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Teachers’ professional agency in a centralisation-decentralisation system and a hierarchical cultural context : the case of Hong Kong

Year of publication

2024

Authors

Lau, Josephine; Vähäsantanen, Katja; Collin, Kaija

Abstract

Teachers are frontline actors in actualising educational innovations. In some contexts, teachers’ professional agency is undervalued. This study investigated teachers’ agency and its related workplace affordances in Hong Kong, which features a centralised-decentralisation education governance system, and a hierarchical work culture. The study was based on 21 semi-structured interviews with teachers, and employed a deductive thematic analysis. Agency enactment was categorised into 1) pedagogical agency within classrooms, and 2) relational agency in the professional community. The factors contributing to workplace affordances were grouped as pertaining to 1) the collegial community, 2) school leadership, 3) access to resources, and 4) availability of time, space, and job stability. Agency-supportive leadership and a favourable collegial environment significantly facilitated teachers’ agentic actions. Teachers did not explicitly resist but implemented emotionally meaningless order in a ‘work-to-rule’ manner. The study contributes to professional agency research as applied to a particular political, regional, and socio-cultural context.
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Organizations and authors

University of Jyväskylä

Collin Kaija Orcid -palvelun logo

Lau Josephine Orcid -palvelun logo

Vähäsantanen Katja Orcid -palvelun logo

Publication type

Publication format

Article

Parent publication type

Journal

Article type

Original article

Audience

Scientific

Peer-reviewed

Peer-Reviewed

MINEDU's publication type classification code

A1 Journal article (refereed), original research

Publication channel information

Volume

32

Issue

3

Pages

699-719

​Publication forum

64778

​Publication forum level

1

Open access

Open access in the publisher’s service

Yes

Open access of publication channel

Partially open publication channel

Self-archived

Yes

Other information

Fields of science

Educational sciences

Keywords

[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object],[object Object]

Publication country

United Kingdom

Internationality of the publisher

International

Language

English

International co-publication

No

Co-publication with a company

No

DOI

10.1080/14681366.2022.2086606

The publication is included in the Ministry of Education and Culture’s Publication data collection

Yes