Learner agency in scaffolding: The case of coaching teacher leadership

This case study investigates the agency exercised by a teacher team coordinator in shaping the scaffolding she received from her coach while jointly leading teacher team meetings. We used linguistic ethnographic methods to examine 14 teacher meetings. Detailed analysis of four episodes is used to probe the ways in which the coordinator requested, resisted or negotiated the type and timing of her coach's scaffolding support. We analyze the conditions that enabled the coordinator's agency, among them that the coaching interactions were situated in the joint engagement in professional work. Playing multiple roles created opportunities and obligations for the coordinator to be agentive in accomplishing her work and therefore in co-constructing the scaffolding interactions.