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I’m really worried for my teaching spirit

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Arts specialist teachers have a unique place in primary schools. They are often the sole teacher responsible for an entire learning area and hence commonly provide leadership and drive the curriculum implementation of the arts in and for their school. Sian Chapman discusses the ability of arts specialist teachers to create professional agency in an increasingly challenging school environment.

Image courtesy of interviewee. March 21, 2024

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This video video discusses the unique challenges faced by art specialist teachers in primary schools within the context of a study in Western Australia. Due to a teacher shortage and an increased emphasis on literacy and numeracy testing, these teachers operate under difficult conditions, navigating constant curriculum changes that hinder their ability to deliver comprehensive arts education. The Australian curriculum includes mandated art forms—dance, drama, media arts, music, and visual arts—but specialist teachers are often trained in only one area, creating tension between curriculum requirements and actual teaching practices.

The study explores the concept of professional agency—teachers' ability to control and be productive in their work. It highlights how the conditions for agency are crucial for teacher satisfaction and retention. The research draws on sociological frameworks to analyze the interplay between individual beliefs, structural contexts, and agency, leading to the development of seven propositions related to professional agency.

Key findings reveal that art specialists face issues of isolation, impacting their ability to collaborate and influence change. The significance of support from school administration and the need for work communities among specialist teachers are emphasized. This video video concludes that when conditions for agency are met, both teachers and students thrive, while unmet conditions lead to disengagement and potential departure from teaching. The narrative centers around an art specialist teacher named Penny, whose journey reflects the broader struggles and aspirations of art educators in the system.

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The context for this study

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and why art specialist teachers have a unique

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place in primary school.

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I think our teachers are working under really difficult

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conditions at the moment.

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We have in WA and Australia, we have a teacher shortage.

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There's a real emphasis on te on testing in literacy

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and numeracy across the schools.

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And we've been through these just waves

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and waves of curriculum change

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and monitoring that have really impacted on a teacher's

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ability to teach in a way that works for their own context.

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So if we think about the Australian curriculum,

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we have eight learning areas, and one of which is the arts.

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And within the arts learning area, we have five

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mandated art forms.

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So we have dance, we have drama, we have media arts,

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we have music, and we have visual arts.

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And so our arts specialist teachers within

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that context are often only trained in one

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of those five art forms.

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So we have this sort of constant tension between

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what the curriculum is saying is important,

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and then what our teachers are actually able to deliver in

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and through that curriculum.

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I think it's, it's also important to note

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that in Western Australia, you know, our,

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our art specialist teachers in the primary school are more

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often than not either a music

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or a visual arts teacher, which means then that the,

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the generalist classroom teacher is responsible

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for covering the other art forms that are supposedly

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mandated within the curriculum.

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This is difficult because the curriculum is always written

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from the perspective that teachers teaching it have the

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requisite skills and knowledge to actually teach it.

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So, you know, we in wa have been working

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most recently in the West Australian pre-primary

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to year 10 arts curriculum where students

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should be offered both performing arts

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and visual arts opportunities in every year.

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But we have this crowded curriculum

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with competing priorities.

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We have resourcing issues in schools,

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and we have external pressures from, you know, a range

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of groups, which means it's really difficult to offer

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that comprehensive arts learning that, you know,

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that we are looking for.

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And this is actually felt by both art specialist

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and classroom teachers.

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So I think, you know, that's sort of the context of which,

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you know, we've come to this study from, within this work,

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we've been looking at, you know, professional agencies

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and we not a professional agency.

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And we know that teachers leave the profession

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for a variety of reasons.

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But one of those reasons is

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because often teaching in practice doesn't actually match

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the image of teaching that they start out with

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as graduate teachers or for an art specialist teacher.

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They don't get the freedom that they were looking for

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to teach the arts in the way that they actually wanted.

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So, you know, we've sort

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of defined professional agency from the literature,

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as the ability of teachers

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To have control

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and to be productive in their work in a way

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that provides them both professional growth and challenge.

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And you know, like, and this is really important

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because skilled teachers are really, are more likely

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to stay in the profession if they have that sense

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of professional satisfaction.

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So, you know, how we create that professional agency,

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you know, is the, in the current really challenging

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environments is difficult.

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And so that's sort of where the research was situated.

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You know, in that sort of context, I guess we also look,

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we also sort of explored the fact that,

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professional agency in the literature is moving away from

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the notion of teacher development or professional learning.

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So there needs to be that notion of commitment

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and ability to create change in what they're doing.

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Um, we drew particularly on a sociological understanding,

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particularly around Margaret Archer's body of work.

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And then, so that meant

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that we were looking at the relationship between culture

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and structure and agency.

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And then within that we have the notion of the division

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of the individual elements

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and the structural elements as sort of being one way

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that we can understand the notion of

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what professional agency is.

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Also, we sort of, I guess we also looked at, you know,

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from an individual perspective, we are looking, we looked at

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how beliefs and identity influenced.

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So if teachers believed that they were capable, capable,

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they perceived success

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and they could influence change in that way.

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Um, whereas the structural perspective really sort

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of looked at the surrounding context to their impacts on,

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on, on agency.

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So whether it was power or gender or language or employment.

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So those sort of issues were really at the center of what,

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the literature was saying was the structural notion.

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And then for the art specialist, we think

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power is particularly important

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because they're quite often the lone teacher,

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the lone voice, they,

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have difficulty in influencing change

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within their own context.

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So yeah, so that this is sort of, you know,

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we contributed I guess this personal perspective

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to under trying to understand what agency is and, you know,

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and yeah, we used obviously the prior research in the field

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to help us do that.

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So we focused on seven propositions for professional agency.

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And this was based on work by Finnish colleagues in 2013.

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And I don't want to even try to pronounce their names

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because I'm sure I'll butcher it,

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and I'd really hate to do that.

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So their work was based

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around a subject centered sociocultural approach

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to professional agency.

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So we took that, that sort of understanding

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and sort of reframed it for our own context

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as a person centered sociocultural approach. And

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We reordered the seven propositions to suit our context.

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Um, the seven propositions were, one, the relationship

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between the individual and the social.

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So what that meant and how that actually worked.

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The second one was the temporal nature of agency.

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So how, what change and what time did to the change.

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The third was looking at the purpose

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and constraints that impact agency.

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The fourth was around the conditions necessary for change.

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We also, the fifth, proposition related to

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what was work related identity.

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So what did that look like and what, you know,

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how does that actually happen?

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Um, the sixth proposition was around experiences,

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and the seventh was about the development

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of work communities.

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In terms of the actual methodology that we took.

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Um, this work was based on a series of interviews

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and time spent in one primary school

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with one specialist arts teacher over the

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course of three years.

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So, my work with Penny, which is a pseudonym obviously,

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really highlighted the development

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of professional agency at that personal level.

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Um, the struggles that she faced both individually

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and structurally to create momentum

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for change in her, in her place.

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Um, the, the paper itself, you know,

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there was this really beautiful poignant moment in one

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of our interviews where Penny was talking about being

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worried for her teaching spirit

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and you know, what, what change meant for her in that way.

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And that, that sort of phrasing was just,

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was really the catalyst, I think for

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approaching the paper in the way that we did

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in exploring the, the seven propositions.

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I think if we looked at the first proposition

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and the relationship between the individual

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and the social, we can think about the human

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and the physical aspects of context sort

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of operating like two sides of a coin.

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So on the human side, we have things like,

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administrators, teachers and students being the human.

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And we have the buildings and the culture

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and the school practices or the physical.

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So Penny was both the art specialist,

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and initially she was also a year six teacher,

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but she moved into the position of being an art specialist

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because she had a personal interest in the role.

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She also worked in literacy intervention.

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So that was sort of her personal context that she sort of,

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that she came to this project with the physical for her,

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like the arts itself was housed in a room off the library

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where the floor was carpeted.

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There were bookshelves everywhere with readers

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that other teachers would come in to use.

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Um, noise had to be sort of dampened down

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because it was literally off the library

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where other classes were working.

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And so, you know, working within this environment

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and having to sort of, you know, tiptoe

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around different aspects was really quite difficult.

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And so we talk about the placement of both the person

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and, you know, so the individual

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and the structural really talking to the value that,

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a system and a school puts on the arts in that context.

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So the second proposition was

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around the temporal nature of agency.

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And so we took this as understanding

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that teachers workloads change over time,

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which can affect agency.

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So in Penny's case,

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she alway she was constantly switching mentally

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and physically between her two roles

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as being an art specialist

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and then moving to literacy intervention.

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Um, and she could do that

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because she was a very experienced teacher.

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But then later, sort of as we moved through the three years,

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there was the moment where she was asked

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for the following year to actually work one day a week in a

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classroom as well, on top of everything else.

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And she was just going like, I just, you know,

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like this change, it was a tipping point.

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She couldn't actually physically

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or mentally come to terms with how she was going

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to manage that as a workload.

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So her agency was then actually removed

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by the changing nature of her work.

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Um, the third condition is around

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purpose and constraints.

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So what is the purpose for trying to create the change?

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And then what constraints were faced in

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that I think are really important.

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So, penny was trying really hard

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to create this well-rounded arts program,

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but she was, she really felt like the arts admin, the,

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the school administration didn't share her value

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for the arts and that had a real sort of,

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that mismatch had a real impact on Penny's ability

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to be agentic in her space, I think.

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So that was sort of, you know, where, how that one worked.

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The fourth condition, is

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around the conditions necessary to create change.

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And this one, in, in Penny's situation, it was about

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being agentic actually requires confidence.

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You need to be able to take a stance

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or to stand up and be heard.

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Um, and so for Penny, this actually meant

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that she needed to say no.

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Sometimes she's, she would say no to teachers

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who are off asking her to, you know, to perhaps organize

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and plan and run their, assembly item, you know,

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as the arts notion.

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And it was, you know, for her to do that,

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it would mean she'd have to take time out

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of her actual arts program that she was trying to,

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to run it in the school.

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So she got better at saying no to different things

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to be able to work on the arts in the

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way that she wanted to do.

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Um, the fifth condition is this

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around a work related identity

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and is based around, you know, what interests

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and drives the professional.

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Um, so, you know,

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for generally if I talk about art specialists, generally,

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they're always looking, you know, generally speaking,

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improving and highlighting the standard of work

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that is produced by

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Students. And,

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and one way that, you know, we do this

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as art specialists is to, is the display

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of excellence of an arts program.

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So it might be exhibitions, it might be,

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you know, performances.

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Um, but sometimes what happens is those take over

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the arts learning program

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and they then become a double-edged sword sword.

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They end up in school, marketing programs

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or in school business plans as the way of seeing,

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seeing the arts,

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but it doesn't actually allow the arts teacher

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to work again in being, you know, making the decisions

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for themselves about what it is that that works for them

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in terms of experiences.

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This one really explored the impact of knowledge accrued

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and the way that it was used.

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Um, so quite often when the art special,

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the art specialist teachers,

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particularly in primary schools,

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they're often the only teacher in their area in that school.

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So, you know, you'll be at your professional development day

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at the beginning of the year.

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You're the only arts teacher,

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but we are working in groups on literacy and numeracy.

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So where do I go, you know, what's my role in this space?

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So, you know, sometimes they have to participate,

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but there's little relevance to their own practice in there.

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Uh, so,

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and Penny's involvement in the project led her to,

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she actually did a, a summer, you know,

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a summer arts program.

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She was able to trial ideas when she returned to school,

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and then she was meeting other arts teachers working in

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similar environments to try

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and improve what it was that, you know, her,

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her agency in her space, I think.

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And then the last one, the development

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of work communities is really was really around,

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renegotiating work roles being important to agency.

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So how you do this again when you're,

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that the only teacher in the school,

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you know, can work in two ways.

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If you, if you can see this quite freeing, you, you know,

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like you've got your own scope to do,

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it can be relatively the relative freedom of planning

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and, you know, doing what you wanna do in the way

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that you wanna do it is great,

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but it can also be quite isolating

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because you've got no one to bounce ideas off.

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Um, and then, you know, what do you do in that,

14:07.035 --> 14:08.055
in that situation?

14:08.755 --> 14:13.535
So for Penny, she sort of, she developed this,

14:13.535 --> 14:16.535
specialist cluster of teachers in her school.

14:16.675 --> 14:18.855
So she actually found, you know, went up

14:18.855 --> 14:21.455
to the phys ed teacher and to the science specialist

14:21.455 --> 14:23.975
and said, let's make our own little, little group.

14:24.075 --> 14:26.695
So when we're in staff meetings, we can put up our hand

14:26.795 --> 14:28.975
and say, hang on, what about us?

14:29.235 --> 14:32.535
So she really renegotiated, her role

14:32.835 --> 14:35.615
and really changed the perceived value of the learning,

14:35.835 --> 14:37.655
you know, and and empowered the whole group really.

14:37.675 --> 14:40.175
It was, it was beautiful to watch actually.

14:41.395 --> 14:44.055
So they were the seven propositions, I think.

14:44.235 --> 14:47.295
And what we did with them, there were three key findings

14:47.295 --> 14:48.455
or three key themes

14:48.455 --> 14:50.735
that emerged from the work. Um, and they

14:50.735 --> 14:53.845
Were around isolation, supporting communities.

14:53.845 --> 14:55.845
So they were the three important things that we,

14:56.075 --> 14:57.245
that we discovered and

14:57.245 --> 14:58.525
that they can be experienced both

14:58.525 --> 14:59.965
individually and structurally.

15:00.425 --> 15:03.805
So, isolation, as I just sort of was talking about,

15:03.905 --> 15:07.485
you know, like emotionally we can experience isolation,

15:07.485 --> 15:10.205
with no one to talk to about, so ideas off,

15:10.225 --> 15:12.485
and physically we can experience isolation

15:12.625 --> 15:16.485
as our workspace is either hidden or,

15:17.145 --> 15:19.085
or it's, it's, you know, there is no space.

15:19.265 --> 15:21.605
You think about that the visual arts teacher who has

15:21.605 --> 15:23.845
to take the trolley, you know, wheel the trolley

15:23.845 --> 15:26.165
of materials across the school to, you know,

15:26.165 --> 15:29.525
to each classroom to work, whereas, you know, all the,

15:30.065 --> 15:31.725
or the, the drama teacher who has

15:31.725 --> 15:33.725
to work in the undercover area,

15:34.065 --> 15:36.165
but it's raining, so everyone else is going

15:36.165 --> 15:37.405
to be in the undercover area.

15:37.465 --> 15:39.085
So where do I go? What do I do?

15:39.785 --> 15:43.965
Um, so support then, too is, is really important around,

15:44.225 --> 15:45.565
you know, from the school administration

15:45.745 --> 15:49.485
and that value of contribution, and whether

15:49.485 --> 15:53.445
or not they can even support a, a dedicated visible space

15:53.505 --> 15:55.965
for teaching and learning to be pri prioritized.

15:56.705 --> 15:59.525
And then community, you know, it really contributes to

15:59.525 --> 16:00.845
that idea of self-efficacy

16:00.845 --> 16:02.765
and self-worth for the teacher themselves.

16:03.545 --> 16:06.565
Um, and whether they do that, whether teachers can make that

16:06.825 --> 16:09.045
and be agentic within their own school

16:09.145 --> 16:12.005
or across a number of schools, is, is,

16:12.225 --> 16:13.445
is sort of really vital.

16:14.085 --> 16:15.125
I think. So.

16:15.305 --> 16:17.925
You know, I think in conclusion we sort of,

16:17.925 --> 16:20.205
we worked really hard to address the seven propositions

16:20.205 --> 16:21.285
as being quite complex.

16:21.285 --> 16:22.565
It's really complex work.

16:22.675 --> 16:24.445
It's not, it doesn't happen quickly

16:24.625 --> 16:26.645
and it certainly doesn't happen in a straight line.

16:27.265 --> 16:31.925
Um, but when the conditions for agency are met teachers,

16:31.925 --> 16:33.805
whether they're an art specialist

16:33.865 --> 16:36.365
or they're just a classroom teacher, there's, there's growth

16:36.425 --> 16:37.805
for them and there's growth

16:37.805 --> 16:38.885
for the students under their care.

16:39.025 --> 16:41.445
So you'll see, you'll see things, you know,

16:41.445 --> 16:44.685
you'll see fantastic, you know, blossoming programs

16:44.685 --> 16:45.765
that are working really well,

16:46.265 --> 16:48.885
but when the conditions aren't met, we find

16:48.885 --> 16:52.325
that teachers withdraw both from being active in the,

16:52.345 --> 16:54.365
the teaching space, whatever that looks like,

16:54.865 --> 16:57.845
or they look to move from the school where it's not working

16:57.905 --> 17:02.885
for them or they leave the profession altogether.

17:03.425 --> 17:06.085
And that's really, you know, what we're trying to avoid.

17:06.865 --> 17:09.645
And, and I think, you know, and for Penny in her this case,

17:09.945 --> 17:12.405
it was really about saving her teaching spirit.

17:12.925 --> 17:13.045
I.

Challenges Faced by Art Specialist Teachers

00:00:00 - The context for this study and why art specialist teachers have a unique place in primary school. I think our teachers are working under really difficult conditions at the moment. We have in WA and Australia, we have a teacher shortage. There's a real emphasis on te on testing in literacy and numeracy across the schools. And we've been through these just waves and waves of curriculum change and monitoring that have really impacted on a teacher's ability to teach in a way that works for their own context.
00:00:33 - we have eight learning areas, and one of which is the arts. And within the arts learning area, we have five mandated art forms. So we have dance, we have drama, we have media arts, we have music, and we have visual arts. And so our arts specialist teachers within that context are often only trained in one of those five art forms. So we have this sort of constant tension between what the curriculum is saying is important, and then what our teachers are actually able to deliver in
00:01:06 - I think it's, it's also important to note that in Western Australia, you know, our, our art specialist teachers in the primary school are more often than not either a music or a visual arts teacher, which means then that the, the generalist classroom teacher is responsible for covering the other art forms that are supposedly mandated within the curriculum. This is difficult because the curriculum is always written from the perspective that teachers teaching it have the
00:01:40 - So, you know, we in wa have been working most recently in the West Australian pre-primary to year 10 arts curriculum where students should be offered both performing arts and visual arts opportunities in every year. But we have this crowded curriculum with competing priorities. We have resourcing issues in schools, and we have external pressures from, you know, a range of groups, which means it's really difficult to offer
00:02:10 - that we are looking for. And this is actually felt by both art specialist and classroom teachers. So I think, you know, that's sort of the context of which, you know, we've come to this study from, within this work, we've been looking at, you know, professional agencies and we not a professional agency. And we know that teachers leave the profession for a variety of reasons. But one of those reasons is because often teaching in practice doesn't actually match
00:02:42 - as graduate teachers or for an art specialist teacher. They don't get the freedom that they were looking for to teach the arts in the way that they actually wanted. So, you know, we've sort of defined professional agency from the literature, as the ability of teachers To have control and to be productive in their work in a way that provides them both professional growth and challenge. And you know, like, and this is really important

Empowering Art Teachers Through Professional Agency

00:03:13 - to stay in the profession if they have that sense of professional satisfaction. So, you know, how we create that professional agency, you know, is the, in the current really challenging environments is difficult. And so that's sort of where the research was situated. You know, in that sort of context, I guess we also look, we also sort of explored the fact that, professional agency in the literature is moving away from
00:03:46 - So there needs to be that notion of commitment and ability to create change in what they're doing. we drew particularly on a sociological understanding, particularly around Margaret Archer's body of work. And then, so that meant that we were looking at the relationship between culture and structure and agency. And then within that we have the notion of the division of the individual elements
00:04:16 - that we can understand the notion of what professional agency is. Also, we sort of, I guess we also looked at, you know, from an individual perspective, we are looking, we looked at how beliefs and identity influenced. So if teachers believed that they were capable, capable, they perceived success and they could influence change in that way. whereas the structural perspective really sort of looked at the surrounding context to their impacts on,
00:04:44 - So whether it was power or gender or language or employment. So those sort of issues were really at the center of what, the literature was saying was the structural notion. And then for the art specialist, we think power is particularly important because they're quite often the lone teacher, the lone voice, they, have difficulty in influencing change within their own context. So yeah, so that this is sort of, you know, we contributed I guess this personal perspective
00:05:19 - and yeah, we used obviously the prior research in the field to help us do that. So we focused on seven propositions for professional agency. And this was based on work by Finnish colleagues in 2013. And I don't want to even try to pronounce their names because I'm sure I'll butcher it, and I'd really hate to do that. So their work was based around a subject centered sociocultural approach
00:05:47 - So we took that, that sort of understanding and sort of reframed it for our own context as a person centered sociocultural approach. And We reordered the seven propositions to suit our context. the seven propositions were, one, the relationship between the individual and the social. So what that meant and how that actually worked. The second one was the temporal nature of agency. So how, what change and what time did to the change.

Professional Agency in Arts Education Contexts

00:06:18 - and constraints that impact agency. The fourth was around the conditions necessary for change. We also, the fifth, proposition related to what was work related identity. So what did that look like and what, you know, how does that actually happen? the sixth proposition was around experiences, and the seventh was about the development of work communities. In terms of the actual methodology that we took.
00:06:51 - and time spent in one primary school with one specialist arts teacher over the course of three years. So, my work with Penny, which is a pseudonym obviously, really highlighted the development of professional agency at that personal level. the struggles that she faced both individually and structurally to create momentum for change in her, in her place. the, the paper itself, you know,
00:07:20 - of our interviews where Penny was talking about being worried for her teaching spirit and you know, what, what change meant for her in that way. And that, that sort of phrasing was just, was really the catalyst, I think for approaching the paper in the way that we did in exploring the, the seven propositions. I think if we looked at the first proposition and the relationship between the individual and the social, we can think about the human and the physical aspects of context sort of operating like two sides of a coin.
00:07:52 - administrators, teachers and students being the human. And we have the buildings and the culture and the school practices or the physical. So Penny was both the art specialist, and initially she was also a year six teacher, but she moved into the position of being an art specialist because she had a personal interest in the role. She also worked in literacy intervention. So that was sort of her personal context that she sort of, that she came to this project with the physical for her,
00:08:28 - where the floor was carpeted. There were bookshelves everywhere with readers that other teachers would come in to use. noise had to be sort of dampened down because it was literally off the library where other classes were working. And so, you know, working within this environment and having to sort of, you know, tiptoe around different aspects was really quite difficult. And so we talk about the placement of both the person
00:08:56 - and the structural really talking to the value that, a system and a school puts on the arts in that context. So the second proposition was around the temporal nature of agency. And so we took this as understanding that teachers workloads change over time, which can affect agency. So in Penny's case, she alway she was constantly switching mentally and physically between her two roles as being an art specialist and then moving to literacy intervention.

Challenges Facing Arts Education Specialists

00:09:28 - because she was a very experienced teacher. But then later, sort of as we moved through the three years, there was the moment where she was asked for the following year to actually work one day a week in a classroom as well, on top of everything else. And she was just going like, I just, you know, like this change, it was a tipping point. She couldn't actually physically or mentally come to terms with how she was going to manage that as a workload. So her agency was then actually removed by the changing nature of her work.
00:10:05 - purpose and constraints. So what is the purpose for trying to create the change? And then what constraints were faced in that I think are really important. So, penny was trying really hard to create this well-rounded arts program, but she was, she really felt like the arts admin, the, the school administration didn't share her value for the arts and that had a real sort of,
00:10:34 - to be agentic in her space, I think. So that was sort of, you know, where, how that one worked. The fourth condition, is around the conditions necessary to create change. And this one, in, in Penny's situation, it was about being agentic actually requires confidence. You need to be able to take a stance or to stand up and be heard. and so for Penny, this actually meant
00:11:01 - Sometimes she's, she would say no to teachers who are off asking her to, you know, to perhaps organize and plan and run their, assembly item, you know, as the arts notion. And it was, you know, for her to do that, it would mean she'd have to take time out of her actual arts program that she was trying to, to run it in the school. So she got better at saying no to different things to be able to work on the arts in the way that she wanted to do.
00:11:35 - around a work related identity and is based around, you know, what interests and drives the professional. so, you know, for generally if I talk about art specialists, generally, they're always looking, you know, generally speaking, improving and highlighting the standard of work that is produced by Students. And, and one way that, you know, we do this as art specialists is to, is the display of excellence of an arts program. So it might be exhibitions, it might be,
00:12:04 - but sometimes what happens is those take over the arts learning program and they then become a double-edged sword sword. They end up in school, marketing programs or in school business plans as the way of seeing, seeing the arts, but it doesn't actually allow the arts teacher to work again in being, you know, making the decisions for themselves about what it is that that works for them in terms of experiences.

Challenges Faced by Primary Art Teachers

00:12:35 - and the way that it was used. so quite often when the art special, the art specialist teachers, particularly in primary schools, they're often the only teacher in their area in that school. So, you know, you'll be at your professional development day at the beginning of the year. You're the only arts teacher, but we are working in groups on literacy and numeracy. So where do I go, you know, what's my role in this space? So, you know, sometimes they have to participate,
00:13:08 - so, and Penny's involvement in the project led her to, she actually did a, a summer, you know, a summer arts program. She was able to trial ideas when she returned to school, and then she was meeting other arts teachers working in similar environments to try and improve what it was that, you know, her, her agency in her space, I think. And then the last one, the development of work communities is really was really around,
00:13:40 - So how you do this again when you're, that the only teacher in the school, you know, can work in two ways. If you, if you can see this quite freeing, you, you know, like you've got your own scope to do, it can be relatively the relative freedom of planning and, you know, doing what you wanna do in the way that you wanna do it is great, but it can also be quite isolating because you've got no one to bounce ideas off. and then, you know, what do you do in that,
00:14:08 - So for Penny, she sort of, she developed this, specialist cluster of teachers in her school. So she actually found, you know, went up to the phys ed teacher and to the science specialist and said, let's make our own little, little group. So when we're in staff meetings, we can put up our hand and say, hang on, what about us? So she really renegotiated, her role and really changed the perceived value of the learning, you know, and and empowered the whole group really.
00:14:41 - So they were the seven propositions, I think. And what we did with them, there were three key findings or three key themes that emerged from the work. and they Were around isolation, supporting communities. So they were the three important things that we, that we discovered and that they can be experienced both individually and structurally. So, isolation, as I just sort of was talking about, you know, like emotionally we can experience isolation, with no one to talk to about, so ideas off,
00:15:12 - as our workspace is either hidden or, or it's, it's, you know, there is no space. You think about that the visual arts teacher who has to take the trolley, you know, wheel the trolley of materials across the school to, you know, to each classroom to work, whereas, you know, all the, or the, the drama teacher who has to work in the undercover area, but it's raining, so everyone else is going to be in the undercover area. So where do I go? What do I do? so support then, too is, is really important around,

Fostering Teacher Agency and Community Support

00:15:45 - and that value of contribution, and whether or not they can even support a, a dedicated visible space for teaching and learning to be pri prioritized. And then community, you know, it really contributes to that idea of self-efficacy and self-worth for the teacher themselves. and whether they do that, whether teachers can make that and be agentic within their own school or across a number of schools, is, is, is sort of really vital. I think. So.
00:16:17 - we worked really hard to address the seven propositions as being quite complex. It's really complex work. It's not, it doesn't happen quickly and it certainly doesn't happen in a straight line. but when the conditions for agency are met teachers, whether they're an art specialist or they're just a classroom teacher, there's, there's growth for them and there's growth for the students under their care. So you'll see, you'll see things, you know, you'll see fantastic, you know, blossoming programs that are working really well,
00:17:12 - that teachers withdraw both from being active in the, the teaching space, whatever that looks like, or they look to move from the school where it's not working for them or they leave the profession altogether. And that's really, you know, what we're trying to avoid. And, and I think, you know, and for Penny in her this case, it was really about saving her teaching spirit. I.

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