The urgency to explore the moral dimensions of Teacher Agency is increasing, driven by various societal challenges such as climate change, inequality, and polarization, which continuously manifest in classrooms. These challenges compel teachers to engage in moral actions, navigate diverse opinions, and address dilemmas when designing lessons or interacting with students, parents, and colleagues from varied backgrounds (Van Vijfeijken et. al., 2021; Leegsma, 2017; Kleijwegt, 2016; Hess & McAvoy, 2015). Despite the growing call for addressing these moral issues, teachers often report feeling unprepared, a sentiment echoed in teacher education studies highlighting a lack of focus on the moral aspects of teaching (Van Stekelenburg et. al. 2024; Sanderse & Cooke, 2019; Malone, 2020; Sanger & Osguthorpe, 2011). 

Research acknowledges that teaching is not only an intellectual pursuit but also a deeply moral one. It requires teachers to convey moral values, with the belief that intentional actions can positively impact students' lives (E.g. Oser, 1994; Hansen, 2001; Campbell, 2003; Bullough, 2011; Tirri & Kuustisto, 2022). The concept of agency is central here, defined as the ability to make decisions and facilitate change (Eteläpelto, Vähäsantanen, Hökkä & Paloniemi, 2013; Tao & Gao, 2017). However, while teacher agency has garnered research interest, the moral dimension of teacher agency receives far less attention. An analysis of recent literature reviews, covering the literature on teacher agency of the last 15 years, indicate that moral or ethical contexts are mentioned only sparingly, often treated as residual categories rather than explored deeply (Chisholm, Alford, Halliday & Cox, 2019; Cong-Lem, 2021; Deschênes & Parent, 2022, Miller, Lane Wilt, Allcock, Kurth, Morningstar & Ruppar, 2020; Li, & Ruppar, 2021; Miller-Rushing, & Hufnagel, 2023).

 To investigate this gap, the concept of Teacher Moral Agency (TMA) is proposed as a distinct form of teacher agency. Campbell (2003) emphasizes the dual commitment of teachers to uphold high moral standards and act as moral educators. Conversely, Eren and Rakıcıoğlu-Söyleme (2023) take a multi-layered approach, integrating concepts from social cognitive and moral psychological theories to show how moral motivations and perceptions shape teacher agency within personal and social contexts. These diverse approaches to TMA and a lack of explicit attention to the moral dimension of the profession in teacher agency literature, urged us to further explore the field of TMA in literature. 

The primary aim of this study is to enhance our understanding of TMA within the broader context of teacher agency, guided by the central research question: “How is Teacher Moral Agency conceptualized in the literature from 2000 to 2024?” To explore this field, a scoping review will be conducted, informed by two sub-questions: what characterizes studies on teacher moral agency, and how is TMA defined within them?

Recognizing the moral dimensions of teacher agency is crucial for educators, as it empowers them to make informed decisions aligned with their moral values and professional standards. A deeper understanding of TMA can better prepare teachers for the moral challenges they face, fostering more reflective and socially responsible learning environments.

Two key observations emerge from the (above mentioned) recent reviews on teacher agency that inform this study of TMA. First, there is a continuum of perspectives on teacher agency, ranging from individualistic to deterministic views, with a centrist position emphasizing the interplay between a teacher's capabilities and their socio-cultural context, incorporating both ecological (Biesta & Tedder, 2007) and professional (Eteläpelto et al. (2013) approaches. Second, the reviews identify key characteristics of teacher agency, such as action-oriented behavior, intentionality, and the connection to teacher identity, which will be analyzed to clarify how these aspects relate to the concept of TMA as found in the literature.

We conducted a scoping review to analyze the conceptualization of teachers' moral agency. This type of review is instrumental in identifying gaps in current knowledge and mapping existing literature within a specific field, as it assesses the extent of evidence while clarifying key concepts. We adhered to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) guidelines to ensure methodological rigor and enhance the quality of reporting (Arksey & O’Malley, 2005; Peters et. al., 2020). An extended search was conducted with the search terms ‘Teacher’, ‘Moral’ and ‘Agency’, added with several alternative terms such as reasoning, action, dilemmas, intuition, awareness and sensitivity. These terms were selected from Tuana’s moral literacy study (Tuana, 2007). In our search we combined these strings with ‘moral’ and/or ‘ethical’ and with the education related string (consisting of teacher, instructor, educational staff). The terms are combined in search strings using Boolean operators “or” and “and” and were used to query the “title”, “abstract”, and “subject” fields of each database. The search strings were adapted to the syntax of each database. We limited the search to the last 25 years: from 2000 – 2024 for publications in English. The search was conducted in the online databases ‘ERIC’, ‘Web of Science’ and ‘PsycINFO’. These combined for a total of 9620 hits. These 9,620 results were screened for duplicates, leaving us with 8,610 studies, which were then transferred to the online reviewing tool www.rayyan.ia. Included were all publications that focused on secondary school teachers, provided a theoretical framework for the moral agency of teachers, and/ or offering a definition or description of TMA. A key step that contributed to the reduction of our results involved applying the filters: ‘agency’, ‘moral agency’, ‘agent(s)’, ‘moral agent(s)’, ‘ethical agency’, and ‘ethical agent(s)’ to these 8,610 studies. The most distinctive terms were ‘agent(s)’ and ‘agency’. This refinement resulted in a total of 344 studies. The next step involved the exclusion of different target groups and/or studies that focus specifically on (the effectiveness) of moral education. This resulted in 75 studies for full text assessment for the substantive inclusion criteria. This last selection process was based on the inclusion of any study that potentially could add to our understanding of the concept of TMA. This resulted in a final selection of 30 studies. These can be requested from the presenting author.

The analysis of selected studies on Teacher Moral Agency (TMA) revealed that most are qualitative or theoretical, predominantly published in educational journals that utilize moral psychological, theoretical, or philosophical perspectives. The selected studies were plotted along a spectrum to illustrate how they integrated the concept of TMA. A distinction emerged between studies with an internal orientation, where teachers were attributed an initiative-taking role—highlighting their capacities like moral awareness and connections to their professional identity—and those with an external orientation, which emphasizes the role of context. The latter focused on external factors such as neoliberal educational policies, often leading to moral tensions that teachers needed to address. Studies with an internal orientation primarily supported TMA, focusing on ways to enhance teachers' moral agency, while those with an external orientation highlighted challenges faced by TMA. The analysis of TMA definitions identified three central elements: agency-oriented, moral-oriented, and teacher-oriented categories. The agency-oriented category was most frequently represented, indicating its foundational importance, while aspects related to context were notably underrepresented. This suggests that the literature does not capture recent advancements in teacher agency concepts, which emphasize the critical interplay between teachers and their contexts. Among the definitions, 'moral responsibility' was highlighted in the moral-oriented category, yet its understanding was not clearly defined. The teacher-oriented category was the least utilized, indicating a lack of specific considerations related to teachers in discussions of TMA. Ultimately, this review highlights that there is no single, clear definition of TMA. Definitions tend to prioritize general moral-psychological capacities over specific teacher-related elements. The contexts in which TMA is discussed often emphasizes capacities, particularly in morally challenging situations. There is a notable lack of discourse regarding moral preferences for action in these situations, nor does the selected literature disclose what it means for teachers to engage in moral agency.

Arksey, H. & O'Malley, L., (2005). Scoping studies: towards a methodological framework, International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 8:1, 19-32, Biesta, G. & Tedder, M. (2007)., Agency and learning in the life course: Towards an ecological perspective. Studies in the Education of Adults. 29(2), 132 – 149. Bullough, R. (2011). Ethical and moral matters in teaching and teacher education. Teacher and Teacher Education 27 21-28. Campbell, E., (2003). The Ethical Teacher. Philadelphia: Open University Press. Chisholm, Alford, Halliday & Cox (2019). Teacher Agency in English language arts teaching: a scoping review of the literature. English Teaching: Practice & Critique 18 (2) 124 – 152. Cong-Lem, N., (2021) Teacher Agency: A systematic review of international literature. Issues in Educational Research 31 (3) 718 – 738. Eteläpelto, A., K. Vähäsantanen, P. Hökkä & S. Palomiemi (2013)., What is Agency? Conceptualizing Professional Agency at Work. Educational Research Review 10: 45 – 65. Hansen, D., (2001). Teaching as a Moral Activity in V. Richardson, Handbook of Research on Teaching (4th ed.) (pp. 826 – 857) Washington: American Educational Research Association. Hess, D., & McAvoy, P., (2015). The political classroom. Evidence and ethics in democratic education. Routledge: New York Kleijwegt, M., (2016). Twee werelden, Twee werkelijkheden. Hoe ga je daar als docent mee om? Den Haag: Ministerie van Onderwijs, Cultuur en Wetenschap. https://newsroom.didactiefonline.nl/uploads/PDF/minocw-2werelden-2werkelijkheden-.pdf Leegsma, M., (2017). Extreem in de klas. Polarisatie en radicalisering in voortgezet en beroepsonderwijs Leusden: ISVW uitgevers Li, L. & A. Ruppar (2021). Conceptualizing Teacher Agency for Inclusive Education: A systematic and International Review. Teacher Education and Special Education 44 (1) 42 – 59. Malone, D., (2020). Ethics Education in teacher preparation: a case for stakeholder responsibility. Ethics and Education 15 (1) 77 – 97. Miller-Rushing, A. & E. Hufnagel (2023). Trends in K-12 Teacher Agency Research: A Review of Science Education Research, Journal of Science Teacher Education, 34:2, 157-180. Miller, A., C. Lane Wilt, H. Allcock, J. Kurth, M. Morningstar & A, Ruppar (2020). Teacher agency for inclusive education: an international scoping review. International Journal for Inclusive Education. 1 – 20. Sanger, M. N., & Osguthorpe, R. D. (2011). Teacher education, preservice teacher beliefs, and the moral work of teaching. Teaching and Teacher Education, 27(3), 569–578. Tuana, N., (2007) Conceptualizing moral literacy. Journal of Educational Administration. Vol. 45(4) 364 – 378. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2010.10.011