Teachers’ voices and change: The structure and agency dialectics that shaped teachers’ pedagogy toward deep learning

Abstract

This study is to examine how teachers navigated the social milieu and became known as twenty-first-century educators. It has been argued that curriculum reform is closely connected with teachers’ identity as they experience reform movement. As NCPS undergoes the Future School journey, we unpack the structure and agency coupling that shaped teachers’ identity as twenty-first-century educators, and therein their pedagogy of deep learning. Through the case study approach, we identifi ed three teacher participants and conducted semistructured interviews. Using the inductive analytical method, we found that while structural conditions differ in each of the teacher’s stories, there is commonality in teachers’ disposition in being receptive and open to learning new pedagogies. More importantly, the teachers’ philosophy of education is rooted in students’ well-being. This study ends by distilling seven design principles in the design of situational professional development that can enhance teacher identity development as twenty-first-century educators.