Journal of The Korean Association For Science Education (한국과학교육학회지)

The Korean Association for Science Education (한국과학교육학회)
권호 표지
DOI QR코드

DOI QR Code

Exploring Science Teacher Agency at the Age of the New Normal after the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of Second Year of Distance Learning Practice

코로나 뉴노멀 시대의 과학교사 행위주체성 탐색 -COVID-19에 따른 원격 수업 2년 차 실행 사례를 중심으로-

  • Received : 2021.09.27
  • Accepted : 2021.11.08
  • Published : 2021.10.31
Download PDF
⟨ Previous Next ⟩

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed everything, even education. Last year when distance learning was introduced, science teachers faced many challenges to overcome. However, teachers adapted quickly, and in this year, it became the 'new normal'. In this situation, teachers are likely to habitually repeat past practices, but the context of the second year of distance learning is changing constantly, and teachers are asked to interpret the problem occurring in a situation and to adjust their practice for solving the problem with their teacher agency. In this study, we explore the emergence of science teacher agency and factors shaping teacher agency in the second year of distance learning and we focus on teachers' agentic practice that did not follow their past practice without reflection. For this purpose, we mainly analyze the semi-constructed interview of three science teachers. In the first year of distance learning, two teachers maintained their practice, not much different to face-to-face learning. However, one teacher reflected upon herself and started to recognize and solve her problems. Reflection for her practice can support this process. Another teacher changed her practice due to external suggestions, but it evolved her practice to fit the situation better, and her experience of last year helped her to adapt to the change. The other teacher who modified her practice to persist her professional purpose last year was consistently practicing in the second year and collaboration and autonomy can support her. This study shows the teachers' dynamic change of agency and the emergence for the relational interaction between teacher and context.

COVID-19로 인하여 도입된 원격 과학 수업은 이제 교사들에게 새로운 일상으로 받아들여진다. 이러한 상황에서 교사가 지난해의 실행을 습관적으로 되풀이하기보다는 변화하는 맥락을 적극적으로 해석하고, 맥락에 적절한 학습 환경을 조성하는 것이 요구된다. 본 연구에서는 COVID-19로 인하여 시행된 원격 수업 2년 차 상황에서 교사가 문제를 인식하고, 이를 해결하는 실행에서 드러나는 교사 행위주체성과 이때의 맥락을 분석하였다. 특히, 2020년 4월에서부터 2021년 7월까지 16개월 동안 교사의 원격 과학 수업 실행을 추적하여 맥락에 따라 변화하는 교사의 행위주체성을 탐색하였다. 이를 위하여 중등학교 과학교사 3인을 대상으로 질적 사례 연구를 진행하였다. 연구 참여자와의 인터뷰, 연구 참여자가 사용한 교육자료를 수집하고, 이를 지속해서 검토하며 분석하였다. 연구 결과, 교사는 스스로 자신의 수업을 비판적으로 성찰함으로써 자신의 원격 과학 수업 실행에서의 문제를 인식하고 이를 해결하기 위한 행위주체성을 발현하거나 외부로부터의 변화에 능동적으로 적응하기 위하여 행위주체성을 발현하거나 자신이 추구하는 과학 교육을 원격 수업 상황에서도 구현하기 위하여 행위주체성을 발현하였다. 그리고 이 과정에서 지난해 원격 과학 수업을 실행한 경험 및 이로부터 축적된 실천적 지식, 자신의 실행에 대한 성찰, 원격 과학 수업에 대한 장·단기적 목표가 영향을 미쳤다. 또한, 교사가 속한 맥락에서 원격 수업의 질 제고를 추구하는 학교 공동체의 분위기나 교사 사이의 활발한 소통과 협력 역시 교사 행위주체성 발현을 촉진하였다. 본 연구는 우리나라 원격 과학 수업 상황에서 어떠한 과학교사 행위주체성이 발현되었는지 탐색하였으며, 이 과정에서 영향을 미친 맥락을 분석하였다. 또한, 같은 교사가 상황이 변화함에 따라 행위 주체성 발현에 어떠한 변화가 나타나는지, 그리고 그 과정에 영향을 미치는 맥락을 이해하기 위하여 교사의 개인적인 요인 및 맥락적 요인을 분석하였다. 이를 통하여 교사 행위주체성 발현을 지원할 수 있는 전략을 마련하는 데 시사점을 제시하고자 한다.

Keywords

References

  1. Andree, M., & Hansson, L. (2021). Industry, science education, and teacher agency: A discourse analysis of teachers' evaluations of industry-produced teaching resources. Science Education, 105(2), 353-383. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21607
  2. Archer, M. S. (2000). Being human: The problem of agency. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  3. Bandura, A. (1982). Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency. American Psychologist, 37(2), 122. https://doi.org/10.1037//0003-066X.37.2.122
  4. Basu, S. J., Barton, A. C., Clairmont, N., & Locke, D. (2009). Developing a framework for critical science agency through case study in a conceptual physics context. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 4(2), 345-371. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-008-9135-8
  5. Beauchamp, C., & Thomas, L. (2009). Understanding teacher identity: An overview of issues in the literature and implications for teacher education. Cambridge Journal of Education, 39(2), 175-189. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057640902902252
  6. Bergh, A., & Wahlstrom, N. (2018). Conflicting goals of educational action: A study of teacher agency from a transactional realism perspective. The Curriculum Journal, 29(1), 134-149. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2017.1400449
  7. Biesta, G., Priestley, M., & Robinson, S. (2015). The role of beliefs in teacher agency. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 624-640. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044325
  8. Biesta, G., Priestley, M., & Robinson, S. (2017). Talking about education: Exploring the significance of teachers' talk for teacher agency. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 49(1), 38-54. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220272.2016.1205143
  9. Biesta, G., & Tedder, M. (2006). How Is Agency Possible? Towards an Ecological Understanding of Agency-as-Achievement. Learning lives: Learning, identity, and agency in the life course. Retrieved from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Michael-Tedder/publication/228644383_How_is_agency_possible_Towards_an_ecological_understanding_of_agency-as-achievement/links/00b4952cadd9bd2b6a000000/How-is-agency-possible-Towards-an-ecological-understanding-of-agency-as-achievement.pdf
  10. Bridwell-Mitchell, E. N. (2015). Theorizing teacher agency and reform: How institutionalized instructional practices change and persist. Sociology of Education, 88(2), 140-159. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038040715575559
  11. Buchanan, R. (2015). Teacher identity and agency in an era of accountability. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 700-719. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044329
  12. Buxton, C. A., Allexsaht-Snider, M., Kayumova, S., Aghasaleh, R., Choi, Y. J., & Cohen, A. (2015). Teacher agency and professional learning: Rethinking fidelity of implementation as multiplicities of enactment. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(4), 489-502. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21223
  13. Damsa, C., Langford, M., Uehara, D., & Scherer, R. (2021). Teachers' agency and online education in times of crisis. Computers in Human Behavior, 121, 106793. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2021.106793
  14. Edwards, A. (2005). Relational agency: Learning to be a resourceful practitioner. International Journal of Educational Research, 43(3), 168-182. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijer.2006.06.010
  15. Emirbayer, M., & Mische, A. (1998). What is agency? American Journal of Sociology, 103(4), 962-1023. https://doi.org/10.1086/231294
  16. Erss, M. (2018). 'Complete freedom to choose within limits'-teachers' views of curricular autonomy, agency and control in Estonia, Finland and Germany. The Curriculum Journal, 29(2), 238-256. https://doi.org/10.1080/09585176.2018.1445514
  17. Etelapelto, A., Vahasantanen, K., Hokka, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work. Educational Research Review, 10, 45-65. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2013.05.001
  18. Fenwick, T. J. (2003). The 'good' teacher in a neo-liberal risk society: a Foucaultian analysis of professional growth plans. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 35(3), 335-354. https://doi.org/10.1080/00220270210151089
  19. Fu, G., & Clarke, A. (2019a). Individual and collective agencies in China's curriculum reform: A case of physics teachers. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 56(1), 45-63. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21467
  20. Fu, G., & Clarke, A. (2019b). Moving beyond the agency-structure dialectic in pre-collegiate science education: positionality, engagement, and emergence. Studies in Science Education, 55(2), 215-256. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057267.2020.1735756
  21. Giddens, A. (1984). The constitution of society: Outline of the theory of structuration. Berkeley: Univ of California Press.
  22. Gutierrez, R. (2013). Why (urban) mathematics teachers need political knowledge. Journal of Urban Mathematics Education, 6(2), 7-19.
  23. Haapasaari, A., Engestrom, Y., & Kerosuo, H. (2016). The emergence of learners' transformative agency in a Change Laboratory intervention. Journal of Education and Work, 29(2), 232-262. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2014.900168
  24. Jenkins, G. (2020). Teacher agency: The effects of active and passive responses to curriculum change. Australian Educational Researcher, 47(1), 167-181. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-019-00334-2
  25. Ketelaar, E., Beijaard, D., Boshuizen, H. P., & Den Brok, P. J. (2012). Teachers' positioning towards an educational innovation in the light of ownership, sense-making and agency. Teaching and Teacher Education, 28(2), 273-282. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2011.10.004
  26. King, H., & Nomikou, E. (2018). Fostering critical teacher agency: The impact of a science capital pedagogical approach. Pedagogy, Culture & Society, 26(1), 87-103. https://doi.org/10.1080/14681366.2017.1353539
  27. Koehler, M., & Mishra, P. (2009). What is technological pedagogical content knowledge (TPACK)? Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 9(1), 60-70.
  28. Langford, M., & Damsa, C. (2020). Online teaching in the time of COVID-19 times: Academic teachers' experiences in Norway, universitetet i Oslo. Retrieved from https://www.jus.uio.no/cell/pedagogiske-ressurser/evaluering/rapporter/report-university-teachers-160420-with-annex.pdf.
  29. Leadbeater, C. (2017). "Student Agency" section of Education 2030-Conceptual Learning Framework Background papers, Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/education/2030-project/contact/Conceptual_learning_framework_Conceptual_papers.pdf
  30. Lee, H., & Kim, H. (2021). Exploring science teacher agency as agent of change: The case of distance learning practice due to COVID-19. Journal of the Korean Association for Science Education, 41(3), 237-250. https://doi.org/10.14697/JKASE.2021.41.3.237
  31. Leijen, A., Pedaste, M., & Lepp, L. (2020). Teacher agency following the ecological model: How it is achieved and how it could be strengthened by different types of reflection. British Journal of Educational Studies, 68(3), 295-310. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2019.1672855
  32. Marco-Bujosa, L. M., McNeill, K. L., & Friedman, A. A. (2020). Becoming an urban science teacher: How beginning teachers negotiate contradictory school contexts. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 57(1), 3-32. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21583
  33. Martin, J. (2020). Researching teacher agency in elementary school science using positioning theory and grammar of agency. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 31(1), 94-113. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560x.2019.1666628
  34. Martin, J., & Carter, L. (2015). Preservice teacher agency concerning education for sustainability (EfS): A discursive psychological approach. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(4), 560-573. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21217
  35. Masuda, A. M. (2010). The teacher study group as a space for agency in an era of accountability and compliance. Teacher Development, 14(4), 467-481. https://doi.org/10.1080/13664530.2010.533489
  36. McNicholl, J. (2013). Relational agency and teacher development: A CHAT analysis of a collaborative professional inquiry project with biology teachers. European Journal of Teacher Education, 36(2), 218-232. https://doi.org/10.1080/02619768.2012.686992
  37. Michelson, E. (1996). Usual suspects: Experience, reflection and the (en) gendering of knowledge. International Journal of Lifelong Education, 15(6), 438-454. https://doi.org/10.1080/0260137960150604
  38. Milne, C., Scantlebury, K., & Otieno, T. (2006). Using sociocultural theory to understand the relationship between teacher change and a science-based professional education program. Cultural Studies of Science Education, 1(2), 325-352. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11422-006-9013-1
  39. Nguyen, M. H., & Dang, T. K. A. (2020). Exploring teachers' relational agency in content-language teacher collaboration in secondary science education in Australia. The Australian Educational Researcher, 48(4), 1-18. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13384-020-00413-9
  40. Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers' beliefs and educational research: Cleaning up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62(3), 307-332. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543062003307
  41. Pantic, N. (2015). A model for study of teacher agency for social justice. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 759-778. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044332
  42. Pham, H. H., & Ho, T. T. H. (2020). Toward a 'new normal'with e-learning in Vietnamese higher education during the post COVID-19 pandemic. Higher Education Research & Development, 39(7), 1327-1331. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2020.1823945
  43. Picower, B. (2013). You can't change what you don't see: Developing new teachers' political understanding of education. Journal of Transformative Education, 11(3), 170-189. https://doi.org/10.1177/1541344613502395
  44. Priestley, M., Biesta, G., & Robinson, S. (2015). Teacher agency: An ecological approach. London: Bloomsbury Academic.
  45. Priestley, M., Edwards, R., Priestley, A., & Miller, K. (2012). Teacher agency in curriculum making: Agents of change and spaces for manoeuvre. Curriculum Inquiry, 42(2), 191-214. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-873X.2012.00588.x
  46. Rivera Maulucci, M. S., Brotman, J. S., & Fain, S. S. (2015). Fostering structurally transformative teacher agency through science professional development. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(4), 545-559. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21222
  47. Riveros, A., Newton, P., & Burgess, D. (2012). A situated account of teacher agency and learning: Critical reflections on professional learning communities. Canadian Journal of Education, 35(1), 202-216.
  48. Rodriguez, A. J. (2015). Managing institutional and sociocultural challenges through sociotransformative constructivism: A longitudinal case study of a high school science teacher. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 52(4), 448-460. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21207
  49. Roth, W. M., Tobin, K., Carambo, C., & Dalland, C. (2004). Coteaching: Creating resources for learning and learning to teach chemistry in urban high schools. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(9), 882-904. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20030
  50. Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2006). Self-regulation and the problem of human autonomy: Does psychology need choice, self-determination, and will? Journal of Personality, 74(6), 1557-1586. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-6494.2006.00420.x
  51. Ryder, J., Lidar, M., Lundqvist, E., & Ostman, L. (2018). Expressions of agency within complex policy structures: Science teachers' experiences of education policy reforms in Sweden. International Journal of Science Education, 40(5), 538-563. https://doi.org/10.1080/09500693.2018.1435921
  52. Schon, D. A. (1983). The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action. New York: Basic Books.
  53. Severance, S., Penuel, W. R., Sumner, T., & Leary, H. (2016). Organizing for teacher agency in curricular co-design. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 25(4), 531-564. https://doi.org/10.1080/10508406.2016.1207541
  54. Shulman, L. S. (1986). Those who understand: Knowledge growth in teaching. Educational Researcher, 15(2), 4-14. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X015002004
  55. Simons, P. R.J., & Ruijters, M. C. (2014). The Real Professional Is a Learning Professional. In S. Billett, C. Harteis & H. Gruber (Eds.), International Handbook of Research in Professional and Practice-based Learning (pp. 955-985). Berlin: Springer.
  56. So, K., & Choi, Y. (2018). Understanding teachers' practices in the context of school -based educational reform: Focusing on the concept of 'teacher agency'. The Journal of Curriculum Studies, 36(1), 91-112. https://doi.org/10.15708/KSCS.36.1.5
  57. Strauss, A., & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research techniques Techniques and Procedures for Developing Grounded Theory. Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.
  58. Taylor, D. L., & Lelliott, A. D. (2021). Teacher agency in social-justice aspirations and inquiry-based science instruction. Research in Science Education, 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11165-004-3952-x
  59. UNESCO Office Santiago and Regional Bureau for Education in Latin America and the Caribbean. (2021). Education information system in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic. Retrieved from https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000378451_eng
  60. Van der Heijden, H., Geldens, J. J., Beijaard, D., & Popeijus, H. L. (2015). Characteristics of teachers as change agents. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 681-699. https://doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044328
  61. Vansteenkiste, M., & Ryan, R. M. (2013). On psychological growth and vulnerability: basic psychological need satisfaction and need frustration as a unifying principle. Journal of Psychotherapy Integration, 23(3), 263. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0032359
  62. Wallace, C. S., & Priestley, M. R. (2017). Secondary science teachers as curriculum makers: Mapping and designing Scotland's new Curriculum for Excellence. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 54(3), 324-349. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.21346
  63. Wallen, M., & Tormey, R. (2019). Developing teacher agency through dialogue. Teaching and Teacher Education, 82, 129-139. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2019.03.014
  64. Wild, A., Galosy, J., Kagle, M., Gillespie, N., & Rozelle, J. (2018). Teacher agency over curriculum and professional learning: Lock-Step. Journal of Professional Capital and Community. 3(4), 306-320. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPCC-12-2017-0034
  65. Wray, K. A., & Richmond, G. (2018). Factors shaping the agency of beginning science teachers working in high-poverty schools. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 29(8), 785-803. https://doi.org/10.1080/1046560x.2018.1514824
  66. Xie, X., Siau, K., & Nah, F. F. H. (2020). COVID-19 pandemic-online education in the new normal and the next normal. Journal of Information Technology Case and Application Research, 22(3), 175-187. https://doi.org/10.1080/15228053.2020.1824884
  67. Yin, R. K. (2012). Applications of case study research (3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage.