The purpose of the paper is to examine how perspectives of transactional realism and materialism can contribute to a more comprehensive understanding of factors within and outside institutional environments that form different but overlapping networks for teachers, potentially affecting their room for action in different ways. We explore the following two research questions: How can the concept of transactional realism contribute to a ‘renewed’ understanding of pragmatism that also includes material aspects? How can material aspects contribute to shed light on teachers' room for action?