While abstract knowledge and the capacity for abstract thought is seen by many as a means by which people escape the limitations of the context into which they are born, there are question marks over how far academic knowledge alone can allow young people to exercise agency. Without relationships or competence in deploying knowledge usefully, young people will not be able to act to the benefit of themselves or of others – and these relationships and abilities are not evenly distributed throughout society.

Initiatives such as the RSA’s Opening Minds, among many others, seek to teach competences (or skills) looking at what young people might need to be able to do to effectively apply the knowledge they gain at school. By bringing such capabilities into the curriculum itself, both to demonstrate the relevance of the knowledge being imparted, and to develop young people’s capacity to use that knowledge, these initiatives seek to give all young people the opportunity to shape their worlds.

However, important critiques of these discourses emphasise the dangers of an education that seeks to form personalities and identities in order to create perfect citizens and economic operatives. By suggesting that young people must use what is learned at school in a certain way, for certain ends (sustainability for example), the curriculum could become an agent that denies young people real freedom for self determination and creative thought.

How do we move beyond this impasse? How do we equip young people to exercise agency without determining how that agency should be used and to what end? What does a curriculum that is designed explicitly with young peoples’ agency in mind look like?

Richard Demby, Citizenship Education Trainer & Consultant; Youth Citizenship Commissioner
Dr David Guile, Reader in Lifelong Learning, IOE
Dr Nick Lee, Institute of Education, University of Warwick
Professor Gert Biesta, Professor of Education and Director of Research at The Stirling Institute of Education

To create a space for free and productive discussion, these seminars are being attended by invited experts in their relevant fields. In coming weeks we’ll be publishing some of the conclusions for wider discussion.

RSA Education Seminars Report by by Professor Harry Torrance and Professor Maggie MacLure

For more information about this seminar contact Louise Thomas.