A Question We Must Ask Children More Often: "What Do You Want to Learn?"

• In Event: School Improvement Through Agency and Creative Strategies

Abstract

There is a general discontentment with the schooling system and a need to improve school experiences for students. Towards this end, student engagement has received much attention and several efforts are directed towards developing pedagogical approaches to improve student engagement. However, the efforts to improve student engagement overlook important student needs like interest, autonomy, and choice. In the current article, through several focus group discussions with 44 teachers from 28 countries around the world, we aim to explore how teachers account for student interests and needs in their classroom. By presenting the startling oversight of student agency in the existing teaching practices, we hope to inspire more teachers and educators to ask their students, “What do you want to learn?”

Authors

• Mahati Kopparla, University of Calgary

• Aditi Pathak, UNESCO