Negotiating silence and resistance: the political agency of Korean primary teachers

This thesis explores how South Korean primary school teachers exercise political agency when they are not allowed to express political opinions or participate in collective actions. Drawing on Foucauldian perspectives as interpreted by Stephen Ball and Santoro’s work on teachers’ demoralization, this study constructs a theoretical framework that interprets teachers’ inner conflicts as an early manifestation of resistance and the emergence of political subjectivity. This study employs a qualitative design, using semi-structured interviews with six Korean primary teachers to examine how discourses shape teachers’ experiences and how teachers recount practices of negotiating and resisting dominant discourses. Findings demonstrate that teachers’ political agency becomes visible through tensions between discourse and practice. All participants reiterated the prevailing discourse that teachers have excessive responsibility, but are positioned as powerless because their opinions are often blocked by parents’ demands or school administrators’ opinions. In contrast, all participants also articulated practices that demonstrate their agency in four ways. First, political subjectivity emerged through collective action, particularly in response to the criminalization of teachers’ responsibilities and perceived ethical violations. Second, teachers illustrated their role as democratic actors by teaching democratic values to students, by creating spaces for students to share their opinions through classroom meetings or the students’ council. Third, several participants refused a politically neutral position and expressed their determination to speak out or sometimes participate in political actions, such as the President’s impeachment rallies or an environmental campaign with students. Fourth, teachers enacted micropolitical engagement through small and strategic actions, including speaking up in staff spaces, participating in petitions and online discussions even when such actions involved fear and risk. This thesis argues that teachers are not merely policy implementers; rather, they are political subjects with agency and who resist circulating discourses in various forms. This study contributes to scholarship by illustrating how micropolitical engagement is enacted when macropolitical engagement is restricted by strict educational policy, specifically focusing on teachers’ private conflicts between institutional demands and professional ethical values. Finally, it advocates protective mechanisms for teachers and broader spaces for teachers to speak out to establish a more democratic education system.