Student Agency in Selected Primary and Middle Schools in Ethiopia: Teachers’ Conceptualization, Instructional Perception, and Reported Practice

This study explores teachers’ conceptualization and reports practices of student agency in twoprimary and middle case schools. A case study design that employed quantitative and qualitativemethods was employed. Data was collected from a total of 123 teachers (M=76, F=47) . Thequalitative data collected from 14 purposefully selected interviewees were transcribed, coded, andcategorized into themes, whereas the quantitative data collected from 109 randomly selected teachersusing a questionnaire was screened and analyzed using mean and standard deviation. Teachersconceptualized student agency in terms of student ability, teachers’ pedagogy, and school systemcapacities. The findings further indicate that teachers’ current practices are shaped by gaps betweentheory and practice (praxis), stemming from unclear theoretical grounding, constrained teacheragency, absence of reflective practice, and insufficient effort to address ingrained misconceptions.Teachers perceived instructional practices as largely traditional, causing stasis in student-centeredness and student agency development. Participants attributed the observed instructionalstasis mainly to teachers’ pedagogical skill gaps and lack of readiness, student passivity or lack ofinterest, and school structural barriers. At a time when student agency is highly critical for studentlearning and concerns about schools’ and teachers’ responsiveness to student agency in light ofadvancements and diversities for student learning opportunities are growing, the paper emphasizes acoherent effort by educational policy, curriculum, teachers’ professional development, and parents toenhance student agency and learning with responsibility.