Abstract
This article engages critically with the concept of agency in infant and toddler educational discourse. It is argued that agency, when conceptualised with emphasis on individuality and the autonomous self, poses a conceptual dead end for those who are not-yet-in-language, such as babies and toddlers. In considering agency as an aspect of becoming that is inherent in all matter, the article seeks to explore new pathways for conceptualising agency in infant and toddler education. Methodologically, the article aims to generate complex questions and, following Nigel Thrift s call, wild ideas , rather than solutions by addressing the relationship between discourse and matter to open up new spaces for thinking and doing agency in education, for babies and toddlers and beyond.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 920 - 931 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education |
Volume | 36 |
Issue number | 6 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 2015 |