Vol. 2, Issue 2 IM Abstract: The Role of Teacher Agency: Challenges Implementing an ICT Initiative in Education in India

Case Overview

The Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx) was an award-winning action research program for ICT in education implemented in over 461 state government schools in four states across India. Helmed by academics and experts in ICT in education, CLIx was supported by the state government in each implementation state. The case study examines the role that teacher agency can play in the implementation of an innovation like CLIx. The narrative follows the dilemma of the protagonist, Gopika Jadav, one of the leads of CLIx whose personal details have been fictionalized to anonymize their identity. Jadav must provide data-supported evidence to state government officials showing the centrality of teacher agency for implementation of such an intervention. If she presented sufficiently convincing evidence to diminish concerns about teacher resistance, it was likely that the states would support progressing to implementation of Phase II, an expansion of this innovative program to additional schools. This was a challenging task for Jadav because teacher agency by itself does not lend itself to being measured directly. The state’s prevailing attitudes towards teachers made the task of convincing government officials even more difficult. The case study urges the learner to examine the CLIx context along with data provided and help Jadav build a compelling argument to convince state officials that teacher agency was an important criterion for scaling the CLIx intervention to additional schools. This case provides students with the opportunity to understand how the interpretation and analysis of data using different theoretical frameworks can offer insights into the role of factors such as teacher agency that promote or impede systemic change in the education sector in India and actions that serve as levers to bring about that change.

Course Suitability

1. Graduate courses in education technology, information and communication technology (ICT) in education, teacher education, education leadership and management
2. Graduate courses in general business/management such as organizational behaviour, change management, evidence-based management

Recommended Reading

Biesta, G., Priestley, M., & Robinson, S. (2015). The role of beliefs in teacher agency. Teachers and Teaching, 21(6), 624–640.

George, A. A., Hall, G. E., & Stiegelbauer, S. M. (2006). Measuring implementation in schools: The stages of concern questionnaire. Southeast Educational Development Laboratory.

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