Philosophy, Theory, and Foundations in Education

Today’s dominant model of improving and monitoring teacher quality is standardization. After describing how this model generally serves to limit teacher agency, this paper presents several methods teachers are using in the current standardized context to assert their professional knowledge and experience. To construct this counternarrative, the authors mine recent literature on teacher agency and professionalism in standardized contexts for examples of teachers’ professional expression. Using a case study approach, the authors identify three methods teachers used to assert their professional authority and agency: (a) finding opportunities for wise practice within mandated frameworks, (b) substituting wise practice for mandated practice, and (c) engaging in teacher activism to challenge restrictive policies and frameworks. Making those methods of expression more widely known is important for increasing teacher efficacy and developing teacher professional identities that incorporate a strong sense of teacher agency.