Aug. 24, 2025: Layers of Autonomy

         It doesn’t take too much digging into research on teaching to find that one thing teachers highly value is autonomy.  Being treated and trusted as professional educators.   Having our skill and expertise acknowledged. Being empowered to make decisions.  In spite of the forces that work to undermine these freedoms, educators treasure their autonomy.

         Apparently, our new principal understands this because in one of her first faculty meetings she addressed it using a metaphor that I really liked. She said teaching was very much like driving and that as a result, we had “layers of autonomy”.

         Like driving on the roads, there are certain things which are nonnegotiable and over which we have no autonomy.  These are the “rules of the road”. In driving they are things like stopping at stop signs, driving on the right side of the road, and following the speed limits.  In education, these are things like certification and licensing requirements, the standards we must teach, and the hours we must be at our school to do our job.

         Then there is a layer of shared autonomy. This is the goal or destination. In driving, this is the location and time we want to arrive somewhere. In education, this is our shared understanding of our common goals.  School goals, district goals, student learning goals.  While teachers have input into setting these goals, we do not do it in isolation so they are shared autonomy.  These things might also include accepted teaching schedules and common assessments.

         Finally, there is the layer of total autonomy. In driving, this is the car we chose to drive and the route we chose to take. In education, these are the choices and decisions teachers make for their own classroom and students. This could be things such as the classroom theme or decor, the teaching activities used, the desk arrangements, the projects selected, or the specific behavior expectations we might have in place.

         Clearly there is much ebb and flow and mixing of shared autonomy and total autonomy.  Teams of teachers collaborate, partner teachers entrust decisions to each other, or new teachers work closely with mentors. In our driving metaphor, this could be thought of as carpooling or ride sharing.

         I really like thinking of our autonomy as educators in this way, rather than the black or white approach of either having it or not having it.  By focusing on the autonomy we do have, however small, we can strengthen and build on those layers.  Like much of education, it is one step at a  time.