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Teachers as agents of and for change

This article reports on a systematic review exploring the role of teachers as change agents in education. The review aimed to synthesize current knowledge on five key aspects:

1. How teacher change agents are conceptualized in the literature. The review found they are mainly seen as leaders of top-down change rather than grassroots, teacher-led change.

2. The characteristics of effective teacher change agents. These include positive attitudes to change, strong subject knowledge, lifelong learning mindset, risk-taking, and effective collaboration skills.  

3. The activities teacher change agents engage in to drive change. These include guiding professional inquiry, introducing new ideas, supporting testing of innovations, and refining new practices.

4. Evidence on the effectiveness of different teacher change agent roles. Limited rigorous evidence exists, but teacher leaders can positively impact teaching practices and student outcomes.  

5. Enabling conditions and barriers for teacher change agents. Enablers include principal support, teacher buy-in, training, and perceived autonomy. Barriers are lack of resources, teacher resistance, and unclear role definition.

The review highlighted substantive knowledge gaps, especially around grassroots, teacher-led change. It provides a useful foundation to guide future research on how teachers can effectively lead educational change and improvements.