Teacher Agency, Structural Constraints, and Educational Reform Implementation in Nigerian Secondary Schools

This study examines the dialectical relationship between teacher agency and structural constraints in the implementation of curriculum reform in Nigerian secondary schools, drawing empirical evidence from the North West, South West, and South South geopolitical zones. Teacher agency, defined as the capacity of teachers to act purposefully and constructively within structural conditions that both enable and constrain their professional choices, is a critical but under-theorised variable in Nigerian education reform scholarship. The study employs an interpretive multi-case study design across six secondary schools in Kano, Lagos, and Rivers states, engaging 72 teachers, 12 principals, and 18 curriculum supervisors through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and document analysis over a 12-month fieldwork period. The data were analysed using Emirbayer and Mische's Relational Agency Theory, Bandura's Human Agency Model, and Archer's Morphogenetic Framework, with Nvivo-assisted thematic and cross-case analysis. Findings are expected to reveal that teachers exercise iterational, projective, and practical-evaluative dimensions of agency through micro-level adaptations to reform mandates, and that structural constraints including resource scarcity and examination pressure systematically narrow the agentic space available to them. The study generates original theoretical propositions on conditioned teacher agency in reform contexts. Recommendations address the Federal and State Ministries of Education on designing reform frameworks that recognise teacher professional judgement as a resource for implementation fidelity. Keywords: teacher agency, structural constraints, educational reform, curriculum implementation, Nigeria