Exploring agency in marginalised occupations: School administrative clerks’ deployment of “participatory capital” in establishing practice-based agency
Abstract
Popular conceptions of school administrative clerks and school
secretaries imply that they have little agency because they are
deemed as subordinate support staff. However, the literature across
a range of fields suggests that these subordinates exercise agency.
We set out in this article to explore the workings of subordinate
agency. The article suggests that it is through their involvement
and interaction in the socio-cultural context of the school that
school administrative clerks are able to expand the range of their
agency and thereby reposition themselves at school.