How environmental and individual factors dynamically influence student teacher professional agency during teacher education

Abstract

Understanding how student teacher professional agency (STPA) develops during teacher education is crucial for educators and curriculum developers interested in strengthening it. To explore this process comprehensively, environmental factors (i.e., curriculum coherence between theory and practice and the learning environment) and individual factors (i.e., professional identity) were considered. This study utilized quantitative cross-sectional data of 362 students who were in different stages of their teacher education in a Finnish university. Structural equation modeling (SEM) and network analysis were applied over the data to better understand the interactive processes of the factors being investigated. The results indicated that different aspects of curriculum coherence, learning environment and professional identity dynamically influence STPA during teacher education by changing their relationship with it over time.