Teachers as self-agents of change

Agency, in the sense of ‘agent of change’, is a key concept and process that needs to be thoroughly understood if effective and sustained change in assessment practice is to be established. A variety of dimensions of agency come under the umbrella terms, bottom-up and top-down (dealt with comprehensively in the preceding two chapters). This chapter considers different types of agency but extends the bottom-up notion specifically into how teachers themselves are imperative to the successful development of teacher assessment in any school. Importantly, any expression of self-agency should be assured of external support whether outside the classroom and within the school, or external to the school. The chapter also emphasizes the importance of self-agency in creating a school culture of readiness to consider and embrace change where appropriate