“If students don't find school to be engaging, empowering and interesting, then they are not interested in performing.”

Students are not mindless bodies of flesh, they need to be consciously involved in their education. They are required to be heard and heard aloud because it is in their hands the future lies.

In these competitive times, it’s a must for every student out there to shine and be able to speak their minds and opinions out in the world. Making the students independent and adept at 21-century skills is the need of the hour.

This whole concept of recognizing the students’ voices and making them a powerful instrument to bring about a change in the world is based on the idea of student agency.

What is Student Agency?

Student agency is an approach where students are allowed to set their own goals, plan the strategy and execute them in their own fashion. This approach pushes the students to be proactive and independent rather than being spoon-fed and coddled. Making their own decisions can turn voiceless students into powerful individuals skilled at present-day competencies.

Fundamentals of student agency

Student agency stands on three basic fundamentals: Voice, Choice, and Ownership. These are the 3 pillars student agency is built on.

Voice 

Making students aware of their voices and opinions, and also respecting their suggestions.

Eg- Taking inputs from students on organizing an all-day charity event.

Check out: Helping your Child Express Themselves

Choice

Delegating the power to students to reflect over and make the best choice.

Eg- Giving them the right to choose the project of their interest under a broad concept.

Ownership

Providing students the brushes to design their own learning goals, while supporting them throughout the execution part. 

Eg- Handing students the charge to form an all-student body specifically to resolve issues among other students.

Benefits of student agency

Student agency is a wonderful concept that can give students a sense of autonomy that would certainly transform them into bright individuals who can survive in this tough world. Some of the benefits of this are as follows:

• It strengthens student and mentor relations as they collaborate to create new learning assignments.
• Students transform into visionaries, setting their own learning goals which they can monitor to perform better in the future.
• Students turn into logical thinkers, inventing new things by the means of creativity.
• This approach is beneficial in leveling up a student's overall self-worth and self-esteem.

UNICOSMOS is one such school that works around the concept of student agency and inculcates it in its curriculum. Here they recognize the importance of student agency by providing autonomy to the students and ultimately producing future leaders.

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Also read: What is the Meaning of an "International School" in India?