It can be difficult to align with the present theoretical change in education from teacher-centered to student-centered learning especially in high-power distance cultures like Malaysia that are communal. This study aims to investigate the perceptions of students and lecturers regarding the psychosocial barriers to promoting self-directed and…

This qualitative multiple case study explored Saudi World Language English instructional approaches from a Positioning Theory perspective, focusing on empowering learner agency in tertiary-level education in Saudi Arabia. Using a combination of semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, researcher journals, and analysis of classroom…

The author, a fifth-grade teacher, describes how she reimagined the literary essay curriculum to amplify student identity, agency, and voice by creating a class podcast. Because of their similar structure and organization, teaching students literary analysis and interpretation through podcast writing offered entry into literary essays. The author…

Children are born learning machines who want to learn and can organize and manage their own learning. Unfortunately, today children have little choice over what they do in school and how and when they do it. Children prepared in this "other-determined" manner will be poorly equipped to navigate an adult world requiring that they act…

In this article, we engage in a discussion about how we came to Torres' Rights of the Learner (RotL) and how these ideas can transform the way we teach mathematics and the ways our students learn mathematics. This article serves to introduce teachers and teacher educators to the RotL and to remind ourselves that before one can rehumanize our…

The purpose of this article is to discuss student voice as a meaningful pedagogical practice in elementary physical education to promote student agency and learning. Four questions are answered: What is student voice? How can authentic student voice be accessed? How and where might student voice be enacted in practice? And, how can student voice…

The authors explain that the commonly held concept of project-based learning (PBL) as a student investigating a topic or creating something individually (a passion project) is only part of the PBL story. Projects in which students collaborate and do something to make a difference in their community are also a way to structure PBL and build agency.…

To spur agency and critical thinking, educators can take steps to position students as knowledge builders rather than just consumers. Drawing on Indigenous pedagogy and her own work on the value of "street data" in education, author and consultant Shane Safir discusses the importance of creating more space for student voice in…

Academic integrity concerns related to students' use of technology have renewed calls for teaching, assessment, and learning best practices, including those that involve and empower students. Empowerment is a benefit of developing students' assessment literacies, or how students contextually understand, plan, and undertake assessment and use…

The global COVID-19 pandemic pulled back the curtain on the growing need for greater student agency and student engagement. As we rethink the future of education in a post-pandemic world, learner agency must be at the center of learning designs and learning models so that we can support students anytime, anyplace, and at any pace. We must…

This article analyzes the Know Your Rights Camp's "Speaking Out Against the Violence of Policing and Oppression: A Political Education Curriculum" from the campaign founded by Colin Kaepernick. The article evaluates the curriculum with a multifaceted perspective, specifically, the approach to inform learners about their foundational…

Although often suffering from a lack of conceptual clarity and definition, the use of problem-based learning (PBL) as a pedagogical approach has become almost ubiquitous across many disciplines in higher education in recent years. As well as purported benefits for student learning, the empowerment of students through increased autonomy is…

Jeffrey Duncan-Andrade (2009) wrote that if failure to provide quality education continues, it will not be because we lack the know-how to effectively educate all children, it is because we lack the resolve to do it. As a steadfast leader of teaching and collaborating with children, Duncan-Andrade mentors hope in students and teachers alike. This…

In this article, the author braids storytelling with oral life history interviews, Chicana Feminisms, and portraiture. The piece centers the portrait of Ms. Sotomayor, a veteran elementary teacher, who through her stories shares with us pedagogies of pain, trust, autonomy, and empowerment. These glimpses of her life journey as a Nepantlera offer…

The article explores the landscape in higher education in which old binary divisions are officially denied yet have been reinvigorated through mix of conservative and neo-liberal policies. Efforts to resist such pressures can happen at different levels, including, in this case, module design and classroom practice. The rationale for such…