Young Children of Color’s Agency and Creativity as Pathways to Imagining New Visions and Futures

• In Event: Sustaining Agency Across Social Contexts: How Young Children and their Communities are Reclaiming Agency

Abstract

Purposes and Theoretical Framework
Education researchers need to engage in “learning to see” to look beyond deficit representations of marginalized communities and instead, to see their everyday resilience and strength (Gutiérrez et al., 2017). In this presentation, we examine how young children of color enacting their agency showcase their capabilities to disrupt deficit perspectives and racist ideas that surround their educational experiences (Author, 2021).


We share examples of children of color in three Pre-K classrooms (ESL, bilingual, and inclusion) to highlight agentic learning opportunities that happened throughout the day. We learned that most agentic learning took place during work time (centers). We draw on the conceptualization of agency and children’s capabilities (Adair, 2014; Authors, 2025) to center the practices of young children of color and their agency.

Methods and Data
Data was collected as part of the larger study, which aims to understand how agency in early childhood learning contexts is sustained and desired in a range of cultural communities. The data of this paper come from a public early childhood center, which used the Highscope curriculum, serving a predominantly Latine community in the Southwest. The researchers each engaged in four participant observations in three different classrooms and interviewed teachers, the principal, and community members of the center. Data collected in this study includes field notes, interview recordings, photos, short video clips, and full-day video clips.


Results
Children mostly exhibited agency during their work time, a Highscope core component that describes a time (60 minutes) children plan to spend in different interest areas within the classroom. Across the three classrooms, the children enacted their agency by choosing activities, initiating exploration, observing peers and adults, moving in the classroom without permission, and problem-solving together without adult directions. While enacting their agency, children showed curiosity and creativity using their bodies and classroom materials. For example, the sophistication and complexity of children’s play were observed when students adjusted their original plan to create a transportation system by moving furniture and materials, or a color sorting activity that took place in the carpet area while bringing in all types of colored objects from around the classroom. In both examples, teachers observed and relinquished control, allowing children to use their imagination to create activities, use their linguistic repertoires, and create stories that were engaging and meaningful to them.

Scholarly Significance of the Study
To re-envision the future of education, it is important to conduct educational research alongside marginalized students and communities, aiming to find solutions and equitable futures. Students of color often face inequitable learning experiences (e.g., rote learning, strict classroom routines), which ultimately limit their access to agentic learning (Early et al., 2010; Wright, 2021). The significance of this study lies in its focus on working alongside children and communities of color and highlighting the crucial role that teachers play in allowing and seeing these opportunities all while providing spaces and contexts for children to be their full selves.

Authors

• Sunmin Lee, Texas State University

• Kiyomi Sanchez-Suzuki Colegrove, Texas State University

• Amber T. Fowler, University of Texas at Austin