The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) recently put forth the need to foster student agency among its member countries’ K-12 curricula. According to OECD, agency is defined as “the human capability to act intentionally, to initiate and control one’s behavior and interactions with others” (EDU/EDPC(2018)29/ANN2:66).However, OECD also notes that agency is interpreted differently between countries: “For example, the concept of self-regulation in Asian culture aims to keep harmony in society, whereas in European American culture, it aims to fulfill personal goals” (ibid: 72).

In this paper, I ask the question: How is agency learned and demonstrated by students in Japan? While lacking an explicit reference to agency, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) suggests that the need to foster student agency is already stipulated in the Basic Act on Education.

In Tokyo Gakugei University attached junior high school science, art, and home economics classes, the students are encouraged to notice and improve the banal aspects of their everyday lives. Based on a video study of these classes, I will explain how agency is fostered in Japan so the students may become global citizens capable of achieving harmony in society while fulfilling personal goals.

I argue that the everyday not only helps the students frame a collective purpose and identify actions to achieve individual goals, but doing so can also help the students exercise agency by taking control over their behavior and interactions that shape their everyday lives.