I could have asked this same question (and so I'm keen to see what other people might have to say).  That said, I'd be interested to hear more about what you think the relationship between agency and PD might be.  Is it the agency to choose or design a PD experience?  Is it agency within the experience itself to participate or not participate in different ways?  

I'm currently doing dissertation research on teachers' powerful professional learning experiences, and I have been thinking a lot about whether the experiences teachers share with me have any salient shared features.  One emerging insight appears to be something related to agency:  that is, powerful PDs have thus far tended to be those in which teachers elected to participate.  But then I think the question must be why they chose the particular PDs they chose (i.e., agency for what ends).  Given that most teachers I've spoken to seem to define powerful learning experiences as those which had a practical effect on their teaching, this leads me to think that agency may make it more likely for teachers to seek out and participate more fully in PDs that are practical responses to their most pressing dilemmas.

In terms of research that might corroborate this hypothesis, I've really only just begun to read more on this topic (which is why I find your question so intriguing and useful).  Thus far, I've found some grist for the intellectual mill in the literature on teachers' professional identity formation, which doesn't have to do with PD specifically but does link teachers' participation in development activities with a sense of agency.  I've linked to a couple of those articles below.  As I read more, I'll try to post some additional resources.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13540602.2015.1044329

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0742-051X(00)00023-8

James,

Thank you for your response. I'd love to talk with you sometime about your views on the subject. I'm working on a policy white paper on the subject.

Laurie Calvert

[email protected]

I hope you find the following useful.

http://www.hertscam.org.uk

http://educ.cam.ac.uk/centres/lfl/about/publications/transformingeducation.html

Conference Paper Ramahi, H. & Eltemamy, A. (2014) Introducing teacher leaders...

Article The professional identity of early years educators in Englan...