Coaching for Teacher Agency
Teacher
agency—the power and autonomy to make meaningful decisions about pedagogy—is a
cornerstone of effective and sustainable teaching. When teachers have agency,
they act as the lead learners in their classrooms, making informed decisions
that benefit their students and align with their professional expertise.
Instructional coaches have an important role in fostering this agency, inspiring
teachers to take ownership of their practices and helping them navigate the demands
of the education system.
The Empowering Potential of
Agency
When
teachers are positioned as lead learners, the work is energizing and
sustaining. Having agency infuses teaching with purpose. Reflecting on how to
best support student learning through expertise in content, pedagogy, and
knowledge of students is demanding but motivating. It sustains teachers in
their professional roles and fosters fulfillment.
Coaching to Empower Teachers
Instructional
coaches can play a critical role in fostering teacher agency. But we must be
mindful of unintentionally taking hierarchical positions that undermine
teachers’ invention of their own teaching identities. To empower teachers,
coaches must recognize teachers’ professional expertise and position them as
active agents in their classrooms.
When using the GIR
model for instructional coaching (see below), everything we model, recommend,
question, affirm, and praise should acknowledge teachers’ agency and efficacy.
They choose what we will model and what they will focus on. We offer recommendations
as options, saying, “Some things you might want to consider…” We ask questions that
support teachers’ decision-making. When good things are happening, we affirm
and praise the choices made.
Practical Strategies for Supporting
Agency
One
of the most effective ways to empower teachers is through reflection. Reflecting
on practice helps teachers feel volitional and capable, allowing them to
recognize the agency they already possess to exercise their expertise through
thoughtful decision-making.
Our
coaching approach should highlight opportunities for choice. We can offer
suggestions framed as “Some things you might want to consider…” This invites
teachers to think critically about what is presented. Providing multiple
options increases opportunities for choice and autonomy.
Teachers
should feel empowered to make instructional decisions based on their students’
needs rather than rigidly adhering to scripted curricula. The process of
reflection, risk-taking, and refinement reinforces the idea that teachers have
both the power and responsibility to adapt and grow in response to the dynamic
needs of their classrooms.
Teacher Agency Within
Constraints
Teacher
agency exists within systems of accountability and constraints, such as state
standards, district mandates, and required curricula and materials. However,
teachers often imagine there is less wiggle room than actually exists. There is
usually more chance for agency than teachers recognize. Coaches can help
teachers creatively work within existing systems to better meet their students’
needs. It doesn’t have to be subversive work. The space for agency is already
there, ready to be acted within. Coaches can help teachers find that space.
By
exercising agency, teachers create instruction that honor students’ interests,
needs, and experiences and fosters equity and inclusion. Coaches can support
teacher autonomy, allowing them to resist narrow, prescriptive approaches that
may not serve diverse learners effectively. Instead, they can advocate for
practices that prioritize meaningful, student-centered, and culturally
responsive teaching.
A Call to Celebrate Teacher
Agency
Teacher
agency is central to effective instruction. It is the capacity for teachers to
act autonomously, informed by their pedagogical expertise and their students’
realities. By positioning teachers as their own agents of change, we celebrate
their professionalism and the critical role they play.
As
instructional coaches, we can support teacher agency as an essential component
of meaningful, student-centered, responsive teaching. Empowered teachers are
better equipped to meet the needs of their students and sustain themselves in
their roles. Let’s cultivate teacher agency and celebrate the impact teachers
have on their classroom communities.
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