From recipients to contributors: reimagining curriculum for enhanced student agency

This article explores curriculum redesign to enhance student agency that is likely to lead to a change in students’ learning trajectories in a South African higher education context. It describes how one course was redesigned, enabling pre-service high-school teachers to actively shape their own educational journeys. Viewing types of agencies through the framework of social realism, the study analyses the curriculum via design research. Concurrently, student reflections on the course are analysed through thematic data analysis, revealing the emergence of various forms of agency. Results demonstrate a shift from students being recipients of knowledge to active contributors, leading to a transformation of their identities as novice researchers and future teachers.