1 Learning as a dynamic, participatory process

Educators and learners face continually changing educational structures, resources, technologies and differing ideas about what it means to be literate. There is a complex interaction between the agency of learners and the structures that shape their educational settings and experiences. In this course, we use the term ‘agency’ to mean all people’s inherent capacity to engage, interpret and make choices within their particular social world and lived experiences. There are tensions between agency and structure, since they are social arrangements which can increase as well as limit the opportunities of learners to participate in learning situations and the world around them, particularly where it relates to issues of literacy.

In this course, you will explore learners’ ability to engage with, understand and produce text in order to participate in, negotiate and understand their social worlds. This requires recognising and placing an emphasis on the learners’ involvement with literacy as a dynamic and participatory process of engagement. This viewpoint underpins what we mean by ‘inclusive practice’ and its relationship to literacy and social justice issues.