Who has the control?
In schools and classrooms, who has control over what, and why? We explore how our human need for agency impacts learning in school.
Some might say principals and teachers should be in control of students to ensure that they stay safe and learn what they need to learn. While schools need safety and direction in order to function, human beings aren’t designed to sit and follow directions all day long, especially during our younger years. Our brains are designed to want to make choices, and we feel satisfied and fulfilled when we can pursue our own choices. When we feel powerless (at any age), it has negative impacts on our motivation, mindset, and behavior.
This need can be described as agency — the ability to act upon our own choices. We characterize agency as the combination of the freedom for people to make choices, coupled with empowerment from their surrounding culture and community to act upon their choices. Agency is one of our Six Gears for Learning and Leadership TM, because research shows it is a core human need that allows people to thrive in both learning and work, at any age.
Research in neuroscience and cognitive science shows that when we feel in control, our brains release a chemical called dopamine through our reward pathways. Feeling in control allows our amygdala to stay calm so that our prefrontal cortex can help us think rationally. However a low sense of control is highly associated with stress, anxiety, depression, and poor mental health, particularly in children and adolescents.
Author Ned Johnson describes this phenomenon by saying:
“Autonomy is built into our wiring, so to speak, in the same way as hunger or thirst. When we lack this basic need, we experience decreased motivation, or the motivation we do have becomes fear-based. (“I’d better do this, or else!”) Both are terribly unhealthy. You can’t become a self-driven person if you don’t have a sense that your life is your own.”
Having a high sense of agency is associated with several positive outcomes for students (and adults) including building more intrinsic motivation (feeling rewarded from learning itself), deeper learning, richer interests, better well-being, more creativity, and more perseverance. Conversely, a low sense of agency has the opposite effect — being driven instead by extrinsic motivation like grades or discipline, shallower learning, less creativity, poorer mental health, and giving up more easily when facing struggles.
This presents educators with the question:
How can we achieve a balance of control and power in learning, so that students are empowered to have agency and make meaningful choices in their learning, while achieving the goals designed for them by their teachers, administrators, and even state departments of education?
How does agency impact learning in school?
Learning experiences that prioritize agency have the potential to foster the development of key social and emotional (SEL) skills in a way that students can miss out on when they are passive recipients in learning. Conversely, when students don’t experience sufficient agency in a classroom culture of compliance, they miss out on opportunities to practice key SEL skills that are essential for effective learning and well-being.
For example, consider the SEL skills the 6th graders in this math class practice when they experience agency in the following ways.
When teaching and learning includes meaningful student agency, the teacher shares some of their control with students. That shift sends an array of empowering messages to the students that communicate:
“I see you.”
“I believe that you can do well and that you want to do well.”
“Your voice, perspective, and interests matter in this class.”
“You are the most important part of the learning process.”
“You have ownership over your learning.”
“I trust you to do your best, and when you make a mistake, I will be here to support you and help you learn from it.”
These types of messages intentionally cultivate a more positive classroom climate and school culture where students feel safe and empowered. Schools with strong climates and cultures look, sound, and feel like desirable places to work and learn, and evidence shows they are associated with improved academic outcomes for students.
How can we build more agency for students in school?
Building student agency can start with small steps that have big impacts. Here are a few ideas of strategies that can help give more control over to students, to increase motivation and drive engagement in learning.
Strategies:
Tap into your own beliefs about student agency to inform your practices. Ask yourself: what were your experiences with student agency like when you were in school? How do you provide a sense of agency for students currently? What concerns do you have about incorporating more agency in your teaching? Or, try a teacher agency self-assessment like this one from Making Good Humans.
Plan which decisions need to be made by you as the teacher, and which ones can be entrusted to students. Try to give as many meaningful choices to students as possible (for both academics and classroom culture/community). For example, can students propose which of the available materials they’d like to use to reach the set learning goals for a particular lesson? Can students co-create classroom rules with the teacher to articulate their collective vision for classroom community and behaviors?
Teach skills needed for students to experience success with increased autonomy and agency like making decisions that connect with individual learning goals, knowing when and how to ask for help, independent problem-solving, self-assessing and self-reflecting.
Incorporate project-based learning opportunities which allow students to make numerous choices while demonstrating their skills and knowledge through a project that highlights their interests and curiosities.
Utilize lesson design formats that include a student planning phase, a working phase, and a reflecting phase, choice of materials and methods, and student interaction around their learning.
Incorporate choice boards into lessons to provide options for how students do assignments.
Share clear expectations and criteria (e.g. rubric) up front for how student work will be evaluated to allow for both teacher-led and student-led evaluation.
Broaden the focus of assessment to include students reflecting on the learning process – how they applied the skills needed to act with more agency, what went well, what was challenging, what changes they might make next time – and not just evaluating the final product.
What’s next?
Many of our district partners are learning about the science behind agency as part of our Six Gears for Learning and Leadership TM Framework, and applying it in their daily practice as teachers and as leaders. We continue to support their unique implementations of research-based practices, to empower all people in schools and districts to have agency and pursue choices that fulfill their interests and passions.
Stay tuned for our next article on the importance of agency for professionals, and how leaders can balance fidelity and flexibility to successfully meet goals while allowing staff to feel invested and motivated.
Learn more about agency
References:
Anderson, M. (2016). Learning to Choose, Choosing to Learn: The Key Student Motivation and Achievement
Berkowitz, R., Moore, H., Astor, R. A., & Benbenishty, R. (2017). A Research Synthesis of the Associations Between Socioeconomic Background, Inequality, School Climate, and Academic Achievement. Review of Educational Research, 87(2), 425–469.
Botel, M. & Botel-Paparo, L. (2016). The Plainer Truths of Teaching, Learning and Literacy: A comprehensive guide to reading, writing, speaking and listening Pre-K-12 across the curriculum.
Cook, G. (2018). The Case for the Self-Driven Child. Scientific American.
Eteläpelto, A., Vähäsantanen, K., Hökkä, P., & Paloniemi, S. (2013). What is agency? Conceptualizing professional agency at work. Educational research review, 10, 45-65.
Responsive Classroom. (2016). The Joyful Classroom: Practical Ways to Engage and Challenge Students K-6.
Ryan, R. M., & Deci, E. L. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: Classic definitions and new directions. Contemporary educational psychology, 25 (1), 54-67.
Stixrud, W. & Johnson, N. (2019). The Self-Driven Child: The Science and Sense of Giving Your Kids More Control Over Their Lives. Penguin Books.
The Center for Inspired Teaching. (2018). The critical need for replacing compliance-based teaching with engagement-based teaching.
The Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning. (2022). What is the CASEL Framework.
Willis, J. (2019). Maintaining Students’ Motivation for Learning as the Year Goes On. Edutopia.
Get customized support to build agency in your school.
Michelle Gill
Julia Skolnik
About the Authors
Michelle Gill is the Coordinator for Social, Emotional, and Academic Learning in the Centennial School District and is a CASEL SEL Fellows Academy member. Before these roles, Michelle spent 14 years as a teacher in K-12 public school systems and six years supporting educators, schools, and districts through designing and facilitating SEL-related professional learning.
Julia Skolnik is the CEO and Founder of Professional Learning Partnerships. With over 20 years of experience in the fields of education, neuroscience, and learning sciences, her passion to connect research and practice motivates her work daily. She creates the overarching vision for PLP, designs innovative and research-based professional learning programs that transforms both individual practice and educational systems, and cultivates long-term partnerships with leaders across our network.
