Agency, learning and professional practice – CRADLE Seminar Series
31 March 2020
An enthusiastic audience joined us for our first entirely online CRADLE seminar, as A/Prof. Nick Hopwood (UTS) explored questions and concepts of agency in the context of professional practices. Here, Chad Gladovic (CRADLE PhD researcher into work-integrated assessment) reflects on Nick’s thought-provoking seminar.
In this first fully online CRADLE seminar, Nick took us to a not new but not fully discovered land of agency, learning and professional practice. We all started by reflecting on our professional practice, how we shift from the status quo, and how we respond to a new and rapidly changing professional environment. An excellent example of this rapidly changing environment was the fact that this was the first CRADLE seminar conducted entirely online, with some new challenges but at the same time with many other opportunities.
We started our exploration by searching for an answer to the question, ‘why agency?’ Agency empowers us to make changes at the right time and for the right reasons. Agency equips us with the power to act and enables us to measure effective solutions within our professional environment. At the same time, the focus should be on the transformation that is possible, with less emphasis on theoretical concepts. In other words, the theoretical perspective is necessary, but the aim is to be more aware of empirical data that evidence some crucial changes.
Nick provided a number of case studies and took us to some of his previous work. This early work on agency offers some evidence of how mediators of agency are not neutral as they have social, historical and cultural origins. This study outlined that relationships were the object of agentic actions. Such a relationship could be activated to advance work and enrich the professional environment.
Another case study presented was about agency co-produced between professionals and families. The agency in this case study was evident in the concept of handover and the problem of professionals working in partnership with families. The solution was provided by relational agency, identifying what works for the family in relation to their goals. Furthermore, agency arose through handover, not only from the perspective what happened but also defining a suitable strategy of what to do next.
The third case study presented was about double stimulation. In this case study, the term ‘double stimulation’ refers to everyday practices used by people in everyday life to undertake difficult actions. The study indicated that people (and in this case parents) do not lack only specific skills or confidence, but also specific motives to start thinking differently about their relationship with their children.
From my perspective, the highlight of the seminar centred around professional agency and how to implement agency in professional practice, when the knowledge we are working with is unstable, uncertain, incomplete and fragile. This is so evident in the field of professional learning and development, as needs for change and opportunity to change occurs regularly. It is imperative to outline that agency is not reserved for a particular moment of change, but rather should be seen as something that is required from professionals from the moment they engage in complex and continuous processes. It appears that agency is connected with professionals in a way that enables them to recognise what is demanded from them, especially when such demands are non-routine. The view of agency within this context is not one of individual possession; rather, it is evident between person and practice and individual and collective.
Agentic actions must have direction and can reach individuals, social development, and within and across different planes. When searching for agency, we should look for tools used, changes within planes, and for ‘small’ things such as mode of interactions and everyday practices. However, big challenges still exist, mainly in how we understand the nature of professional practice and expertise and the role of professionals in addressing social challenges.
In conclusion, within all walks of life, agency is about involvement and using or building capabilities to change the environment. Within the educational sector, agency is about helping educators and learners with how to think and to be in control of their actions. This is also closely linked to the individual and mutual responsibilities that we all hold as members of society.
For more of Nick’s research, follow @NHopUTS on Twitter. You can also follow Chad @elementumc.
