Teacher agency and deep learning–based programs: A critical dialogue on practices, scope, and limits in Chilean contexts of high vulnerability and accountability

Abstract

This study sought to understand how different configurations of teacher agency mediate the appropriation of pedagogical experiences based on deep learning in school contexts marked by high vulnerability and accountability. Drawing on a biographical-narrative approach, multiple case studies were developed with three teachers from schools in the Biobío Region (Chile) through in-depth interviews. The analysis, grounded in the ecological model of teacher agency (Priestley et al., 2015), identified three typologies of agency—oppositional tension, propositional conciliation, and contextual pragmatism—from which differentiated forms of appropriation of the approach emerged. The results show that professional trajectories not only predispose teachers' reception of the innovation but also shape their judgments about its possibilities and limits in contexts marked by evaluative pressures. The study concludes that attending to teacher agency in its biographical complexity constitutes an enabling condition for understanding how pedagogical innovations are imbued with meaning in contexts of vulnerability, with implications for educational policy at the school, school-provider, and system levels.