Introduction Across Europe, expectations of teachers have expanded beyond implementing curricula to actively shaping educational change. This shift appears in international policy, including the OECD Teaching Compass, which positions teachers as key actors in developing future-oriented curricula (OECD, 2024). While such frameworks promote an ambitious view of teacher agency – i.e., teachers’ ability to act purposefully and constructively to direct their professional practice (Priestley et al., 2015) – they say little about how agency is cultivated in initial teacher education (ITE). It remains unclear under what conditions agency is expected to develop, and which mechanisms are assumed or evidenced in ITE practices, including curriculum-making. This paper reports findings from a systematic literature review on how teacher agency can be fostered within ITE. Guided by a socio-cultural perspective, agency is treated as relational, mediated, and situated in social practice (Emirbayer & Mische, 1998). From this view, agency develops through participation in professional practices, interactions with others, and engagement with cultural tools, discourses, and institutional structures. Method The review included empirical and conceptual studies that explicitly addressed teacher or professional agency in ITE. Studies were included if they offered a clear conceptualization of agency and located it within educational practices or institutional arrangements relevant to ITE. Following systematic searching and screening across ERIC, Scopus, Web of Science, and PsycINFO, included studies were analysed for conditions and mechanisms linked to agency development and for factors shaping students’ teacher agency. Preliminary results The synthesis identified three interrelated clusters of mechanisms relevant to curriculum-making in ITE. Socio-relational conditions such as trust, dialogic supervision, and shared authority influence whether student teachers are positioned as legitimate participants in curriculum-making. Boundary-crossing practices between universities and schools, often conceptualized as hybrid or third-space arrangements, mediate access to curriculum interpretation and design. Institutional positioning through assessment and accountability shapes whether student teachers are encouraged to justify professional choices and explore alternatives, or steered toward compliance. Discussion The discussion offers a forward-looking reflection on how curriculum-making and teacher agency are increasingly integrated within Dutch ITE and continuing professional development. This highlights growing recognition of teachers as curriculum makers while underscoring the structural and cultural conditions needed to sustain this role. A brief reference to the nationwide NAPL program situates these developments within the broader national landscape. Together, these elements provide a coherent outlook on how the profession is shaping, and being shaped by, emerging conceptions of agency rich curriculum making efforts.

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