Understanding teachers as change agents: An investigation of primary school teachers’ self-perception

H.R.M.A. van der Heijden, D. Beijaard, J. J.M. Geldens, H. L. Popeijus

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    Abstract

    This study reports on a large-scale survey on primary school teachers’ perceptions of being change agents and the extent to which these perceptions are related to personality and contextual factors. A principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis revealed nine characteristics of teachers as change agents. Personality and contextual factors are related to teachers’ perceptions of being a change agent. Four teacher profiles were distinguished according to the varying degrees of teachers’ perceptions of themselves as change agents. This study adds to the further understanding of teachers as change agents, their characteristics and how these characteristics are related to personality and contextual factors.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)347-373
    Number of pages27
    JournalJournal of Educational Change
    Volume19
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 1 Aug 2018

    Funding

    Acknowledgements This work was supported by the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) under project number: 023.002.035 (Doctoral Grant for Teachers). We would like to thank our cooperating partners for their support and for distributing the questionnaire to the primary schools in their relationship networks.

    Keywords

    • Contextual factors
    • Personality factors
    • Primary education
    • Teacher characteristics
    • Teachers as change agents

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