What if the most powerful preparation for an AI-dominated future doesn’t start in coding camps but in early childhood settings? In a corner of a childcare centre, a toddler rearranges loose parts, solving a problem no one asked them to solve.

That unstructured and self-directed quiet moment may be worth more than any programming lesson. As the world rushes to equip children with digital skills, we need not overlook something more foundational: their agency.

Agency – the ability to make choices, take initiative and influence one’s environment – is not a luxury in the early years of a child’s life; it is a necessity. When children experience agency in their learning, they develop curiosity, creativity and persistence. They learn how to think, not just what to think. They are empowered not simply to follow instructions, but to ask questions, explore alternatives and reflect on their actions. In contrast, environments that are overly structured, adult-directed and assessment-driven risk cultivating compliance instead of capability.

In our work on emergent curriculum in Malta (Bonello, Baldacchino & Dalli, 2025), we see how agency supports deep engagement, motivation and learning for children aged 0-7 years. In this book, seven educators working across childcare, kindergarten and early primary settings speak about their successes and challenges as they professionally and pedagogically transform – acting not as instructors but as co-learners, offering open-ended materials, following children’s interests and engaging in dialogue rather than direction.

This approach is grounded in what Reggio Emilia describes as the pedagogy of listening – a commitment to listening with all our senses, embracing difference and honouring each child’s unique way of making meaning. It is through this deep listening that children feel their thoughts matter. They gain confidence, independence and a sense of ownership in their learning process.

So why is this important now, in an age of artificial intelligence and accelerating change?

Because the future we are preparing children for is unpredictable. AI is transforming industries, automating tasks and challenging traditional job roles. The World Economic Forum and OECD agree that the most future-proof skills are human ones: creativity, critical thinking, adaptability, ethical reasoning and collaboration. These are not learned from textbooks. They are nurtured through meaningful, agentic experiences in early childhood.

In fact, agency is the foundation for five essential capacities we need in a future-ready adult:

1. Adaptability: children who engage in open-ended, child-led play learn to cope with change, shift strategies and manage uncertainty – key traits in a fast-moving world.

2. Critical thinking: when children weigh choices, ask questions and solve problems, they build reasoning skills that help them navigate complexity.

3. Creativity: giving children unhurried time, space, flexibility and open-ended materials fosters the ability to innovate, imagine and construct new solutions.

In a world of intelligent machines, the most powerful act is to raise children who know they can shape their world– Charmaine Bonello

4. Collaboration: through child-initiated peer interactions, children learn empathy, negotiation and the value of diverse perspectives.

5. Resilience: facing challenges, making mistakes and trying again in playful, inquiry-based and child-centred environments strengthens emotional intelligence and perseverance.

We see these qualities emerge when children are offered real choices: selecting their own materials, initiating play, deciding how to solve a problem, or helping shape routines. Observant educators recognise and respond to children’s cues, document their learning journeys, co-develop curriculum with them and use language that reflects curiosity and respect rather than control.

Yet, alongside this growing body of evidence supporting agency, there is also compelling evidence – both research-based and from lived experience – that early childhood settings, locally and internationally, are heading in the opposite direction. Increasingly, young children are subjected to top-down curriculum mandates, an excessive focus on workbooks, early assessments and school-like expectations. Play is structured. Activities are adult-planned. Routines are rigid. Children become passive participants in environments that demand compliance more than creativity. This is a profound mistake.

When agency is stripped from early learning, we risk raising children who are disengaged, dependent and disempowered – precisely the opposite of what they will need in a world where AI can think faster but not feel deeper. It may be time for our education systems to move away from a fixation on highly formalised pedagogies and consider approaches that value process, wonder and autonomy.

It may also be time to rethink how we assess young children. Standardised testing often rewards rote compliance rather than curiosity or creativity. Alternatively, observational, strengths-based and portfolio-based approaches can offer richer insight into how children explore, problem-solve and express themselves in enabling environments.

Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child reminds us that children have the right to be heard in decisions affecting them. Agency in early learning is not just good pedagogy – it is a rights-based imperative.

Policymakers, educators  and families are invited to take this seriously. Protecting children’s right to make choices, express ideas and influence their own learning journeys is one way to honour their humanity.

Rather than over-programming their days, we can create environments that invite exploration, support initiative  and welcome failure as part of growth. Educators benefit from ongoing support to adopt responsive, inquiry-based approaches and systems can

invest in the professional autonomy needed to implement them.

In the midst of all our technological advancement, let us not forget the simple, powerful truth: children who believe they can shape their world are the ones who will shape the future. And it starts now, in the early years.

In a world of intelligent machines, the most powerful act is to raise children who know they can shape their world. Early agency is future power.

Charmaine Bonello is a senior lecturer at Department of Early Childhood and Primary Education, University of Malta.

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