was identified when teachers—the agents—used the resources available to them and dealt with the crisis in a sophisticated manner. Tom, a homeroom teacher in junior-high school, described his perception of the teachers’ multiple roles: I think the main characteristic of teachers’ work in the educational system is that it is multifaceted. The nature of his work requires mobility between various roles—educator, teacher, coordinator, policeman, psychologist, friend, actor and more. The better a teacher maneuvers between these roles according to the changing and dynamic situation, the more satisfaction and success he will experience in his work.
Teacher agency does not only rely on the beliefs that individual teachers bring to their practice; it also requires collective development and consideration. Sophia, a fourth-grade educator, described educational–organizational perception: “The teacher is a mainstay; Like a war commander, we are at the front, loyal to the well-being of our students. We need to mobilize empathy and listening and be the school's contact.” These enabling emotions, attributes and beliefs in hope and responsibility, and satisfaction with empathy and pride were found alongside coercive and difficult emotions. As asserted by Coombs and Holladay (2012), when a crisis occurs, it can have a negative effect on the well-being of the school and its community members.
Inhibiting and Coercive Emotions, Beliefs, Values and Attributes
The coronavirus threat caused a flood of fear and anxiety among teachers. Olivia, an educator in elementary school, explained: “Fear is the result of this deceptive period: the hidden behind the visible and the frequently encountered difficulties that do not always have a solution.” Crises may adversely affect the well-being of the school and its community. Nicole, a chemistry teacher, described emotions of threat and fear: “Fear of adapting to a new and unfamiliar situation, maneuvering between Zoom lessons and caring for my own children at home. There is concern for my students and economic anxiety about what will happen.” The result is an unpreparedness that may affect the school’s willingness as a system to manage and deal with the crisis. It may also affect the way in which teachers practice agency. According to Lee, a junior-high school teacher: “Something unfamiliar has arrived. It’s here to stay. The need to learn new things, on the go, new learning methods, withstand the pressures of 12 Zoom lessons a week, another few with the parents, staff and administration: it’s really stressful.”
Feelings of frustration, anger, stress, and helplessness arise due to destabilization of the routine in school. Julia, an educator in elementary school, described the situation: “There was a sense of fear, uncertainty, an understanding that I didn't have the tools to deliver the content, I didn't know any software and I didn't know how. I experienced much anxiety and frustration” indicating personal and organizational difficulties, and difficulties in implementing agency. Such emotions during the crisis reflected pedagogical and social difficulties. An extra burden was placed on the teachers. Ariana, a third-grade educator and math teacher, described this: “I had difficulties coping with the new situation. A sense of inability to help students. The distance, the inability to be a crutch for them, saddens me.”
Other teachers also shared feelings of loneliness and alienation, fatigue, and depression. It seems that the lockdowns that accompanied the coronavirus crisis had even broader emotional consequences. Thomas, an educator in elementary school, referred to these feelings “I think one of the biggest emotions I felt was loneliness, while I was doing the classes on Zoom—for me, not seeing the reactions of the students in real time in the classroom was very difficult.”
Findings showed that the unexpected events and the frequently changing guidelines brought about by the crisis raised difficult emotions, as emphasized by Alice, a junior-high school teacher: “I felt like I was getting caught up in my concerns and depression. It was important to me to get over it. Not knowing what was planned and the loss of control caused me a great deal of frustration.” Teachers dealing with crisis situations, and all that this implies, need to practice unique skills during this period. At the same time, teachers become agents, combining resources and raising positive emotions.
Theme 2: Technical infrastructure, digital skills, and resources
The second theme refers to the fact that crises affect the complexity of the teaching and learning environment and the structures and activities that accompany it. Here we explore the two categories of this theme in more detail.
Strengths and challenges of technological infrastructure and skills at the teacher level
Teaching—especially online—in a crisis provokes the emergence of counterforces. For example, Tom stated “Integration of technology into the educational system was the most significant challenge I encountered. I admit that I am not a technological person and the period of distance learning simply threw me into deep water.” Teachers tackled the challenges of online teaching, needed to recruit digital capabilities, and had to design and provide a successful learning experience in a difficult and time-sensitive context. Thomas addressed this by saying that: “All of the classes and lessons were conducted on Zoom; it was terrible for me, I was unable to teach, the students were not able to learn—in one word zero, failure.”
Data analysis showed that the roles of teaching and learning switched. Teachers were required to deal with the demanding learning of digital technologies. Lee addressed some of the difficulties: “There are many times when the technological means that we plan to use don’t work or don’t work exactly the way we want, and then the whole lesson that we planned is ruined.” The technological infrastructure, however vital, took over a new digital space, which sparked an important discussion about teaching practices and the teacher’s role. According to Ariana: How can teachers respond to students who are struggling in online learning? There are lessons that require more physical involvement from teachers, and such classes in particular pose many difficulties. Teachers have to deal with the question of how to maintain the social interaction between teacher and students.
The result is that teachers as social agents became more embedded in digital practices, situations, and spaces. Nicole described the challenge that she faced in this regard: “The most significant and complex challenge I had to deal with was changing my teaching method.” This situation, exposed by the current pandemic, strengthens the intrinsic role of the educational staff in making decisions, and adapting skills to match the non-routine crisis situation. Olivia sharpened this important need by explaining that: “Technology does not always serve the purposes of teaching, sometimes technology even disrupts them. It stimulates fear, since much more is hidden and new difficulties and challenges are often encountered.”
Alongside the challenges and difficulties, there is no doubt that integration of technology into the educational system is important. It enables teachers to expand their educational repertoire and challenge the status quo (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). Therefore, teachers’ efforts to maintain digital technology should not be seen only through the lens of difficulties and challenges. As Maria, a high school teacher, described: “Integrating technologies is necessary and the coronavirus has given us an important lesson. Today’s generation is a technological generation. They live and breathe technology. So, when a teacher uses technology, they appreciate it more.”
Teachers’ rapid adaptation and changing approaches encourage a return to routine as their work moves between online and face-to-face formats. Emma, an elementary school teacher, referred to the opportunities of the technological infrastructure: “We live in a generation where children are born into technology. Therefore, in my opinion, it is important that teachers learn all the time and enrich their knowledge in the technological field.” The teacher’s organizational environment can provide technological opportunities and enrichment of digital resources. Sophia reinforced this assumption by claiming that: “integrating technologies is a real and necessary need. The integration of technologies is inevitable and required.” Furthermore, integrating technology as a pedagogical tool offers many opportunities, as described by Julia: “Integrating technology in learning and teaching is important, especially for students with learning disorders who need to learn in ways that will interest them. The use of technology is enriching for students, allowing them to develop additional capabilities.” Integrating technology into schools allows for innovative, creative and meaningful teaching and learning, particularly when dealing with crises and their constraints.
Teachers’ Emotional Coping with Digital Resources and Skills in Times of Crisis
Alongside the clear and loud voice that recognizes the importance of integrating technological tools and resources in school, the teachers’ emotional experience with this aspect presents a more complex picture. For example, Martha, a high school teacher, described feelings of fear and vigilance: “There was fear of something new. I was concerned about using a tool that I did not know how to use.” It seems that there is a gap between the rapid technological adaptation and transition to distance learning and the emotional adaptation to this transition. Alice addressed this frustration: “When you don’t succeed or it doesn’t work as expected, or when you forget what’s next in the session, it causes frustration.” The teachers described the system’s unwillingness to manage the technological crisis. Lee and Thomas each described a sense of failure in their own way; Lee: “There are many times when the technological means that we plan to use don’t work or don’t work exactly the way we want, and then the whole lesson that we planned is ruined”; Thomas: “In one word zero, failure.” Teachers’ agency in a crisis relates to, among other things, feelings, and consequences in the present that require immediate action. Teachers’ feelings may affect the entire school community’s responses to basic needs. Emily, a junior-high school teacher, described her difficulties and concerns: “I felt apprehensive before giving a lesson on Zoom, worried that it wouldn’t go well and that they [the students] wouldn’t participate. After all it is difficult to absorb from a screen.” Pedagogical difficulty that remains unsolved can develop into an emotional–social crisis. Leann addressed the feelings and emotions that tend to be hidden, such as shame, confusion, and fatigue: Sometimes I also felt frustrated and helpless because working through Zoom required a great deal of effort and creative thinking in preparing presentations and planning lessons. I can't ignore the feeling of fatigue that accompanied me during the distance learning period.
Teachers were required to recruit digital capability alongside pedagogical ability. Nicole addressed this issue: “Using Zoom is not like sitting in front of the students and seeing their body language and facial expressions. Feelings cannot be conveyed through a computer screen.” Emotions have an impact on teachers’ behavior, for example, this issue, described by Harry, a high school teacher: It was difficult at first. The difficulty also stemmed from the technological side—how to use the board in an online lesson, and also how to make students not lose interest in the lesson itself, especially when their cameras were turned off and I didn't see them.
At the school level, the starting point should be the creation of strong awareness and a supportive and collaborative organizational infrastructure. Such an infrastructure can be routed to learning and growth.
Theme 3: Organizational infrastructure
The third theme, organizational infrastructure, refers to the core structures and professional competence of teachers’ agency practice. Data analysis revealed aspects of teamwork, autonomy and flexibility. Tracing the patterns emerging from the two categories of this theme enables understanding the practice of agency in times of crisis.
Teachers’ Capacity to Act Upon their Ideas and Plans in Times of Crisis
Teachers’ agency refers to their active contribution to shaping their work and its conditions, and their perceptions of their educational role in times of crisis. According to Emma: School is a microcosm for real life. Our job in the educational system is to prepare the students by giving them tools to deal with real life. The teacher must create community harmony that will lead to cooperation and fulfillment of the children's potential.
A significant part of the teachers’ educational role was allocated to the instruction of knowledge, values, and morality, as stated by Thomas: “The teacher has many roles but first and foremost, educates them on values.” Moreover, data analysis indicated that the pandemic crisis challenged the organizational infrastructure that supports the teaching process. As Sophia expanded: “The teacher is a tool for transferring knowledge and is at the center of an educational process that shapes the character and values of his students.” In this context, teaching in the face of a crisis thus becomes an endeavor that requires a skillful combination of assuming responsibility and acting, together with management. More specifically, Tina emphasized that: “The teacher’s role is to help the student acquire information from social day-to-day and formative experiences. To be his/her knowledge guide.”
Other aspects referred to teachers’ role in developing independent learners and fostering excellence. Olivia explained: “My main function is to identify the needs of the learner and provide an adapted response to the realization of the excellence and potential of each student.” Teachers’ agency emphasizes collective organizational beliefs and perceptions. John stated that: “The main characteristics of my work are to impart the meaning of work and discipline to self-study and development.” Teachers who incorporate teaching practices creatively given the resources of the work environment become agents. Jessica, an educator in elementary, expanded on this concept: “The significant challenge that I experienced during this period was the ability to establish a learning system that would promote the student to follow independent research. Give tasks for self-work.”
Other issues referred to teachers’ role in providing emotional–mental support and leading by example. Katie, an educator in elementary shared: “My role as an educator is to set a personal example. To teach values of respect for others, tolerance and self-discipline.” Teachers’ agency allows the teacher to take responsibility for, and actions related to self-realization and systemic vision. Harry expanded: “My main role is to educate for knowledge that will help them throughout their lives and to do so in an interesting way, while setting an example.” Another reference was to the teacher’s role in maintaining a routine while creating a safe and stable environment. For example, Emily shared: “The intensity of this period caused a lot of stress. Empathy and flexibility were needed and most importantly, the creation of a sense of a calm and stable environment.”
Collegial Systemic Space—Teamwork, Sense of Autonomy, Shared Decision-Making, and Flexibility
Agency is generally described as the practice or ability of individuals or collectives to take action. The participants referred to the importance of teamwork, and a supportive professional community. Julia stated that: “My colleagues are my friends. Teamwork is very important to me. On difficult days at school, what gives me strength to cope is that at the end of the day, I will have coffee with colleagues and share the difficulties.”
Agency is also affiliated with the interaction of relationships and community. A sense of belonging is part of this, as Leann described: “A sense of belonging to the team is the basis of any cooperation. Personally, I enjoy sharing ideas and teaching materials. This way we create a respectful social community that allows everyone to grow and develop.” Teamwork fosters feelings of security and stability at work. It supports the teacher and encourages a sense of ability and motivation. According to Martha: “I am part of a professional team that provides support, help, and empathy. It motivates me to move forward. Teachers need a collaborative, caring and supportive team. I feel like part of a family.” Other organizational aspects were shared decision-making, openness, transparency, and trust. Kristen, an elementary school teacher, emphasized: “What helped through this period was shared decisions, openness and flexibility. Each of us is experiencing an emotional flood and struggles.” Maintaining the ability to share and keeping channels open enable overcoming the difficulties and strengthen trust.
Teachers' agency is associated with emotional well-being, reflected by autonomy, relationships, and general happiness. Describing the feeling among the school staff, Thomas said: “We are brothers in teaching. We all end up having a common goal.” The analysis of the interviews revealed the importance of sharing dilemmas and pedagogical aspects and maintaining reciprocity and mutual development alongside autonomy in the role of teacher. Emma expanded: “To feel emotional stability during this turbulent time, a teacher needs trust, support, and cooperation from management and staff. I feel confident in my team.”
Discussion
Teachers’ agency refers to their active contribution to shaping their work and its conditions (Hadar & Benish-Weisman, 2019). The complexity of teaching in times of crisis requires an understanding of teachers’ agency relative to the constraints and opportunities presented by the crisis (Lund & Vestøl, 2020). The mechanisms presented in this study relate to teachers exercising their transformative agency. There are many difficulties that teachers need to overcome if they are to be able to teach in a new technological environment. These include negative emotions (of both students and teachers), limited knowledge and skills, low teacher self-efficacy in technology-related pedagogy, environmental constraints, and challenges (e.g., technology not working properly), resource limitations (unsuitability of the technology for particular pedagogies) and more. In response to these, teachers describe the mechanisms by which they manage/begin to exercise their agency, that is, transform the difficult working environment into an effective one. These mechanisms, as can be extracted from the presented data, include specific beliefs related to the role of teacher and what it entails, focus on creating positive experiences and instigating positive feelings in students, motivations (such as believing that technology is here to stay and one needs to embrace it), social collective support and collaboration.
In analyzing teachers’ perceptions and actions, we found that they refer to the ecological climate created in their school based on their beliefs, values, and emotions. These included the values of trust and transparency, the sharing of positive emotions, collegial support, pedagogical flexibility, and well-being. These issues were emphasized in the first theme—ecological climate—as an important part of teachers’ capacity to shape and contribute to their work environment (Gudmundsdottir & Hathaway, 2020).
Regarding teachers’ technical and digital skills and school resources, findings indicated that although teachers understood the importance of implementing digital and technological tools in education, it raised difficult feelings for them. This emphasizes the importance of understanding how teachers become agents who act creatively and integrate pedagogical and digital resources into meaningful teaching practice under severe constraints. Moreover, notions of agency should incorporate the background constraints under which the teachers are operating, such as inadequate digital skills or pedagogical knowledge, limited technical infrastructure or connectivity, or lack of time. This permits us to understand the different ways in which constraints prompt a different expression of agency and teaching resources (Damşa et al., 2021).
A sense of shared teamwork and responsibility was found. The nature of the teamwork was related to the role of synergy and its interpretation in the context of agency. Synergy refers to the extra value inherent in something that adds up to more than the sum of its parts (Hall, 2001). Teaching in the face of a crisis thus becomes an endeavor that requires a skillful combination of assuming responsibility and acting, together with managing resources in the collaborative arena (Damşa et al., 2021; Eteläpelto et al., 2013).
Teachers’ efforts to sustain and preserve learning in times of crisis and emergency situations should not be seen through the lens of the individual teacher. While teachers’ competencies and actions represent individual responsibilities, the way in which these are deployed is a function of the teachers’ educational, organizational, and systemic environment (Damşa et al., 2021). As already noted, one can assume that to understand teachers’ conduct in the context of crises, a relational perspective of the process is required (Edwards, 2005). This involves looking at the components of the teaching environment—the teacher, resources, tools, institutions, infrastructure, communities. Teachers are seen as central to this network of relationships because they significantly influence the way in which all of these elements create situations and conditions that enable teaching, while dealing with problems and constraints. In this context, agency emerges as a central concept, with the potential to create an understanding of how teachers position themselves and engage in this endeavor.
Limitations and Future Research
Several limitations of this study warrant further attention in future research. First, although we used maximal differentiation sampling (Creswell, 2014) to capture a wide range of perspectives and gain greater insight into agency practice in schools, we could not differentiate between individual teachers’ responses and the school context from which they emanated. Therefore, it would be advisable to explore the interconnections between agency practice and factors such as school culture. Second, to enable a generalization of the findings and substantiation of their internal validity, we recommend conducting similar studies in other sociocultural contexts. Third, this research focused only on teachers’ perceptions. A holistic understanding of agency in schools requires principals’ and policymakers’ perceptions as well. Finally, additional empirical research is needed to understand expressions of transformative agency in various schools.
Practical Implications
In light of the findings of this study, it is clear that systematically fostering teachers’ well-being, along with digital competence, can promote, build, and sustain teachers’ transformative agency in times of crisis. Crises may adversely affect the well-being of the school and its community. The result is a lack of preparedness that may affect the school’s willingness as a system to manage and deal with the crisis. Teachers’ agency requires collective development and consideration. Teachers need to mobilize emotions and responsibilities when a crisis occurs (Coombs & Holladay, 2012). In addition, crises affect the complexity of the teaching and learning environment, and the structures and activities that accompany it. Teachers tackled the challenges of online teaching, needed to recruit digital capabilities, and had to design and provide a successful learning experience in a difficult and time-sensitive context. The technological infrastructure, however, vital, expanded into a new digital space, which sparked an important discussion about teaching practices and the teacher’s role. In this sense, institutions are encouraged to look beyond institutional infrastructures during crises, and consider teachers as social agents who have become more embedded in digital practices, situations, and spaces. Alongside the challenges and difficulties, the integration of technology into the educational system enables teachers to expand their educational repertoire and challenge the status quo (Lund & Vestøl, 2020), possibly developing their agentic capacity in times of adversity.
Conclusion
Teachers face complex challenges and situations in which they are required to exercise transformative agency (Brevik et al., 2019). They need to learn how to break away from the given frame of action and take the initiative to transform it (Virkkunen, 2006). The current study describes the means and mechanisms through which teachers can begin to exercise agency in situations involving conflicts, contradictions, and disturbances (Haapasaari et al., 2016). Transformative agency manifests itself when agents (teachers and school leaders) solve conflicts and disturbances while developing their local activity and work practices.
Transformative agency entails multistep and longitudinal processes (Sannino, 2022; Sannino & Engeström, 2017), focusing on collective social support and collaborations. In this sense, transformative agency is collective and varied, and evolves over time, moving from resistance to change toward taking action to change the activity (Haapasaari et al., 2016). Transformative agency is especially relevant to working in situations of uncertainty and crisis, turning them into a springboard for further actions. Transformative agency in crises is connected to an expansion of teachers’ professional repertoire, as well as emotional and social aspects of learning. From this perspective, transformative agency in crises involves personal investment, elements of risk, and an uncertain future outcome.
Footnotes
Declaration of Conflicting Interests
Funding
ORCID iD
