0000000000097312
AUTHOR
Maaret Juutilainen
Creating learning paths, influencing, participating: A pilot study on teacher students’ experiences of agency in their first-year small group studies
The purpose of this pilot study was to examine teacher students’ agency. In this study agency was defined as the students’ possibilities and resources to influence their studies, pursue goals, make choices, and act autonomously and responsibly. The main aims were to find out what kind of agency teacher students experience in their studies and what kind of factors they perceive as supporting and constraining their agency. The pilot also aimed to ascertain suitable methodology for investigating student agency. The data were collected with teacher education students’ interviews (n = 2) and written self-reflections (n = 3). The analysis indicated that teacher students’ agency was manifested as …
Becoming agentic teachers : Experiences of the home group approach as a resource for supporting teacher students' agency
Abstract This study focuses on the experiences of first-year teacher students in a Finnish teacher education department regarding ways in which studying in stable “home groups” supported or restricted their agency. The findings of the interviews with 22 teacher students suggest that perception of home groups as emotionally safe and offering opportunities to break traditional authority relationship supported teacher students' agency, which was manifested in identity negotiations and active participation. Perception of inequality and tensions within home groups restricted students' agency. The findings underline the need for keen awareness of factors affecting teacher students' agency when ap…