ABSTRACT
The chapter discusses how literacy coaches enact professional responsibility in Danish primary and secondary schools. Literacy coaches are a central part of the professional development in schools as they facilitate teacher learning and contribute to the improvement of students’ reading and writing skills. The chapter takes a sociomaterial perspective on literacy coaching practices, observing how human and nonhuman actors are entangled. This perspective introduces new understandings of responsibility and ethics in the work of literacy coaches. Drawing on an empirical case study, the chapter shows how tests, as nonhuman actors, get agency through the association with other actors in the form of a literacy coach, an action plan and a meeting on Google Meet with the parents. Tests help the literacy coach to gain knowledge on the student and to remember by revisiting data from earlier grades, and the literacy coach assembles different data in an action plan. However, the analysis shows that class teachers, parents, and students carry more general and longtime experiences and memories. Regarding the issue of quality in education, the chapter concludes that memories and experiences do not count to the same extent as test data in the decision-making. This calls for further ethical discussions and awareness among professionals in balancing ‘effective’ and ‘good’ teaching and coaching.
