Purpose: In response to threats to teacher autonomy and creativity by measurements of teacher quality through student performance on high-stakes test scores and standardised professional learning, this study aims to explore teacher collaborative research for opportunities for promotion of teacher agency. Design/methodology/approach: The authors…

The focus of this article is the inter-relationship between two canonical notions in contemporary education discourse: 'reflective practice' and 'student satisfaction' in the context of the marketisation of higher education across Europe and the concomitant emphasis on student autonomy and institutional competitiveness. Drawing on the work of Jan…

Using self-determination theory, this research explores the characteristics of the basic needs of autonomy, competence and relatedness at the Baden-Wuerttemberg Cooperative State University, one of the largest institutions for cooperative education in Germany. By comparing the results from two different academic majors and two academic years, the…

Doing the right thing at school involves moral reasoning about right and wrong that interplays with a sense of responsibility as children move towards being active citizens. In the current study, we investigated how 124 Australian children's understanding and reasoning about doing the right thing changed over the early years of primary school (age…

Summer camp programs provide distinct opportunities for positive youth development through caring relationships and opportunities to build skills. To examine the extent to which youths experience the 4-H Essential Elements through 4-H camp programs, we administered the National 4-H Camping Research Consortium's Camp Context Questionnaire to youths…

In this article, I address the relation between children's authentic identity development and homeschooling. I show the limitations of claims that homeschooling protects children's authenticity. I argue that the aim of homeschooling is the reproduction of parental beliefs and culture, which is inimical to the development of authentic children's…

The purpose of this article is to explore the concept of student agency when applied to learning across "The New Zealand Curriculum" (Ministry of Education, 2007). To explore agency the author presents and describes a range of teaching pedagogies that are based on principles of intrinsic motivation. The author describes, with examples,…

The potential for more egalitarian or democratic forms of engagements among people is accepted to be somehow actualised naturally within collaborative or cooperative forms of learning. There is an urgent need for a theoretical framework that does not limit social justice with access or participation, but focuses on the otherwise hidden ways in…

Background: Self-determination involves autonomy, agency, choice and control. This study investigated how these aspects of self-determination relate to engaging people with intellectual disability and complex support needs in setting goals and making plans. Method: Body mapping was used to understand the planning experiences of 30 adults with…

We tested the hypothesis of school satisfaction being an antecedent to social coping behaviors in early adolescents (N = 892) using a two-wave cross-lagged panel design. We also explored the possible bidirectional relations between school satisfaction and social coping behaviors. Four types of social coping behaviors in peer conflict contexts…

The philosopher Richard Rorty once remarked that the genre of philosophy writing is an extended conversation that can be traced to the dialogues of Plato. All the foundational questions of philosophy can be found in ancient philosophy texts. The subsequent history of philosophy is a dialectic progression on these questions. I argue that reading…

The present quantitative study investigated the relationship between willingness to communicate (WTC) and learner autonomy in an EFL context. In addition, it explored the probable effect of gender on the relationship between learner autonomy and WTC. Furthermore, it investigated whether WTC could predict learner autonomy. The data were collected…

When considering a school switch, it is imperative that the child be involved in the decision-making process. One study has shown that students who feel forced by their parents to attend a middle school magnet program instead of their assigned middle school showed greater dissatisfaction with school life than those who chose to attend the magnet…

Kindergarten teachers from different cultural backgrounds attribute various meanings to children's autonomy. There seems to be cultural differences in early childhood education curricula with regard to how a child's autonomy is described and how it is supported. This qualitative study asks: how do teachers narrate their perspective and pedagogical…

Agency has attracted considerable attention, especially of late. Nevertheless, perceptions of language learners as nonagentive persist. In this article the Douglas Fir Group's call for a transdisciplinary perspective is heeded in a Complex Dynamic Systems Theory's (CDST) conceptualization of agency. It is suggested that CDST maintains the…