Browsing by Author "Muotka, Jenni"

Aim. During the last decade or so, there has been a lot of discussion about agency as a part of children’s lives in and out of school. Still, the definition of agency remains ambiguous, even contradictory; there is no univocal way to define the phenomenon. One way to conceptualise agency is to view it as an individual’s ability to influence their own life by changing their living conditions and/or behavioural patterns (Rainio, 2010, s. 5). Rainio has even identified dialectical dimensions in agency. The aim of this study is to describe the different ways in which agency has been conceptualised in recent studies conducted in schools. What do these definitions look like from a dialectical point of view? Do the studies align with Rainio’s views or present alternatives? Methodology. Systematic literature review as well as rational reconstruction was utilised as the method of research in this study. Three different databases were used to collect the material. Here, the most important selection criteria were that the study was dealing with agency in school and that it was published after the year 2008. In the end, the data consisted of ten articles. In the analysis, the first research question was answered based on the material. The second question, however, was approached by re-examining the definitions found in the studies in light of Rainio’s theory of dialectics. Results and conclusion. The findings of this study support the preconception that the conceptualisations of agency are diverse. They are also all insufficient to some extent; not one of them managed to take into consideration all of the dimensions of agency. However as many as seven conceptualisations did depict agency as multidimensional phenomenon. It just takes a lot of familiarity with issue and understanding of the dimensions to notice this.