The teacher leadership literature offers more on the idea of agency. In traditional settings, teachers are most often cast in the role of managers, directing and controlling student activities in the classroom, and following the rules set by the administration (Suleiman & Moore, 1996). As a teacher moves out of the managerial paradigm into an active leadership role, they become decision-makers, planners, and collaborators who tend to be more reflective, responsible, and empowered (Suleiman & Moore). These authors stated that,

The teacher as a leader tends to be active and research-oriented in the classroom. This provides teachers with the vehicle to put them in charge of their craft and its improvement÷This alternative construct views teachers as pivotal leaders in the schools as agents of positive educational reform. (p. 10)

Teachers who are leaders in this sense have developed agency—they believe that they have the power to act and that their actions will have an impact.

Teachers' Sources of Authority

Teachers call on many sources of authority when making decision—textbooks, state and district policies, curriculum guides, teaching manuals, university professors, and their own experience in the classroom. Those who see their role as a manager tend to follow the dictates of others (Suleiman and Moore, 1996); however, recent literature emphasizes the importance of teachers using the knowledge that comes from their own experience and that of colleagues. TIMSS and other studies have described teachers in other countries whose learning from one another by watching, discussing, reflecting, trying new strategies, and so on, is built into the expectations and structures of teaching.

"Teachers share knowledge and refine practice throughout their careers" (Darling-Hammond, 1998, p. 10). In this country, some kinds of opportunities for teachers to learn in communities of their peers have led to improvement in practice as teachers build their knowledge of practice and gain confidence to look to the authority of that knowledge when making decisions. Darling-Hammond lists characteristics of teacher learning opportunities that have this effect as being experiential; grounded in teachers' questions, inquiry, and experimentation; collaborative; connected to and derived from teachers' work with students; sustained and intensive; and connected to other aspects of school change.

Firestone and Pennell (1997) illustrate the relationship between agency and authority in a study of two state-sponsored teacher networks. The benefits of the networks were said to be increased teacher learning, strengthened motivation, and enhanced empowerment. The authors talked about empowerment.

The least controversial (and perhaps most significant) is the enhanced sense of efficacy teachers develop in the classroom as their content and pedagogical knowledge grows÷teachers may develop a deeper knowledge of the theoretical and normative underpinnings of the changes they make [so] there is a potential for an increased sense of purpose÷.Networks may help teachers voice their informed dissent from the "knowledge" of experts and the policies of those in positions of authority. (p. 239, 240)

Thus, as teachers learn more about content, pedagogy, and reform, they develop confidence in their own authority as they advance their views of good practice.