Achieving teacher agency for inclusive education: an exploration of general education teachers' perspective

This work outlines a practitioner-oriented theorisation of teacher agency concerning inclusive education. Exploring teacher agency is relevant for general and SEN teachers and governmental and educational agencies offering initial training and professional development opportunities for teachers. This qualitative study sheds light on teacher agency, which is seen as a change-making process concerning inclusive practices in school contexts. Participants were 124 Italian general education teachers who responded to an open-ended survey question. Framework analysis allowed for the identification of four interrelated categories: enabling conditions, strategies, outcomes and outcome directions. Indeed, by leveraging specific strategies and enabling conditions, teachers produce educational, relational, and context-related outcomes, impacting different stakeholders. The results provide insights into how teacher agency unfolds in inclusive school settings and offer practitioners a set of core strategies and enabling factors to draw upon to produce positive transformations. Implications for research, policy, and practice are also discussed.