Understanding student Agency
Freedom = Responsibility
I remember being a 12 year old middle school student. After years of feeling like my voice had been suppressed by my teachers, I developed a strong hatred for any authoritarian figure who would try and tell me what to do. This of course made my school career much more difficult than it had to be. My anti-authoritarian attitude and misbehaving behavior was the product of my lack of agency and trust in my school environment.
Most of the children currently attending the REAL School are coming from traditional education systems. They are not used to having agency in a school environment. The transition from an institution that suppresses student agency to one that expects it is a hard adjustment. I know, because I went through it as well. Only after I moved to Bali to attend the Green School, did I learn the value of my voice and how to use it. Not only did I learn how to use my voice, but I also learned how to take responsibility over my own learning, my words and my actions. These were not easy skills to learn, but they are essential for thriving in our world. Students having agency over their lives is essential in creating a school environment that fosters engaged learning.
A few weeks into the school year we recognized an issue regarding the students’ reluctance to clean up after themselves. One of our solutions to this was to co-create a chores roster with the children, so it would be clear who was responsible for cleaning and setting up for lunch everyday. This was a seemingly simple task, but nonetheless a valuable opportunity for the students to demonstrate agency. The other interns and I facilitated the creation of this chores chart. I was initially shocked by the lack of engagement in most of the students. One student was engaged, and ended up making most of the decisions simply because they were the only one participating. Everyone else was just sitting there, looking bored. I was expecting they would see this in the same light as I did: as a way to take ownership over their responsibilities. Now that I think about it again, I realize that the words ownership and responsibilities are unlikely to pop into the heads of a bunch of six to eleven year old students. It was probably difficult for the kids to make the connection between the chores chart and agency. These connections will come once the kids understand the power and value of their voice, as well as the fact that agency means both freedom and responsibility. The chores chart is a good example of how we can rewire how they respond to their responsibilities. If the chores were decided and agreed upon by them, then the need for a figure of authority telling them what to do becomes unnecessary. As of writing this article, we are two days in to implementing the chores chart. Even though there was not much engagement in the creation of the chart, there has been a large improvement. Today the kids took the compost out with much less complaining than they had in the past.
Agency is both freedom and responsibility. I learned how to have agency because my teachers valued my voice and demonstrated sincere trust in me. They expected that I would take responsibility and ownership of my actions and words. These teachers have left a massive imprint on my life and I feel extremely grateful to have such wonderful mentors growing up. Interacting with the students at the REAL School, I copy the ways my mentors treated me. I reflect on my own experiences of learning agency in order to help to create the right environment for these kids to gain power over their voice, their learning and their lives.
Agency is not a skill you can learn from reading a book or practicing on Khan Academy. Agency is learned by doing. Not only is it a skill but also a feeling. Feeling like you are free to choose what day you do chores, deciding what chores are your responsibility, and when you do them is an example of how freedom equals responsibility.
