Teacher resistance as moral agency and the reclamation of professional identity during an educational crisis

This study examines how teachers at a Philippine private school resisted rigid Learning Management System (LMS) policies during the country’s prolonged pandemic school closures as an exercise of moral agency. Using netnography, the researcher immersed himself in the digital landscape of a private school for one academic year, generating data through online participant observation. Resistance is framed not as overt subversion but as a complex and deliberate form of everyday negotiation or moral agency through which teachers reclaimed their professional identities. Findings show that teachers asserted their professional commitments to care by circumventing or realigning LMS policies in three ways: negotiating parents’ expectations with empathy and patience, modifying class schedules, and prioritising daily synchronous meetings over asynchronous activities. These practices suggest that navigating arbitrary policies is reflexive, strategic, and creative. This highlights the need for moral agency in teacher identity and more inclusive virtual learning policies amid the COVID-19 pandemic.