Soizic Le Courtois and Sara Baker, Centre for Research on Play in Education, Development and Learning at the Faculty of Education, University of Cambridge, UK
Introduction
When children have agency in learning, they are experiencing learning as a participant rather than as a recipient, and as an activity in which they willingly engage rather than something externally imposed. Agency in learning involves being empowered and able to contribute to the direction and form that learning takes. However, opportunities for children’s agency in classroom environments can be scarce. This can be because of its absence from the National Curriculum (see, for example, the National Curriculum in England, DfE, 2014, as demonstrated by Manyukhina and Wyse, 2019), and our own work in classrooms in England suggests that children’s agency is often restricted by tight teacher control through a focus on strict learning objectives and standards (Le Courtois, 2022). Yet recent research has highlighted
Join us or sign in now to view the rest of this page
You're viewing this site as a guest, which only allows you to view a limited amount of content.
To view this page and get access to all our resources, join the Chartered College of Teaching (it's £1 per year for trainee teachers and half price for ECTs) or log in if you're already a member.
