Rethinking student agency through 'material agency' in the context of learning in nature

Student agency theorising traditionally positions individuals as sovereign and under-theorises the role non-human material elements play in enacting agency. We recognise the role of the material but to honour our research participants and context we adopt an asymmetrical view of the agency of the material non-human in relation to the human in co-shaping agency. We apply this view to students learning in nature, and data from a developmental evaluation of visitor experience of an outdoor learning centre. Student and teacher participants took photographs representing their connection to nature on two occasions. Intrigued by the role the camera, the site and its material elements played in participants' photographs, and photo-elicitation interviews, we conceptualised the relationships at work as joint human/non-human material collaborations. We argue educators' recognition of the material agency of settings can assist them in understanding students' agentic positioning within the political imperative of connecting humans to nature as curriculum.