Critical Student Agency and Centrality: Dewey, Claparède, and Antipoff in Dialogue with the BNCC

Abstract

This article aims to analyze the conceptions of the centrality of the child present in the works of John Dewey, Édouard Claparède, and Helena Antipoff, seeking to relate them to the notions of student agency formulated in the Base Nacional Comum Curricular (BNCC) [National Common Core Curriculum]. The methodology adopted is qualitative, based on bibliographic review and documentary analysis. The results reveal that while Dewey and Claparède attribute centrality to the student from psychological and subjective foundations—Dewey emphasizing democratic experience and Claparède focusing on the functionality of individual interest—Antipoff proposes a more contextualized synthesis, incorporating listening, social environment, and pedagogical intentionality as essential mediations of the educational process. Her proposal articulates subjective and social dimensions, offering a critical alternative to both spontaneous and psychologizing conceptions of centrality. The analysis of the BNCC shows that, although agency is presented as a structuring principle, its implementation tends to follow an adaptive, individualizing logic aligned with neoliberal rationalities, which emphasize individual accountability for personal success. It is concluded that the shift from a naïve notion of centrality to a critical form of agency requires the recovery of ethical, social, and pedagogical mediations such as those proposed by Antipoff, implying an educational commitment to transforming students' concrete living conditions—beyond the mere act of choosing educational pathways.