Your epic learning journey · Stop 7 of 10 · Explore Agency
Field Journal · Agency Quest
Agency is not a reward for good behaviour. It is the starting point. Choose the lens that speaks most urgently to where you are right now.
Choose Your Lens
Select the lens that speaks most urgently to where you are. You can return and explore the others whenever you are ready.
You are in control
Continue exploring different types of agency by choosing a lens above. Or, when you are ready, go back to your guide or move forward into Roles.
Mission 1 · Watch
Learner Agency · Heart
Before a learner can advocate, reflect, or lead, they need to believe they are capable. This mission begins with that belief. Lu shares a personal story about the moment she understood what it truly costs a learner to be voiceless, and what becomes possible when that changes.
Pause here
Think of a learner in your classroom right now who has more to offer than the current conditions allow. What is getting in the way?
Mission 2 · Explore
Every learner takes in ideas differently. Choose the format that works best for you right now.
Listen C9 · 13 min
Agency Requires Our Unique Voice
What happens when a learner's voice is extinguished before it is ever heard? A reflection on language, identity, and what voice really means in a classroom.
C10 · 13 min
Agency Thrives When There is Choice
Choice is not simply giving students options. Lu unpacks the difference between managed choice and genuine learner-driven decision making.
Read Blog post
Agency Deepens When We Take Ownership
Ownership is the hardest part of agency to teach because it is a state of being, not a task. This post explores what it actually looks like in practice.
Blog post
Agency and Self-Assessment
What does it look like when a learner can evaluate their own choices honestly? A post on the moment choice becomes genuine self-direction.
Read a book Ellen Galinsky
Mind in the Making
Seven essential life skills every child needs. Galinsky's research shows what learners are truly capable of when the conditions are right. Find a quote that surprises you.
Kath Murdoch
Getting Personal with Inquiry Learning
What happens when learners pursue their own questions, passions, and interests at school? Murdoch makes the case for trusting learners completely. Already explored in podcast episodes C91 to C100.
Pause here
What did you find that you were not expecting? One idea. One sentence. Hold it before you move on.
Mission 3 · Reflect
Choose one way to share your thinking. There is no right format. There is only the one that feels most honest to you right now.
Write
Open a journal, physical or digital, and write without editing. What does agency feel like from the learner's seat in your classroom?
Sketch
Draw or sketchnote your thinking. What does a learner with genuine agency look like? What conditions surround them?
Discuss
Find a colleague and spend ten minutes on this: what is the one thing we could stop doing tomorrow that would give learners more agency?
Record
Record a short video response, two to three minutes, and share it in the community space below. Lu has shared hers first to show you what this looks like.
Mission 4 · Share
This is a shared space for people doing this work. Video responses are visible to others in this community. They are not public, not searchable, and not accessible to anyone who has not entered this space with the same intention you have.
Lu has shared her own reflection first. You are not performing. You are contributing to something being built together.
When you are ready to enter the community space, reveal the password below. Share it only with people you are inviting into this work.
Field Mission
Your mission before the next quest
Choose one moment this week to hand a genuine decision to a learner, one that is truly open, not already decided for you.
Notice what happens. Not what you planned. What actually happened. Bring that back to the community space above. One sentence is enough.
When you return, explore a different lens or continue your journey.
Mission 1 · Watch
Teacher Agency · Head
A teacher who does not know themselves cannot truly see their learners. Lu shares what it means to think like a pirate: to have the courage to make learning more authentic even when the system makes it easier not to.
Pause here
Think of a time you made a bold choice for your learners even when it was not the easiest path. What gave you the courage to do it?
Mission 2 · Explore
Each resource approaches teacher agency from a different angle. Choose the one that meets you where you are right now.
Listen C13 · 14 min
Start Agency with 5 Easy Steps
Structure, relationships, collaboration, resources, environment. Five things you can shift right now to begin releasing control without losing direction.
C140 · 36 min
Specialist Teachers: Bringing About Agency
What does teacher agency look like for specialists and supporting teachers? A deeper conversation about professional autonomy across all roles.
Read Blog post
Using Agency Daily
A practical guide for becoming a more agentic teacher, with classroom strategies and a visual walk-through drawn from real experience.
Blog post
The Courage to Teach in Practice
What does Palmer's argument actually look like on a Tuesday afternoon in your classroom? A post on identity, integrity, and the choice to teach from your truest self.
Read a book Parker Palmer
The Courage to Teach
Good teaching comes from the identity and integrity of the teacher. Find a passage that names something you have felt but never quite said out loud.
Carol Dweck
Mindset
This is not about praising effort. This is about whether you believe your own professional practice can fundamentally change. Find a quote that challenges a belief you hold about yourself as a teacher.
Pause here
What is one belief you hold about your own role as a teacher that might be limiting the agency of your learners? Name it honestly before moving on.
Mission 3 · Reflect
Choose one format. The goal is not a polished answer. The goal is an honest one.
Write
Complete this sentence in as many ways as you can: a teacher with genuine agency is someone who...
Sketch
Sketch the conditions a teacher needs to do their best work. What is present? What is absent? What keeps getting in the way?
Discuss
Ask a trusted colleague: do you feel like you have genuine professional agency in your school right now? Listen more than you speak.
Record
Record a two to three minute video and share it in the community space below. Lu has gone first so you know what this looks like.
Mission 4 · Share
This is a protected space for educators doing this work. Responses are visible to others who have entered with the same purpose. They are not public and not searchable beyond this community.
You are not performing. You are contributing to something being built together.
When you are ready, reveal the password below. Share it only with people you are genuinely inviting into this work.
Field Mission
Your mission before the next quest
This week, make one professional decision based entirely on what your learners need, not on what is easiest or most expected.
Notice the moment you feel the pull to default to the safe choice. Notice what you do next. Bring that back to the community space above. One sentence is enough.
When you return, explore a different lens or continue your journey.
Mission 1 · Read
School Agency · Hands
Individual teachers can create conditions for agency inside their classrooms. Schools either make that possible for everyone or reserve it for a few. This mission asks you to look honestly at the structures around you, not to judge them, but to see them clearly for the first time.
Read the following and sit with what surfaces.
Consider this
Every school has two sets of values. The ones written in the strategic plan. The ones that drive what actually happens when resources are tight, when a difficult decision has to be made, or when a learner does not fit the expected profile. Which set of values does your school actually operate from?
Pause here
Think of one structural decision in your school that directly affects whether learners can exercise agency. Who made that decision? Who was affected by it? Who was not in the room?
Mission 2 · Explore
Each resource looks at school agency from a different angle. Choose the one that speaks most directly to your context right now.
Listen C12 · 10 min
Agency Can Go Deeper with the SDGs
What does it look like when agency connects to the largest challenges in the world? A classroom example that went further than anyone planned.
C29 · 24 min
Connecting Agency with International Mindedness
What happens when agency spreads beyond the classroom into the school community and the wider world? A conversation about structural change.
Read Blog post
When Schools Block Agency
What structural conditions make it harder for learners and teachers to own their learning? An honest look at what schools do, often without realising it.
Blog post
Designing Schools for Agency
What would a school look like if agency was the foundation, not an add-on? A post on what it means to design learning environments with every learner genuinely in mind.
Read a book Lee Ann Jung
Seen, Heard, and Valued
Every learner needs to be genuinely known, and that is a structural commitment, not an individual one. Find a quote that names something your school is still working on.
Brené Brown
Dare to Lead
School-level agency requires people in positions of influence to lead courageously. Brown's argument: daring leadership is a skill set, not a personality trait. Find a quote that names the kind of leadership your school needs.
Pause here
What is one thing your school currently does that makes agency harder for learners or teachers? Name it plainly. You do not need to solve it yet.
Mission 3 · Reflect
This lens asks the hardest questions. Choose the format that lets you be most honest.
Write
Write about a time a school, a policy, a structure, a decision made above you, made it harder to do right by a learner. What did you do? What do you wish you had done?
Sketch
Map the structures that surround a learner in your school. Which ones support their agency? Which ones quietly remove it?
Discuss
Find one person in your school who has influence over a structural decision. Ask them: what would have to change for every learner here to have genuine agency?
Record
Record a two to three minute video and share it in the community space below. This space is protected. You are safe to be honest here.
Mission 4 · Share
This space holds some of the most honest conversations in this entire journey. Responses are visible to others who have entered with the same intention. They are not public, not searchable, and not accessible to anyone outside this community.
Bring your honesty. Bring your questions. Bring what you are still trying to work out.
When you are ready, reveal the password below. Share it only with people you trust to hold this space with care.
Field Mission
Your mission before the next quest
Identify one structural condition in your school that limits agency for learners or teachers. Bring it to one conversation with someone who has the power to change it.
You do not need to fix it this week. You need to name it out loud to the right person. Notice what happens when you do. Bring that back to the community space above.
You have completed the Agency Quest. What feels right for you right now?