Designing a participatory learning environment to foster mathematics teacher agency: From dilemmas to collective action

Recent mathematics education reforms demand teachers develop responsive practice for students' ambitious and equitable learning, calling for professional development (PD) models that position teachers as active agents of their own learning. This study responds to this call by designing a participatory learning environment that supports teachers' agency in professional learning. The Participatory Mathematics Teacher Learning Environment (PMTLE) was developed through a design research study and implemented with in-service mathematics teachers affiliated with a PD organization in Turkey. Informed by formative interventions method and conceptualizations of agency from sociocultural theory perspective, PMTLE supported teachers in identifying and analyzing shared problems and co-designing novel professional learning activities. Qualitative analysis employed Vasilyuk's theory of experiencing and Bateson's theory of Learning III to examine agency formation and explore how design elements supported or hindered it. Findings indicate that individually, teachers surfaced internal conflicts, expanded perspectives on PD needs, attributed personal meaning to collective activities, and developed personal disposition to engage in them. Collectively, they identified systemic contradictions underlying their problems and co-constructed and enacted novel professional learning activities in response. Design features, such as participant-driven reflection and responsive facilitation, enabled teachers' active participation. This study proposes a theoretically grounded, empirically supported participatory PD model that promotes teacher agency and offers principles for design.