Re-centering Teachers in a New Ecology to Empower Teachers’ Agency and School Change; Engaging Teachers in Critical Inquiry and Action Research Based in a Global Community of Practice Online

ABSTRACT This mixed method action research study sought to empower teachers from Kenya and the United States together in a community of practice online. Three research questions were asked: 1) How might participants' awareness of their teaching situations and their roles within their systems grow? 2) How might dialogic engagement in a cycle of critical inquiry in an online COP counteract demoralization in teacher participants? 3) How might teacher agency grow through the combination of an online critical cycle of inquiry in a community of practice with peers outside of school and action research steps implemented inside their schools? Qualitative data were collected from online group sessions, interviews, written reflections and open-ended questions. Data were transcribed, analyzed, and coded. Quantitative data were collected from pre-intervention and post-intervention questionnaires, which were analyzed using SPSS software. I found that participants grew in their awareness of their teaching situations and their roles through the surfacing of five main themes: lack of time, lack of administrator support, fear, isolation and an overall sense of devaluation. Demoralization was not counteracted and in fact, grew in half of the participants (N = 5) and stayed the same for the other half (N=5). However, this result was nuanced in that participants who took meaningful actions to solve problems also experienced joy and enthusiasm. Lastly, I found that teacher agency was grown in 8 of 10 participants. Those who engaged in meaningful actions to solve problems they defined grew agency while agency did not seem to grow in those participants who took no action or who took action that did not align with their values.