Pedagogy Students as Agents of Change: Initial Education as Support in Action and for Action

Abstract

We believe that progress toward equity can only be achieved through changes in the conception and practice of education that would involve dialogue and the adoption of a participatory approach by all stakeholders in the education system (Klees & Qargha, 2014). That is why we, as pedagogists, do not seek to define equity, but rather question our own role in advancing it in education. We rely on the premises that pedagogists can instigate change in education (Krnjaja et al., 2023) and that the focus should be redirected to pedagogists’ role in supporting changes in education and developing their professional practice in an ethical direction (Pavlović Breneselović, 2013). For individuals to develop as advocates for justice, their initial education must foster the critical analysis of their own practices, education, and society (Stančić, 2020). This means that pedagogists who initiate change need opportunities for action, reflection, and participation in their initial education. Research on student participation has highlighted the need for higher education institutions to continuously seek ways to enhance student participation in both academic and extracurricular activities (Weaver & Qi, 2005). What is a better way to examine the education of pedagogists than having them examine it with us? Studies have found that recognizing students as partners and granting them more opportunities for self-reflection during education can help increase their engagement and reinforce the continuity between their initial education and subsequent professional work (Cook Sather, 2007). Drawing on the core ideas of listening to students’ voices – treating their perspective as a form of raw knowledge and focusing on a change in which young individuals are in charge of the activity (Cook Sather, 2002; Cook Sather, 2006) – the main purpose of this paper is to examine students’ views on the importance and modes of their participation in changing the Serbian school system and society.