Teacher Agency and the Practice of Freedom: Participatory Action Research and Critical–Creative Pedagogy in Nepali Public Schools

Background: Teacher agency is essential to educational transformation, yet teacher development in Nepal often relies on standardized training approaches that emphasize prescribed methods rather than critical reflection, contextual experimentation, and collaborative learning. Objectives: This study explores how teachers develop and exercise agency through Critical–Creative Pedagogy (CCP) and participatory action research in two Nepali public-school contexts. Methods: Using a participatory action research approach, the study examined two contexts: a cross-school initiative involving 11 teachers from eight public schools in Helambu and a school-based initiative involving 30 teachers at Janata Secondary School in Bardibas. Data were generated over nine months through workshop interactions, teacher reflections, lesson plans, classroom observations, reflective dialogues, and informal conversations with students. The analysis examined how reflection, dialogue, classroom experimentation, and collective professional learning contributed to the development of teacher agency. Results: The findings indicate that teacher agency developed through iterative cycles of reflection, action, observation, dialogue, and re-reflection rather than through standardized training alone. Teachers began questioning textbook-centred and examination-driven practices and experimenting with learning activities grounded in students’ experiences and local contexts. Contextual adaptation and engagement with the wider school community, including school management committees and parents, emerged as important dimensions of pedagogical change. The Bardibas initiative appeared to foster stronger shared reflection, mutual support, and continuity of pedagogical change than the cross-school arrangement in Helambu. Conclusion: Teacher agency is a relational and context-dependent process that develops through critical reflection, pedagogical experimentation, and collaborative learning. Sustaining educational transformation requires professional learning opportunities that connect teachers’ agency with local knowledge, school-level collaboration, and community engagement. Novelty: By examining participatory action research across two distinct school contexts, this study highlights how the institutional setting of teacher collaboration may shape opportunities for collective reflection, mutual support, and sustained pedagogical change. It also foregrounds the importance of connecting teacher learning with school and community contexts in efforts to transform classroom practice.