The role of agency in transformative teaching practices through mentor-pre-service teacher dyads in a laboratory preschool

This case study investigates the role of agency in transformative teaching practices within mentor teacher (MT) and pre-service teacher (PST) dyads at a university-affiliated laboratory preschool in the southwestern United States. Guided by sociocultural theory and the concept of inquiry as stance, we examined how agency was cultivated, enacted, and modeled in a context committed to inquiry-based and justice-oriented pedagogy. Data sources included professional learning community (PLC) discussions with MTs, semi-structured interviews with PSTs, and researcher journals. Findings reveal three central dynamics: evolving conceptions of agency shaped by institutional contexts; supports that foster agency, including the interplay of knowledge, ideology, and power, inquiry as a catalyst for agentic teaching, and professional communities that promote growth; and the negotiation of ambiguity, where agency emerged as contingent and relational rather than guaranteed. These findings highlight the potential of laboratory schools to disrupt traditional apprenticeship models that limit autonomy by positioning MTs and PSTs as co-learners and children as active contributors. The study underscores the importance of reimagining teacher preparation as a liberatory practice that centers agency, identity, and equity in the pursuit of transformative education.