Towards a Theory of Teacher Agency: Conceptualizing the Political Positions and Possibilities of Teacher Movements

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man

In response to the need for increased engagement sparked by the #RedForEd movement, this article uses the author’s organizing and participation experience to develop implications for theories of teacher agency and political transformation. It conceptualizes the Arizona #RedForEd movement’s distinctive political positioning beyond state power logics, then examines how that positioning enabled and later constrained sustained oppositional education mobilization as movement power declined.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages7

Reading Time18 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Context and motivation: #RedForEd and teacher activism

Conceptual framework: openings in hegemonic power

Arizona Educators United and movement space

Implications for teacher agency and political transformation

UC Berkeley Berkeley Review of Education Title Towards a Theory of Teacher Agency: Conceptualizing the Political Positions and Possibilities of Teacher Movements Permalink [https://escholarship.org/uc/item/78p0099m](https://escholarship.org/uc/item/78p0099m) Journal Berkeley Review of Education, 9(1) Author Karvelis, Noah Publication Date 2019 DOI 10.5070/B89146418 [eScholarship.org](eScholarship.org) Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Running head: TOWARDS A THEORY Towards a Theory of Teacher Agency: Conceptualizing the Political Positions and Possibilities of Teacher Movements Noah Karvelis 1 University of Wisconsin-Madison Abstract In response to a need for increased engagement given the \#RedForEd movement, this article draws upon my experience as an organizer and participant in the recent wave of teacher activism to provide implications for theories of teacher agency and political transformation. First, I conceptualize the Arizona \#RedForEd movement’s unique position beyond the state’s logics of political power, considering the possibilities that such a position created for teacher-activists in Arizona. I then confront the decreasing power of the movement in order to demonstrate the need for increased theorizations of the reflexive capacities of institutionalized power structures to sustain oppositional education social movements. I consider the recent history of the RedForEd movement with the hope of forwarding renewed considerations of political transformation, power, and teacher agency, which can inform movements that challenge the hegemonic limits placed upon social-justice-oriented movement work. Keywords: social movements, political transformation, redfored, power, teacher agency In the last two years, teachers across the country have presented bold challenges to the austerity measures impacting their schools in the form of rallies, marches, and mass strikes. Although much emphasis has been placed on both the beginnings and results of these actions (Weiner, 2019)—commonly referred to as the \#RedForEd movement—relatively little scholarship has questioned the movement’s implications and the responses that it provoked from established power structures in understanding teacher agency and political transformation in the United States. In this essay, I seek to draw from my personal experience as a co-founder of Arizona Educators United, the activist network that helped lead the six-day Arizona teacher strike, to provide implications for such understandings of teacher activism and power in the United States. To begin, I contextualize this analysis by discussing the political position that allowed Arizona teachers to develop a new political structure capable of building a multi-faceted movement and mobilizing over 110,000 people. Following this, I consider Noah De Lissovoy’s (2010) theory of openings in hegemonic power to show how this unique position created a new, effective space for 1 Correspondence concerning this article should be [addressed to: Noah Karvelis.](addressed to: Noah Karvelis. Email: karvelis@wisc.edu)[ Email:](addressed to: Noah Karvelis. Email: karvelis@wisc.edu)[ karvelis@wisc.edu](addressed to: Noah Karvelis. Email: karvelis@wisc.edu) Berkeley Review of Education Vol. 9, No. 1 exploiting such openings and, in consequence, possibilities for political transformation in Arizona. However, as Arizona’s case demonstrates, the reflexivity of power and its ability to maneuver in new, intricate ways allowed these very same exploited openings to rapidly disappear as the movement became institutionalized and identified with the state’s dominant political logic. As a result, the nebulous movement space that Arizona Educators United held was initially effective—as it operated beyond the grasp of the normative political logic—but became increasingly ineffective due to both the structured political space and the adaptive, respon

FAQs

What is the article’s main purpose regarding #RedForEd?

To use the author’s experience with teacher activism to draw implications for theories of teacher agency and political transformation, especially in relation to the #RedForEd movement.

How does the article frame Arizona teachers’ political position?

It conceptualizes the Arizona #RedForEd movement as having a unique position beyond the state’s logics of political power, which created possibilities for teacher-activists.

Why does the article argue the movement’s power decreased?

It explains that power’s reflexivity and adaptive capacities allowed the exploited openings to disappear as the movement became institutionalized and aligned with dominant state political logic.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mary Man