Agency, as defined by Steve Hargadon, is "the ability to choose and act for oneself" and represents what he considers "both the bedrock principle and our highest aspiration for how we should treat others in a democratic and free society." In Hargadon's educational philosophy, agency serves as the foundational concept that should guide all educational approaches and reforms.

Agency as Educational Foundation

According to Hargadon, the ultimate goal of education should be to develop the ability for students to take responsibility for their own lives and become increasingly self-directed and productive, first for their own benefit and then for the benefit of society as a whole. This perspective positions student agency not merely as a pedagogical tool, but as the central organizing principle around which all educational decisions should revolve.

Hargadon argues that this focus on agency stands in direct opposition to prevailing educational approaches. He contends that systems of control and forced compliance, rather than agency, are tempting shortcuts that have unfortunately become the basis of many of our prominent educational philosophies. This critique suggests that current educational systems fundamentally undermine their own stated purposes by prioritizing compliance over the development of independent decision-making capabilities.

Agency and Democratic Society

Hargadon explicitly connects educational agency to broader democratic principles. He asserts that active individual participation in decisions that affect us is a right, is a fulfillment of our individual capabilities, and is a protection against unjust rule. This connection extends his argument beyond educational theory into political philosophy, suggesting that schools serve as training grounds for democratic participation.

He draws a direct parallel between democratic governance and educational practice, arguing that our narrative for governance is democratic participation, and describes a process of open and engaged decision-making at every level of society. Hargadon contends that our narrative for education should be the same: that participation, self-direction, and active engagement are more important than mandated curricula, and they should be taught and nourished.

The Relationship Between Agency and Learning

Central to Hargadon's framework is the belief that learning is a form of personal and community power, and that there is a direct connection between independent thinking and the health of a free society. This positions agency not just as a means to better learning outcomes, but as essential to maintaining democratic institutions and social health.

Hargadon advocates that modeling learning, rather than compulsion, should be the primary form of learning influence. This approach suggests that agency develops through observation and choice rather than through mandated compliance, aligning with his broader critique of control-based educational systems.

Agency and Educational Ownership

A key component of Hargadon's agency-centered philosophy concerns who controls educational decisions. He argues that education should not be something that we allow to be owned, controlled, or mandated by any particular group, for as such it becomes a form of power and a means of enforcing compliance and removing agency from others.

Instead, Hargadon proposes that education, like democracy, should be seen as a process involving the general public at all levels, and not seen as an dictated outcome. This perspective challenges traditional hierarchical approaches to educational governance and policy-making.

Cultural and Individual Implications

Hargadon's concept of agency extends beyond individual student empowerment to encompass broader cultural change. He argues that we must re-cast [education] instead as a process of cultural dialog and of individual engagement, and we must each look for ways and means to hold these discussions at the most local of levels.

This approach requires what Hargadon describes as a fundamental shift in discourse: We must stop discussing educational policy and start discussing learning in a way that recognizes the importance of individuals learning about learning for themselves, not because we tell them to. He contends that no one owns the decision-making for another individual or group, and that to accept someone else's educational policy decisions for them is an inappropriate abdication of basic human rights.

Agency as Protection Against Educational Harm

Hargadon's emphasis on agency emerges partly from his concern about current educational systems' negative effects. He observes that schools tell huge numbers of children and their parents that they are "defective" or failures because they aren't succeeding based on a relatively narrow set measures used by schools. Agency-based education offers an alternative that respects every child's unique inherent worth and value.

Through his framework, agency serves both as an educational goal and as a protective mechanism against what he sees as the harmful effects of compliance-based, standardized educational approaches that undermine student self-direction and democratic participation.