Paths towards transformative agency - Creating repertoires for socio-educational change

A key issue in understanding the transformation and future orientations of education and learning is how we engage students in processes of learning and development and how this is embedded within the communities they belong to. We need to move beyond aspects of socio-cognitive and emotional approac...

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Main Authors: Ola Erstad, Raquel Miño-Puigcercós, Pablo Rivera-Vargas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2025-05-01
Series:Acta Psychologica
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825002070
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author Ola Erstad
Raquel Miño-Puigcercós
Pablo Rivera-Vargas
author_facet Ola Erstad
Raquel Miño-Puigcercós
Pablo Rivera-Vargas
author_sort Ola Erstad
collection DOAJ
description A key issue in understanding the transformation and future orientations of education and learning is how we engage students in processes of learning and development and how this is embedded within the communities they belong to. We need to move beyond aspects of socio-cognitive and emotional approaches to learning and development, towards what has been called transformative agency. The role of educational psychology in understanding these developments is especially important since it raises fundamental aspects of the human condition in times of dramatic change and the experiences of young people. Our aim in this article is to explore key aspects of the term transformative agency as repertoires for social change across institutions of formal education and everyday practices of students. We initially explored and identified a set of emerging initiatives from around the world and selected four relevant cases for closer analysis. Our research questions focus on: how transformative agency is defined and emerge in four projects from Northern Europe, Southern Africa, Brazil and Australia; which are the purposes and practices in engaging students to enhance transformative agency in different sociocultural contexts; and which are the socio-educational implications in the four analysed initiatives to foster transformative agency. These emerging initiatives all have in common that they show how students are involved in learning processes in ways of opening up schools to the wider communities. To conclude, we show both the possibilities, and constraints and challenges encountered by such bottom-up initiatives.
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spelling doaj-art-49069ebb81844846b06e2a8c652da36b2025-08-20T03:10:25ZengElsevierActa Psychologica0001-69182025-05-0125510489410.1016/j.actpsy.2025.104894Paths towards transformative agency - Creating repertoires for socio-educational changeOla Erstad0Raquel Miño-Puigcercós1Pablo Rivera-Vargas2Faculty of Education, University of Oslo, Postboks 1161 Blindern, 0318 Oslo, NorwayFaculty of Education, University of Barcelona, Edifici Llevant: passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, Spain; Corresponding author at: Department of Didactics and Educational Organisation, Faculty of Education, University of Barcelona, Passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, Edifici Llevant, 08035 Barcelona, Spain.Faculty of Education, University of Barcelona, Edifici Llevant: passeig de la Vall d'Hebron, 171, 08035 Barcelona, SpainA key issue in understanding the transformation and future orientations of education and learning is how we engage students in processes of learning and development and how this is embedded within the communities they belong to. We need to move beyond aspects of socio-cognitive and emotional approaches to learning and development, towards what has been called transformative agency. The role of educational psychology in understanding these developments is especially important since it raises fundamental aspects of the human condition in times of dramatic change and the experiences of young people. Our aim in this article is to explore key aspects of the term transformative agency as repertoires for social change across institutions of formal education and everyday practices of students. We initially explored and identified a set of emerging initiatives from around the world and selected four relevant cases for closer analysis. Our research questions focus on: how transformative agency is defined and emerge in four projects from Northern Europe, Southern Africa, Brazil and Australia; which are the purposes and practices in engaging students to enhance transformative agency in different sociocultural contexts; and which are the socio-educational implications in the four analysed initiatives to foster transformative agency. These emerging initiatives all have in common that they show how students are involved in learning processes in ways of opening up schools to the wider communities. To conclude, we show both the possibilities, and constraints and challenges encountered by such bottom-up initiatives.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825002070EducationTransformative agencyPossible futuresSocial practices
spellingShingle Ola Erstad
Raquel Miño-Puigcercós
Pablo Rivera-Vargas
Paths towards transformative agency - Creating repertoires for socio-educational change
Acta Psychologica
Education
Transformative agency
Possible futures
Social practices
title Paths towards transformative agency - Creating repertoires for socio-educational change
title_full Paths towards transformative agency - Creating repertoires for socio-educational change
title_fullStr Paths towards transformative agency - Creating repertoires for socio-educational change
title_full_unstemmed Paths towards transformative agency - Creating repertoires for socio-educational change
title_short Paths towards transformative agency - Creating repertoires for socio-educational change
title_sort paths towards transformative agency creating repertoires for socio educational change
topic Education
Transformative agency
Possible futures
Social practices
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0001691825002070
work_keys_str_mv AT olaerstad pathstowardstransformativeagencycreatingrepertoiresforsocioeducationalchange
AT raquelminopuigcercos pathstowardstransformativeagencycreatingrepertoiresforsocioeducationalchange
AT pabloriveravargas pathstowardstransformativeagencycreatingrepertoiresforsocioeducationalchange