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Youth and child agency in and through education

Working to center young people, their voice, and agency in efforts to transform education research, policy, and systems.

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Children and youth are key to developing solutions that impact their lives, yet education systems often fail to center young people as agents of their own learning and exploration. This deepens crises of learning, (dis)engagement, and exclusion around the world.  

The Center for Universal Education at Brookings (CUE) envisions a world in which children and youth have a voice in their own learning and access to relevant, sustainable, and scalable education that will provide them with the skills to succeed in the world. This vision requires transforming education systems, starting by fundamentally rethinking the purpose of education and putting young people in the center.

CUE, through its initiatives that support student engagement and agency, works with actors across education ecosystems—including young people themselves—to better understand how to engage, strengthen, and promote the agency of children and youth.

Student engagement in learning

Youth in civic engagement and leadership

Youth voice in education research

Girl-centered methodology: Principles and practices for transformative research in marginalized contexts
Global Education Girl-centered methodology: Principles and practices for transformative research in marginalized contexts

Jennifer L. O’Donoghue, Christine Apiot Okudi, Ellen Chigwanda, Adefunke O. Ekine, Dasmine Kennedy, Joyce Kinyanjui, Pamhidzayi Berejena Mhongera, Sumbal Naveed, Mary Otieno, Jamila Razzaq, Atenea Rosado-Viurques, Nasrin Siddiqa, Tran Thi Ngoc Tran +8 more

June 30, 2025

Girls' agency in driving change

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We bring together diverse education actors—including youth, researchers, policymakers, and advocates—to enable, support, facilitate, and lead important conversations and catalyze movement and action on important and timely issues.