From constraints to innovations: a student agency typology and its implications for pedagogical change

Abstract

This qualitative study investigates how Chinese undergraduates navigate the rigid, credential-driven framework of contemporary higher education by examining the interplay between institutional structure and individual agency. Through in-depth interviews with 25 students and a critical typological analysis, this study develops a typology of situated student learning behaviors, grounded in the dimensions of goal orientation (mastery vs. performance) and proactivity (active vs. passive). Four patterns are identified: Active Learning-Oriented, Active Performance-Oriented, Passive Learning-Oriented, and Passive Performance-Oriented. The analysis reveals that students tactically employ a spectrum of strategies—from proactive knowledge pursuit to ritualized compliance—often shifting across contexts. The findings demonstrate how institutional designs centered on performativity and audit culture can incentivize performative labor and educational involution (neijuan), thereby constraining authentic epistemic engagement. The study challenges monolithic views of student passivity and underscores that fostering more learning-oriented agency requires reforms to the underlying institutional logics and reward systems, rather than focusing solely on pedagogical techniques. The typology provides an analytical framework for critically examining performative systems in mass higher education.