Teacher agency is also often linked to agendas of social justice and socially responsible teaching. Teachers who see themselves as agents of change are assumed to have transformative powers inside and outside the classroom (e.g., engaging in school developments, professional networks, working against educational disadvantages), as they link their agency to a moral vision (Pantić, 2015). Pantić (2015) asserts that several factors influence teachers’ agency for social justice, including their purpose, competence, autonomy, and reflexivity. In connection with their purpose, teachers’ perceptions of their moral roles, their sense of identity and their motivations are key, accompanied by teachers’ understanding of social justice. Teachers’ competence is also essential to achieve agency for social justice, which necessitates being knowledgeable about the broader forces that influence schooling, teachers’ immediate milieu and about politics. Autonomy also plays a pivotal role in teachers’ perceptions of being agents of change. Bandura’s social cognitive theory (1989) and its subset theory, self-efficacy theory come into play here, given that teachers’ efficacy beliefs seem to be necessary conditions of agency, as these beliefs determine the level of effort put into an activity and how long they are to sustain that effort to achieve their goals. People tend to avoid activities they think are beyond their capabilities, and they tend to select challenging tasks they think are suitable for them. Collective agency can enhance individual agency, therefore striving to affect change should not be an individual endeavour, it is more powerful if it happens in collaboration (Pantić, 2015). Teachers’ immediate context, the school is also prominent in their feeling autonomous, whether they can participate in decision making, policymaking or networking. The last factor, reflexivity refers to teachers’ ability to think critically about their practice and justify their actions. The list above shows that teacher agency is a complex phenomenon, with many interrelated factors in play. For a successful implementation of GCED, teacher agency seems to be a prerequisite. Teachers, who are committed to making the world a better place are going to be more likely to implement global education in their lessons. However, to deal with global topics in the classroom (either prescribed by the curriculum or not), they need to feel that they have the capabilities to do so, they need to feel knowledgeable about the topics and the methodology of dealing with potentially controversial issues (and they also need to accept that they may not know the answer to every question that comes up in a discussion). The school they work in should also support them in their ventures to deal with issues of global importance in their classes. Finally, their critical capacities should be developed, preferably during teacher education so that they become reflective practitioners.

In case teachers opt for implementing global education in the classroom, the greatest controversy surrounding global issues in English language teaching is that they are often deemed controversial and teachers who deal with them in class are often accused of using their classrooms for pushing political agendas (Bourn, 2014; Brown, 2009). According to the advocates of critical pedagogy though (Freire, 2014; Giroux, 1997), education is an inherently political act and teachers are key figures in effecting change in their communities. Freire (1985) for example, claims that education cannot be neutral as it is linked to the ideal society people want to see, and if educators want to make a difference, they cannot shelter their students from challenges.

 

As GCED is also closely linked to the concept of education being transformative and a tool for personal and social change, it can easily be assumed that the role of the educator is, in fact, that of an agent of change (Bourn, 2015). To be credible in their role of promoting global citizenship, teachers must be committed to social justice and diversity, be open-minded and respectful towards other cultures, have a large knowledge base about the world and most of all, they need to be critical. Briefly, they must become global citizens if they are to teach global citizenship effectively (Andreotti as cited in Bourn, 2015).