Children's agency is inextricably linked to dominant, 'western' conceptualisations of human rights, and remains predominantly representative of northern childhood(s) with wanting imagination about its wider sociopolitical contexts. Despite this, and the growing recognition of its significance, iterations of children's agency centre primarily on…

This article delves into the potential alignment between Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophical insights and the contemporary critical educational paradigm of heutagogy, which advocates for self-determined learning. Heutagogy represents a significant shift in educational ideology, empowering learners with the autonomy to choose their learning paths…

Establishing genuine connections among educators and students is a key element of healthy school environments. These connections are not just surface-level interactions; they are deep, meaningful relationships that reflect educators' commitments to understanding and supporting each student's unique background, strengths, and challenges. This brief…

This study conducts a thematic and discourse analysis of Richard Linklater's 2001 film, "Waking Life," focusing on portraying existential anxiety in the film's main characters. By examining the film's narrative through the lens of existentialism, the research aims to understand the characters' experiences as they grapple with fundamental…

This paper examines how children's agency operates within primary education in England through an in-depth qualitative study of three contrasting schools over two years. While children's right to participate in decisions affecting their education is increasingly recognised internationally, its practical implementation within formal education…

Background: While it's clear that autonomous motivation significantly boosts academic success, there are conflicting findings regarding the opposite relation. Besides, the reciprocal relations among controlled motivation and achievement present mixed results. Adequately distinguishing between variations among individuals and within individuals…

This conceptual article explores shared epistemic agency between humans and generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), emphasizing the need to foster active human epistemic agency through adaptive epistemic stances. We propose a framework incorporating epistemic stances in interactions with GenAI, drawing on Tsai's (2004) work to explore the…

In this article, the author animates a different kind of telling and knowing for critical scholarship. Recognizing an unknowable reality through a journey to a mythical past, the author imagines an "ontology of the serpent," a radical interdisciplinary, incantation for the future. This sorcerous evocation re-animates ancient mythical…

Although many studies in recent years have examined the use of gamification as a motivational strategy in education, evidence regarding its effects on intrinsic motivation is inconsistent. To make the case for or against the adoption of gamification in education, this study examines its effects on students' intrinsic motivation and the underlying…

Inhibition and Working Memory (WM) are crucial predictors of everyday life autonomies in people with Down Syndrome (DS). We aimed to investigate the possible relationship between different levels of autonomy, inhibitory sub-components and WM in people with DS. Twenty-two adolescents and adults with DS were enrolled in the study and were assessed…

Student agency is a key feature in feedback practices. Student feedback agency is generally defined as students' active engagement in the feedback process. Its conceptualisation has evolved from individualistic views, through unidirectional structure-agency perspectives, to more socially oriented approaches. However, this commentary argues that…

Although widely accepted to be the capacity to exercise control in one's learning, there remains confusion about what exactly this means. Failure to reconcile contradictions has left the field resigned to pluralism, describing 'versions' of learner autonomy according to divergent theoretical orientations. However, each version is incomplete,…

This article uses different career development theories as lenses to analyse the cases of four young adults who struggle to build sustainable careers and, vice versa, explores the contribution of each theory to understanding career agency as it does or does not manifest within the cases. A key element of this study is incorporating Vygotsky's…

How to secure a sustainable future is currently one of the key challenges across society. Bandura's theory of human agency provides important insights into this question by recognising the role of individual, proxy and collective agency in initiating action and change. In this article, we conceptualise sustainability agency and discuss…

Children and young people (henceforth referred to as young people) are one of the groups most affected by climate change and are at the forefront of climate action. Yet, there is scarce evidence on how young people navigate the challenges presented by climate change using their personal strengths and the resources accessible to them. This study…