This study aimed to construct and validate a quantitative measurement instrument to determine the structure of professional agency in working life. Empirical data (N = 589) were collected via a web-based, theoretically informed questionnaire, within the professional domains of education, healthcare, rescue services, and information technology. The…

Research has shown that professional agency is pivotal for understanding teachers' professional learning in different contexts. However, we lack an elaborated understanding of teachers' professional agency in the context of in-service teacher education aimed at supporting teachers' professional learning. To contribute to this discussion, this…

This paper reports a study on teachers' professional identity and work in vocational education. The findings showed that vocational teachers' work included vocational teaching within the school, developmental work, technology-enhanced work, professional duties outside the school, and educational duties within the school. Furthermore, the study…

This narrative study investigated identity, agency and emotions, amongst an under-researched academic group -- those without PhDs with primary responsibility for teaching, who are also expected to do research. In this interview-based paper, we examine the experience of such Finnish academics in a research-intensive university. Thematic and then…

This article addresses the professional learning that occurred in an identity coaching programme. The arts-based programme aimed to enhance the participants' professional learning, notably through helping them to process their professional identities. Professional learning was seen as resourced by the participants' professional agency, and by the…

Despite the increased recognition of the role that professional agency plays in work-related learning, little is known about what supports it. Based on current theoretical notions, the first purpose of this paper is to show that professional agency is closely intertwined with work-related learning. The second purpose is to introduce some main…

This study investigated novice teachers' perceptions of their professional agency during the initial years of their work in schools. The research questions were: (i) How do novice teachers perceive their professional agency within their work, and what do they see as the main restrictions and resources affecting that agency? (ii) How do novice…

Recent studies have described professional identity as the interplay between individual agency and social context. However, we need to understand how these are intertwined in different kinds of work settings. This paper focuses on teachers' professional identity negotiations as involving the work organisation, the professional community and…