Teacher Autonomy: A Multifaceted Approach for the New Millennium ...

Chapter 1

Story of the Research

Rationale

Personal experience and research into teacher autonomy have confirmed the fundamental power and influence of the individual teacher. The individual teacher needs the freedom to recognize children as individuals and to use this recognition to help each child reach his or her maximum potential. At the same time, the individual teacher’s classroom is the site of some of the greatest inequities in education. The classroom can be a wonderfully interactive place, full of engaged learners; or it can be a dreadful place where children are bored, confused, and labeled as failures. Empowerment or marginalization—either can result from teacher autonomy.

Having witnessed both types of classroom environments and knowing the power that lies in each, I felt compelled to study the individual teacher.