Agency and pulling strings

One of the benefits of EPBL is that students can develop social and network capital, as this increases their stock of ‘know who’.  However if teachers are to make EPBL work well in their schools they need some of the same – they need links and contacts to make things happen, inside and outside the school.  A good idea needs turning into action and challenges need to be overcome.  So one of the important conditions for EBPL is that teachers can pull strings, for the advantage of students.  This is known as personal ‘agency’ – the capacity to overcome challenges to achieve desired outcomes.