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ToolsNourie, Kristi, Steward, Helen and Gordon, John (2026) The role of teacher agency in realising EdTech’s potential to reduce teacher workload and improve teacher retention. British Educational Research Journal. ISSN 0141-1926
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Abstract
This article considers how EdTech platform design and EdTech policy implementation in schools combine to contribute to rather than alleviate teachers' workload, constraining professional agency in ways which may contribute to teachers' dissatisfaction and the current teacher retention crisis. Workload has been cited as a leading reason for teachers leaving the profession. Successive OECD Teaching and International Learning Surveys (TALIS) identify increases in teacher workload. English government taskforce recommendations and EdTech policy papers have since promoted education technology (EdTech) as a means to alleviate teacher workload, prevent burnout and improve staff retention. Despite these moves to integrate EdTech into teaching and learning, many teachers do not experience the EdTech-reduced workload envisioned in policy discourse and political rhetoric. We present narrative interview and survey data drawn from a mixed-methods place-based study of teachers' experiences of EdTech, in primary and secondary schools in eastern England. Our analyses problematise conventional understandings of workload and its relationship with EdTech, affording insights through positioning analysis of teachers' ‘small stories’ of EdTech practice and resourcing. We explore the nature and extent of professional agency with EdTech relative to professional efficacy, work efficiency and job satisfaction. Our findings have implications for national and local frameworks guiding teachers' EdTech use. They can inform initial and continuing professional education, contributing differentiated understandings of EdTech's relationships with workload. Our recommendations may support school leaders and teacher educators in facilitating teacher agency with EdTech, so that teachers' choices of EdTech use address workload challenges for job satisfaction and retention.
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT: Our data are currently collected in the Delve platform https://delvetool.com/. We intend to make data openly available through national repositories and/or our project website https://etat.uea.ac.uk/ during 2026 when our research is completed. |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | teacher agency,edtech,workload,teacher retention,social sciences(all),computer science(all),sdg 4 - quality education,sdg 8 - decent work and economic growth ,/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/3300 |
| Faculty \ School: | Faculty of Social Sciences Faculty of Social Sciences > School of Education and Lifelong Learning Faculty of Science Faculty of Science > School of Computing Sciences University of East Anglia Research Groups/Centres > Theme - ClimateUEA |
| UEA Research Groups: | Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Language in Education Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Literacy and Development Group Faculty of Social Sciences > Research Groups > Critical Cultural Studies In Education |
| Related URLs: | |
| Depositing User: | LivePure Connector |
| Date Deposited: | 17 Mar 2026 12:30 |
| Last Modified: | 19 Mar 2026 08:30 |
| URI: | https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/102382 |
| DOI: | 10.1002/berj.70117 |
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