Classroom boundaries and teacher agency: Challenges of implementing Ireland's new primary curriculum

Abstract This article reports on a doctoral study examining teacher agency in one Irish primary school at a timely moment ahead of the implementation of the new Primary Curriculum Framework in September 2025. The framework embeds teacher agency as a central professional principle, yet findings from this study reveal a more cautious and bounded reality. Teachers expressed strong aspirations for agency within their classrooms, linked to confidence, experience and subject knowledge but largely negated their role as agents at the school level. Choice and responsiveness were valued, but constrained by curricular structures, inspection pressures and relational dynamics. Participation in an inquiry‐based learning intervention and a community of practice highlighted both the potential and limits of agentic practice. These findings suggest that the vision of the new curriculum in Ireland may exceed current professional realities, and that systemic and cultural support is needed to realise meaningful teacher agency.