“The teacher educator’s perceptions of professional agency – a paradox of enabling and hindering digital professional development in higher education”

Abstract

ABSTRACT The aim of this study was to investigate professional agency in the context of higher education as manifested in Swedish teacher educators’ perceptions regarding their working life in a digital society and to seek to obtain insights on salient factors influencing professional agency and identity. Eighteen semi-structured interviews with teacher educators working at four different universities were analysed using directed content analysis. The theoretical perspective taken is a subject-centred socio-cultural approach to professional agency. This is an approach where the social context (the socio-cultural conditions) and individuals’ agency (professional subjects) are mutually constitutive but analytically separate. Agency is something that is exercised, and in this study, professional agency was explored in the work context, in teaching practice and in relation to the professional identity. The results of this study not only confirm the complexity of being a professional TE in the times of digitalisation but more importantly demonstrate a paradox in the TE’s perceived high agency that both enables and hinders self-development (the individual) as well as development of the working community, the organisation, and the university. The study implies that considerations and understanding of the TE’s autonomy and perceived agency are significant for professional and work development.