Automony

Well when I saw the opportunity to be on the Power Team to look at autonomy more, I jumped on to do this. I have been interested in this topic for a little while however I have to admit a bit unsure of what this truly means in today's schools. What does autonomy look like and how does this differ at different levels. I had a few questions about this word and so am glad I got to be on this team as I know that student choice is important however I wasn't too sure how to implement it.

We got given 'Amplify-Empowering students through voice, agency and leadership' to read. It looks at students with a strong sense of agency tend to

• work harder
• have a greater focus
• have more interest
• are less likely to give up
• are better at planning
• are more likely to choose challenging tasks
• set higher goals
• have improved concentration when facing difficulties

Autonomy is made up of

Student Voice- students having the power to influence change. For example, providing opportunities for students to collaborate and make decisions with adults around what and how they learn and how their learning is assessed. 

Student Agency- gives students the power to direct and take responsibility for their learning creating independent and self-regulating learners. 

Student leadership- A key thing to remember here is it not a small group of individuals. Student leadership includes listening to and being able to clarify the issues of the students they represent and advocating on their belief.

I think just learning the difference between these aspects has been my first step to understanding autonomy. We met as a group to discuss how this could look at the school and some interesting ideas popped up some would be easy to implement and others may, in all honesty, take some getting my head around. However, I am open to new ideas and after reading this article it states clearly the benefits of autonomy and I think we need to consider this to improve our children's education. We currently have some autonomy going on the school already and so the next step is to educate others and to go forth and make some more changes in the school that reflect more autonomy.