Teacher Agency and Curriculum Development

First paragraph: Recent curriculum policy in the UK and elsewhere (e.g. Scotland’s Curriculum for Excellence, Successful Futures in Wales, and the New Zealand Curriculum Framework) marks a significant departure from previous directions (see Priestley & Biesta, 2013); a particular change in focus has been the renewed emphasis on the role of the teacher as an active developer of the curriculum and an agent of change. Such policy is now acknowledging the importance of teachers’ professional agency (for an overview see https://www.bera.ac.uk/blog/teacher-agency-what-is-it-and-why-does-it-matter; a more detailed account is provided by Priestley, Biesta & Robinson, 2015)