Coaching for Agency, Authority and Advocacy in Dual Language Bilingual Education

In education broadly, and in dual language bilingual education (DLBE) specifically, advocacy for marginalized student populations is recognized as a teacher’s responsibility. Yet, advocacy represents both an orientation and a skill set that teachers must develop. Therefore, there is a need to better understand how teachers can be supported in developing their capacity to advocate. Approaching advocacy in terms of teacher agency and authority, we look at one form of professional learning support, instructional coaching. In this comparative qualitative case study, we explore how one experienced instructional coach collaborated with four DLBE teachers to help them develop as agentive advocates for their students. We draw on the Vygotsky space theoretical model to understand the four cases and suggest augmentations to the model based on the findings and analysis. Though all teachers made progress in growing as agentive advocates, the constructivist Vygotsky space model highlights the differences in pace, scope, and action among them. The cases also suggest three points in the existing model where the coach appeared to influence teacher growth: Encounter, appropriation, and pre-publication. Insights into coaching, advocacy, and the Vygotsky space model have implications for supporting teachers in agentively advocating for marginalized students in their charge and beyond.