Agency in the making: Empowering pre-service technologies teachers

Abstract

Technology teachers routinely make informed decisions about the materials and processes their students use to create artefacts. Thus, it is important to expose pre-service technology teachers to learning environments in which they develop agency towards making. We take the stance that developing pre-service technology teachers’ agency towards making will prepare them to become bold and confident makers in their own classrooms when they become teachers, resulting in them launching innovative maker projects and supporting their own students throughout the process. In this paper, we present three case studies—drawn from initial teacher education programs at three different Australian universities—in which pre-service technology teachers increased their agency towards making. In the first case study, we describe how pre-service primary teachers participated in a variety of activities in a university makerspace. In the second case study, we explain how pre-service secondary teachers solved unique open-ended challenges by blending the design process with using digital fabrication tools. In the third case study, we outline how pre-service teachers engaged in solving a values-based task to prepare them for engaging with values such as sustainability and global citizenship in the Australian curriculum. Recommendations and next steps are discussed.