Understanding teacher agency in universities: why and how lecturers shape and navigate university teaching practices

Abstract

University lecturers play a central role in both academic and societal development. Due to rapid changes, such as the rise of AI, growing diversity in student populations, and increasing political interference, lecturers constantly face challenges of adapting and re-evaluating their teaching. This dissertation focused on the concept of teacher agency: the ability of lecturers to actively and deliberately shape their teaching practices. Understanding teacher agency in universities provides insight into lecturers’ decision-making processes and the contextual factors that influence their actions. But identifying teacher agency is challenging. Teacher agency is highly context-dependent and influenced by various factors, such as personal beliefs, experience, professional identity, institutional culture, student expectations, and societal demands.To better understand teacher agency, this dissertation examined how lecturers respond to challenging teaching situations that require professional judgment and action. For this purpose, we developed a set of 23 written scenarios based on real-life teaching experiences. Reflections on these scenarios revealed that teacher agency can be categorized into three types of actions: Leading, Accommodating, and Supporting.The dissertation concludes with a call for a university culture that genuinely values teaching and educational development, arguing that teacher agency should serve as a meaningful and holistic indicator of teaching quality.