Australian Journal of Teacher Education - Dimensions of Agency in New Generation Learning Spaces - Developing Assessment Capability - Article 1

Oct 15, 2026

In new generation schooling contexts, interaction among human activity, space, and material objects co-produces spatialised practices that evolve through fluid redesign of learning spaces. Dynamic socio-material practices support negotiated development of curriculum, pedagogy, and assessment, linking spatialised practice with student agency. In Aotearoa/New Zealand, national policy urges schools to move toward redesigned learning spaces and requires leaders to develop assessment capability in step with facility redesign.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages18

Reading Time45 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Learning spaces and spatialised pedagogy

Assessment capability and learner agency

Socio-material dimensions of agency

Australian Journal of Teacher Education | Volume 44 | Issue 7 | Article 1 | | --- | --- | | 2019
Dimensions of Agency in New Generation Learning Spaces: Developing Assessment Capability
Jennifer Charteris
Univeristy of New England, Armidale, Australia, [jcharte5@une.edu.au](jcharte5@une.edu.au)
Dianne Smardon
Univeristy of New England, Armidale, Australia, [diannesmardon@gmail.com](diannesmardon@gmail.com) | | Recommended Citation Charteris, J., & Smardon, D. (2019). Dimensions of Agency in New Generation Learning Spaces: Developing Assessment Capability. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 44 (7). Retrieved from [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol44/iss7/1](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol44/iss7/1) This Journal Article is posted at Research Online. [https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol44/iss7/1](https://ro.ecu.edu.au/ajte/vol44/iss7/1) Australian Journal of Teacher Education Dimensions of Agency in Flexible Learning Spaces: Developing Assessment Capability Jennifer Charteris Dianne Smardon University of New England Abstract: In new generation schooling contexts, the interaction of human activity, space, and objects, co-produce spatialised practices. There is the fluid use and continuous re-design of learning spaces, where dynamic socio-material practices support the ongoing and negotiated development of curriculum, pedagogy and assessment. Links are forged in this article between spatialised practice and student agency. In Aotearoa/New Zealand there is a national policy impetus for all schools to move towards re-designed learning spaces. School leaders are challenged with a mandate to lead pedagogic change to develop assessment capability, in alignment with the redesign of education facilities. Informed by theories of space, the case study research investigates how school leaders conceptualise student agency within flexible learning spaces. School leader interview data are used to generate dimensions of socio-material agency with consideration given to practice. Assessment practices in flexible learning spaces can enable ‘dialogic’, ‘curriculum’, and ‘spatial’ dimensions of agency. Pedagogical practices that support agency inflexible learning spaces are a focal area for ongoing investigation. Keywords: innovative learning environments, new generation learning spaces, student agency, socio-material, flexible learning spaces. Introduction In recent years, there has been significant investment in the educational infrastructure of universities, colleges and schools, where consideration has been given to the spaces in which learning occurs (Mulcahy, 2015). In keeping with international moves to leverage economic advantage through mechanisms of education, schools across Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) countries have altered architecturally designed and spatial arrangements, sometimes quite significantly (OECD , 2013). Transformative shifts to develop new generation flexible learning spaces in schools (FLS)(Imms, Cleveland & Fisher, 2016), coupled with notions ofthe active 21st century learner (Benade, 2015), have resulted in student agency emerging as a critical aspect of schooling. It is timely to consider assessment practices that enable student agency in FLS. Consideration of learning spaces has led to interest in spatialised pedagogical practice (Mulcahy, Cleveland & Aberton, 2015). Agency, and the capacity to be assessment capable, is a key dimension of spatialised pedagogy in FLS. According to Absolum (2006),“[a]“capability has an internal structure that includes knowledge, cognitive skills, practical skills, Vol 44, 7, July 2019 1 Australian Journal of Teacher Education attitudes, emotions, values, ethics and motivation”(p. 22). All of these elements conjoin when students develop acumen in participating in their own and others assessment. There is a growing corpus of literature on teacher assessment capabili

FAQs

What relationship does the article propose between learning spaces and student agency?

The article argues that evolving educational spaces shape agency as a socio-material phenomenon, produced through spatialised practices in schools.

How does the study investigate assessment capability in flexible learning spaces?

It uses case study research and school leader interviews to generate dimensions of socio-material agency and examine assessment practices that enable dialogic, curriculum, and spatial dimensions of agency.

Why are school leaders challenged in the context of Aotearoa/New Zealand policy?

National policy impetus requires schools to move toward redesigned learning spaces, which creates a mandate for leaders to lead pedagogic change and develop assessment capability aligned with that redesign.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by 4398046744996