International Journal of Educational Narratives
Vol. 3 No. 6 (2025)

Narrative Approaches to Teacher Agency: How Educators’ Stories Shape Educational Change

Erwin Erwin (Universitas Negeri Malang)
Teboho Maseko (University Western Cape)
Syafiq Amir (Universiti Kebangsaan)
Saiful Fallah (Universitas Terbuka)



Article Info

Publish Date
05 Dec 2025

Abstract

Background. Teacher agency plays a crucial role in educational transformation, yet its narrative dimensions remain underexplored. This study addresses how educators' stories shape their capacity to influence professional practices and institutional policies amid reform initiatives, drawing on narrative theory to examine storytelling as a sense-making tool for navigating complex educational landscapes. Purpose. The primary aim is to investigate how teachers construct and enact professional agency through narrative structures in relation to educational change, identifying patterns across career stages and reform types to understand temporal, collective, and contextual influences on agency development. Method. Data collection included three life history interviews per participant over six months, supplemented by artifacts and researcher reflections. Analysis utilized Clandinin and Connelly's three-dimensional framework, incorporating structural, thematic, and dialogic techniques with member checking for trustworthiness. Results. Findings revealed three dominant narrative plots: progressive (heroic transformation), tragic (constrained persistence), and comedic (pragmatic improvisation). Career stage variations showed early-career teachers focusing on individual agency, mid-career on collective action, and veterans on temporal depth. Conclusion., providing a framework for understanding how stories mediate reform implementation and empower educators. This approach highlights the potential for narrative practices to foster equitable, context-sensitive transformations in education.

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Journal Info

Abbrev

ijen

Publisher

Subject

Description

International Journal of Educational Narratives is an peer reviewed open access journal dedicated to interchange for the results of high quality research in all aspect of Learning and Education. The scope of International Journal of Educational Narratives is not only in the form of study, research, ...