A scoping review of research on student agency in secondary education

Abstract

Student agency is a construct of growing interest for researchers wishing to better understand and foster students' active participation in their school life. The purpose of this scoping review was to analyse quantitative and qualitative studies carried out in secondary education contexts, for exploring the studies' main characteristics and methodologies, student agency's definitions and the variables associated with student agency. We searched and selected studies on student agency published in two databases (Scopus and PsycINFO) following the PRISMA‐ScR guidelines. To address our purpose, we conducted a thematic analysis of student agency definitions and a narrative analysis of the main characteristics, methodologies and correlates of student agency. The main review's findings showed that quantitative studies relied primarily on students' perspectives while qualitative studies more often included both students and teachers' voices. Coherently, in defining student agency, quantitative studies focused primarily on its individual, active and transformative components, whereas qualitative studies addressed its dynamic and interactive nature. The results' discussion provides an overview of the state of the art in the field and points to the most relevant gaps that future research needs to address. Rationale for this study: This study addresses the lack of a comprehensive synthesis of how student agency is defined, measured, and studied in empirical research conducted in secondary education contexts. Why the new findings matter: The findings offer conceptual and methodological insights and highlight gaps between how student agency is theoretically defined and how it is empirically investigated. Implications for educational researchers and policy makers: For practitioners and policy‐makers, the findings underscore the importance of instructional practices, curriculum design and teacher beliefs in fostering student agency. For researchers, the review points to the need for multi‐informant rigorous measures, and for integrative conceptual approaches able to capture the individual, relational and contextual nature of student agency.