Societal, structural, value-based or economic changes and changes related to technological developments necessitate a continuous development process in the field of education. In responding to the changes, teacher agency becomes a key factor. This study explores when the context of reform provides the basis for the growth of agency and when it…

Preferences for teaching methods are influenced by several factors, including instructional goals, teacher's management style, experience and education. To discover in which ways primary school teachers with different management styles vary in their preferences for students' cognitive and social development, 128 teachers of Estonia were…

This article analyses teachers' experience in the period of educational change in Estonia from 1989 to 2010. We review the introduction of the new national curricula and national exams. We show how, in the teachers' experience, the period of change can be divided into two distinct periods. Firstly, the period of freedom and chaos in the early…

Step by Step (Early Childhood Program) is an education reform program to engender democratic principles and practices in young children and their families. The authors interviewed 15 teacher participants in the yearlong Step by Step training to learn how the training changed their teaching practices and how their new practices affect the children…