Teachers professional agency and learning-from adaption to active modification in the teacher community

The aim of this study was to examine teacher learning in terms of teachers professional agency in the professional community of the school. Altogether 2310 Finnish comprehensive school teachers completed a survey. Results showed that teachers active efforts to learn in the professional community and to promote school development cannot be explained, and hence reduced, to a single behavioral attribute. The findings indicated that teacher learning in terms of professional agency in the professional community consists of several elements including: skills, efficacy beliefs, and motivational factors, which entail transforming ones teaching practices, experiencing collective efficacy, constructing positive interdependency, the appreciation of mutual agreements, and using active strategies of help-seeking. The investigation also suggests that the use of modifying strategies is characteristic of both the teachers professional agency as well as the strategies employed to reduce stress.