In the MOA framework, the trunk represents the offerings that adults control including the the choices, opportunities, and supports they provide to help children use their agency.
These offerings are not a checklist or a set of requirements. Instead, they are possibilities or flexible and responsive actions that adults can take to create environments where children feel safe and empowered to lead their own learning.
Through our research, we found that these offerings show up most often in spaces where children’s agency is actively supported. They act as affordances that make it possible and safe for children to express themselves, make decisions, and engage meaningfully with their world.
Children can only use certain markers of agency such as sharing knowledge with peers if adults create opportunities for them to work together and engage in shared activities. Without these chances, those expressions of agency simply don’t happen.
For example:
Agency doesn’t just appear on its own. Children need supportive conditions to use their agency safely. When adults offer meaningful, culturally responsive opportunities, children can safely and confidently enact their agency.
Young children don’t get to choose where they spend their time or who they spend it with. That’s why it’s up to adults to create learning experiences that make agency possible and safe.
Adults can reflect on:
The conditions they’re working within (the elements) — Are there barriers like policies, bias, or lack of resources that limit what’s possible?
By examining these parts of the framework, adults can identify where the challenges lie and begin to make changes that support children’s agency in real, culturally responsive ways.
Use these prompts to reflect on your own beliefs and practices. Consider journaling, discussing with colleagues, or using them in professional learning communities.
