Teacher Agency in the Context of China’s Digital Transformation

Abstract

This thesis explores the situated enactment of teacher agency in the context of DE reform in rural China. While digital reform is increasingly positioned in national policy
to address rural-urban educational inequality, there remains limited empirical insight into how such reforms are understood, negotiated, and implemented by teachers, particularly in rural schools-- an area that remains underrepresented in international scholarship. To bridge this gap, the study examined both the policy discourse framing
DE and the lived experiences of rural teachers, drawing on an integrated conceptual framework that combines Priestley et al.’s (2015) ecological approach to teacher agency with Passey et al.’s (2018) notion of digital agency.

The study first adopted Bacchi’s (2009) “What’s the Problem Represented to Be?” (WPR) approach to analyse Chinese policies. Through this critical lens, it shows that
China’s digital education (DE) reform is influenced by global trends in education technology and shaped by a wider neoliberal agenda. The reform involves both structural and cultural changes. Structurally, it follows a hybrid governance model with decentralised implementation, performance-based accountability, and strong central ideological control. Culturally, DE is presented as modern and progressive. Teachers are portrayed both as innovators and as targets of top-down regulation. However, these policy narratives often ignore the realities of rural schools and fail to recognise teachers’ professional knowledge and autonomy.

Empirically, the study was based on qualitative fieldwork conducted in Sichuan province, China. Data were collected from 28 semi-structured interviews with rural teachers who are working in different rural schools. Then, for a detailed exploration of school structures, professional biographies, and pedagogical routines, classroom observations and post-lesson interviews were conducted with seven of them from two
focal schools. The findings highlight a recurring disconnect between policy expectations and classroom practice. In many cases, DE was implemented performatively - teachers used mandated tools and platforms for superficial compliance, while core teaching methods remained largely unchanged. Teacher agency was most visibly exercised through the practical-evaluative dimension, where teachers made daily decisions by balancing pedagogical intent with digital competence,
infrastructural limitations, and institutional demands. Rather than full-scale resistance or passive compliance, teachers often adopted strategies of pragmatic adaptation,
selectively engaging with reform in ways that aligned with their values and local conditions.

This study contributes to a growing body of literature on rural education in China and teacher agency in digital reform contexts. By foregrounding the voices and experiences
of rural teachers, it offers new insights into how digital reform is enacted in context and advances our understanding of teacher agency as both shaped by and shaping systemic
change. It argues for more context-sensitive policy approaches that position rural teachers not merely as policy enactors, but as co-constructors of meaningful, sustainable digital reform. By developing an integrated conceptual framework that
bridges ecological and digital perspectives, this study contributes to a deeper understanding of teacher agency in the context of digital reform.