Adaptive agency: some surviving and some thriving in the 'interesting times' of English teaching
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Goodwyn, AndrewIssue Date
2019-06-03Subjects
English teaching
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Purpose This paper aims to introduce the concept of adaptive agency and illustrate its emergence in the field of English teaching in a number of countries using England over the past 30 years as a case study. It examines how the exceptional flexibility of English as school subject has brought many external impositions whilst its teachers have evolved remarkable adaptivity. Design/methodology/approach It proposes several models of agency and their different modes, focussing finally on adaptive agency as a model that has emerged over a 30-year period. It considers aspects of this development across a number of countries, mostly English speaking ones, but its chief case is that of England. It is principally a theoretical paper drawing on Phenomenology, Critical Realism and later modernist interpretations of Darwinian Theory, but it is grounded by drawing on two recent empirical projects to illustrate English teachers' current agency. It offers a fresh overview of how agency and accountability have interacted within a matrix of official policy and constraint. Findings Adaptive agency has become a necessary aspect of teacher expertise. Such a mode of working creates great emotional strains and tensions, leading to many teachers leaving the profession. However, many English teachers whilst feeling controlled in the matrix of power and the panopticon of surveillance, remain resilient and positive about the future of the subject.Citation
Goodwyn AC (2019) 'Adaptive agency: some surviving and some thriving in the 'interesting times' of English teaching', English Teaching: Practice & Critique, 18 (2), pp.153-169.Publisher
EmeraldType
ArticleLanguage
enISSN
1175-8708EISSN
1175-8708ae974a485f413a2113503eed53cd6c53
10.1108/ETPC-03-2019-0030