Understanding agency and organization in early career teachers’ professional tie formation

Mobilizing nascent ties: A Qualitative Structural Analysis of social(izing) capital in newcomer networks

“…In terms of the paper's contribution towards theory development and organizational socialization practices, some insights expand on specific aspects identified by prior research on tie formation in new organizational foci. With regard to the role of propinquity in spurring tie formation (Lane & Sweeny, 2019;Spillane et al, 2012), it is worth noting that newcomers were found to also profit profoundly where they find proximity with insiders on a metaphorical common ground. For this, the findings indicate that it is advisable to bring newcomers and insiders together off-site and outside daily routines.…”

“…Their development of intra-organizational social capital is thus driven by the needs of attaining task mastery, role clarity, and social inclusion-all considered central measures of successful socialization (Batistič & Tymon, 2017;Fang et al, 2015;Korte & Lin, 2013;Morrison, 2002). To achieve either or all, newcomers cannot rely on their personal competencies or individual-level human capital alone, but will benefit from mobilizing resources through ties to insiders to catalyze or complement their own (Hansen, 1999;Iseke, 2007;Lane & Sweeny, 2019).…”

“…Finally, tie formation is driven by propinquity, where actors become aware of each other through exposure and convenience (Dahlander & McFarland, 2013;Spillane et al, 2012). Lane & Sweeny (2019) found that for newcomers, this means that initial ties align closely with an organization's formal structure, whereas insiders exert more agency in forming ties where they "identify desirable and matching traits in potential partners" (Dahlander & McFarland, 2013, p. 69). Also, the "surplus" value of social capital arguably begins where it goes beyond the organization's functional "blueprint" (Flap & Völker, 2001, p. 316).…”

Making sense of teacher agency for change with social and epistemic network analysis

“…Villegas and Lucas (2002) place these beliefs on a continuum between views of teachers as 'technicians' who implement standard school practices, rules and procedures uncritically, and those of teachers as 'agents of change' who see schools as potential sites for promoting social equality (Villegas and Lucas 2002, p. 54). Other studies point to the dynamic and temporal nature of teacher agency (Biesta and Tedder 2007;Lipponen and Kumpulainen 2011;Vähäsantanen 2015) and suggest that teachers' perceptions of their roles can align with 'change agency' and 'role implementation' simultaneously or in different situations (Lane and Sweeny 2019;Pantić 2017). In this paper, we explore the alignment to these categories in teachers' reflection on their efforts to make a difference in their school.…”

“…This study examined the association between teachers' sense of agency for change and their underlying beliefs through the lens of inclusive pedagogy, an approach to teaching diverse learner groups that attends to individual differences between learners but avoids the marginalization that can occur when some learners are treated differently to others (Florian and Black-Hawkins 2011). Further, we consider the social embeddedness of teacher agency for change that is shown to be highly contextualized and interwoven with practices of others (Lane and Sweeny 2019;Daly et al 2010;Vongalis-Macrow 2007) and exercised through complex interactions between teachers, students, families and others within the structural and cultural environments of schools and the larger policy contexts (Berliner 2002;Priestley et al 2015). Ainscow (2005Ainscow ( , 2015 argued that school communities are powerful levers of change since they have a real effect on peoples' lives and mediate other influences.…”