1. RELATIONAL AGENCY: CHANGING CONDITIONS IN SCHOOLS FOR ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS International Society for Cultural and Activity Research Congress Sydney, Australia, 30 th September – 3 rd October 2014 University of Auckland Susan Gray Margaret Kitchen

2. Thank you to the organisers

3.  Quality of life in the classroom (Alllwright, 2003; 2012)  The need for democratic rather than managerial approaches (Sachs, 2001; Daniels et al., 2007)  Knowledgeable teachers who understand how to bring about change (Kaufman & Crandall, 2005; Engeström, 1994)  Relational agency (Edwards, 2005; 2011) Conceptual background to this study

4.  Effective agents of change practise relational agency: “The capacity to align one’s thoughts and action with those of others in order to interpret problems of practice and to respond to these interpretations.” (Edwards 2005, p. 269) “Confident engagement with the knowledge that underpins one’s own specialist practice as well as the capacity to respond to what others have to offer.” (Edwards 2011, p. 33) Relational agency

5. The demographic context of Aotearoa/NZ 19912013

6. The demographic context of Tamaki Makaurau/Auckland 39% born overseas

7. The context of this study: the GradDip TESOL MOE TESOL Fees Scholarship programme Agent of Change assignment

8.  Aim of this case study: Re-examine data to find examples of effective relational agency, particularly when road blocks had been met  Participants: 30/60 2 teachers 1 secondary IT teacher (Jenny) 1 primary school teacher (Emily)  Analysis: data coded separately, looking for patterns and making interpretations, cognisant of our conceptual frameworks  Salient themes then compared Methodology

9.  Negative situation (Sannino, 2008)  Resources drawn on to understand the situation more deeply (Engeström, 1994)  Tentative solutions (Engeström, 1994)  Understanding the motives of those with responsibility (Edwards, 2005; 2011)  Reworked solution (Edwards, 2005; 2011) Findings

10.  Understanding and practising relational agency critical to enacting change  Disciplinary knowledge underpins relational agency  Without relational agency disciplinary knowledge remains latent Discussion

11. Conclusion Practising relational agency enables authoring of new identities A first step in building more democratic settings

12. Thank you s.gray@auckland.ac.nz m.kitchen@auckland.ac.nz

13. References  Unfurling koru image appears courtesy of Jon Radoff.