Student Wellbeing

Student Agency

We see Student Agency at Greenhills through students having opportunities to direct their learning, reflecting on their progress, and identifying the next steps in their learning. We believe that Student Agency is about giving kids the power to take control of their learning journey, making choices that suit their interests, strengths, and needs. We want our students to know where they are at in their learning and what their next steps are.

When students have agency, they develop important skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, and self-reflection, which not only helps them succeed in school but also prepares them for the future. We believe student agency is all about students making decisions and taking actions that help them learn and grow. Maybe they decide to ask lots of questions when something is confusing, or they choose a strategy to help them brainstorm, or a specific way to set up their work, these are all examples of Agency in learning.

Learning To Learn

To support our students in understanding how to learn, we have a dedicated 5 minute session focused on developing them as a learner. We believe that Student Agency skills can and need to be taught to allow our students to thrive in the classroom. Using the curriculum and evidence based approaches, we have developed some whole school focuses that are taught at all year levels. This term, the learning to learn focuses are focused around feedback;

Self feedback is focused on identifying when I am at in my learning using specific criteria and then identifying my next steps.

Peer to peer feedback is the giving and receiving of feedback from my peers using a specific criteria. Again identifying what has been achieved and the next steps in our learning.

Student to teacher feedback is the giving of feedback from the student to the teacher. This helps the teacher in knowing how the student is going in their learning, do they need further support and if the lesson is hitting the mark for the student.

Teacher to student feedback is the teacher giving feedback to the student about their progress. This is to inform the successes the student has had and the next steps in their learning.

How families can help at home:

The home school connection is crucial in building our students towards becoming lifelong learners. The following are some strategies you can use to support your child in developing their Student Agency;

• Talk to your child about what their learning goal is.
• Ask them what they are currently doing in the classroom to achieve their learning goal.
• Identify ways that you may be able to help them with their learning goals at home.
• Visit Seesaw to see their Continuous Assessment work and see the feedback the teacher has given. Provide your child with some feedback and identify some ways that you may be able to support them.

With students who demonstrate agency, our students can thrive, grow, and be on the path to becoming lifelong learners.

janine.hough@education.vic.gov.au                  bradley.ryan@education.vic.gov.au

Janine and Brad.