Investigating the Neoliberal Educational Agenda: The Effect of Reform Contexts on Teacher Agency

Abstract

During the transition to democratic society a neoliberal educational agenda was introduced to guide the reform process in Estonia. Documentary analysis was conducted for this research and six periods emerged, which showed that expectations were placed on teachers that assumed the existence of teacher agency, while the reform context didn’t support its emergence. Evidence of change can be seen in the last periods, when also a significant dichotomy arises.