Just as we are beginning to get our heads around 21st Century Skills, competencies, dispositions and soft skills, I have recently become interested in the concept of Civic Agency. Civic Agency is the capacity of citizens to work collaboratively across differences to address challenges, solve problems, and create common ground. As such, the development of Civic Agency could well be the central problem of the 21st century.

Confronted by climate change, ongoing wars, and widening inequality, most people feel powerless to do little more than complain. In the face of these rapid changes and the nature of today’s interconnected world, it is hard to argue against the claim that supporting young people to become capable and reflective civic agents is fundamental to the purpose of schooling.

How then, can we learn to do this well?

Project Zero’s Children Are Citizens provides a possible starting point. In a strengths view of children rather than the deficit model prevalent in schools, children are seen in terms of the resources and potential they bring, rather than what’s missing. Much of Project Zero’s work is based on the principles of the Reggio Emilia early childhood approach, where children are described as citizens of today, not just tomorrow. This Kid Nation post from Project Zero gives us some indication of the possibilities when children are seen as citizens, capable of making meaningful contributions.

What might pedagogies for supporting civic agency look like? How do students investigate civic issues? What are the complexities of gathering information in a networked age? How do students learn to talk across differences, imagine new possibilities, and cultivate skills to develop a social change agenda?

These are questions that I am hoping to be researching and wrestling with for the next few years.