No more colouring outside the lines? Exploring young people’s navigational agency in education

Abstract

This article highlights the inequality in the Flemish education system, which disproportionately affects youngsters with low socioeconomic status. This inequality is attributed to the human capital approach characterising current educational policies, putting emphasis on educational outcomes. This results in education that homogenises and limits acceptable student behaviour and in which deviations from the norm are met with exclusionary and punitive approaches, consequently pushing vulnerable youngsters with a differing cultural capital out of education. Drawing on the capability approach, this article argues the importance of navigational agency in education, investigating the space students have to enter and exit education, resolving conflicts between education and other social practices, and reforming education by voicing their opinions. By analysing 66 Flemish secondary school policies, it is concluded that young people's navigational agency is limited in the current educational landscape. Furthermore, most school policies lack inner consistency, highlighting the fact that there is no coherent pedagogical vision within, which raises questions about how thought through these policies really are.

Shaping Physical Activity through Facilitating Student Agency in Secondary Schools in the Netherlands

“…In that case, the school could benefit from integrating such outcomes explicitly in its policy, pedagogical approaches and infrastructural choices. This concurs with findings of a broader study into students’ general navigational agency in secondary education in Flanders, indicating that navigational agency is limited due to the lack of inner consistency of policy documents with no coherent pedagogical vision [ 43 ]. If PA choice options are available without specifically aiming for student agency or what they deem meaningful, students might still develop their agency.…”

“…Secondly, how schools address diversity in characteristics of students such as gender, ethnicity or socio-economic background was not accounted for in our study. Other research shows that school PA-related practices may include elements perceived differently by students with different personal characteristics, such as experiencing inequalities in obtaining recognition in sports and unequal opportunities, resources and support [ 43 , 51 , 52 ]. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume these characteristics influence students’ development of PA-related agency.…”