The rapidly changing social reality of contemporary world brings new challenges to an individual (including children) in everyday life. One of the most important issues is the growing demand for agency, that is, the ability to make decisions and be proactive in various contexts and spheres of public and personal life without external control or support typical for the institutional systems (including educational systems). The concept is "agency" generally implies the ability of a person to proactively influence the environment, social structures, including the creation of new forms of interaction in various spheres of public life (Sorokin, Zykova, 2021). Agency can be considered as an umbrella concept combining such constructs as subjectivity, autonomy, independence, initiative, self-determination, self-regulation, proactive behavior, social impact, cooperation, etc. [Udehn, 2002; Sorokin, Frumin, 2022; Cavazzoni et al., 2021]. 

The field of education has a special role in the formation and development of these personal qualities and behavioral models. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in the framework of the project "The Future of Education and Skills 2030" emphasizes the importance of forming agency among students, understood as a proactive position in relation to their educational trajectory. The OECD also considers the so-called "transformative competencies" as a special educational result, which are necessary for individual success in the modern world and for social well-being.

Unfortunately, contemporary school remains to a large extent what Goffman called a "total institution", assuming a rigid system of rules and regulations, in which it is quite difficult to find opportunities for proactivity. Under these circumstances, participation in extracurricular activities becomes of special importance for developing children’s agency. The available literature shows that extracurricular activities of schoolchildren have great potential in terms of the formation of agency, since its format implies, in comparison with formal school education, more room for independence, initiative, and free choice [Lareau, Weininger, 2008; Peterson et al., 2013; Kosaretsky et al., 2019]. A number of studies have shown that extracurricular activities make a significant contribution to the formation of such qualities as perseverance, independence, self-confidence, creativity, and social activity [Fletcher, Nickerson, Wright, 2003; Baker, 2008; Durlak, Weissberg, Pachan, 2010; Baharom, Sharfuddin, Iqbal, 2017].  

At present, literature lacks tools for assessing agency of children and adolescents in formal school  and extracurricular education (Sorokin, Froumin, 2022; Cavazzoni, 2021), especially given high diversity between different educational contexts, as well as different ages, etc.  Also, there are no general models for analysis and interpretation of the empirical results related to various possible manifestations of agency. In particular, lacking are models allowing to correlate different types and levels of children’s agency with external factors, including educational practices.

The present study is aimed at filling this research gap and investigating the relationship between agency (proactive behavior of certain manifestations) of schoolchildren with academic results in formal school education and with participation in various extracurricular activities.

Research questions:

- How the agency of schoolchildren manifests itself in various fields, such as extracurricular activities,  the circle of peers, family,  economic  activities? What is the difference between groups of respondents with different educational characteristics in terms of manifestations of agency?

- How is the extent (or level) of proactive behavior (agency) of schoolchildren relates to their academic performance in school curriculum subjects? How strong is the correlation?

- How is the levelof proactive behavior (agency) of schoolchildren relates to their involvement in extracurricular activities both at school and outside of school? Involvement in which extracurricular activities is most correlated with the level of agency of schoolchildren?

The data were obtained as a result of the survey of students of formal education institutions (schools) in the city of Yaroslavl (N = 4,914 Mage of children = 12.6, SD = 1.7; 50.3% female), aimed at studying the effects of participation in extracurricular activities at school and outside of school on the development of the so-called “soft skills”, academic results, curiosity, and proactive behavior (agency). The sample of the study is random and representative for all schools in Yaroslavl (which if a relatively big city in Russia with approximately 600 000 of population). Among the study participants, 48.6% noted that the mother or stepmother has tertiary education, and 31.26% of the respondents have both parents with tertiary education. Next, 37.8% of the respondents have a father or stepfather with tertiary education. At the same time, 0.8% of the respondents noted that they do not have "this parent – mother or stepmother," and 5.8% of the respondents – "there is no parent – father or stepfather." Thus, it can be argued that the vast majority of the study participants live in full families, and 48.8% of the respondents live with a brother or sister. More than half of the respondents (65%) attend some extracurricular activities. On average, the study participants attend 2 extracurricular courses. At the same time, half (50.5%) of those participating in extracurricular activities attend only 1 course. About a third of the respondents (30.3%) attend 2 courses. There is no gender asymmetry in the number of courses among the study participants. The average time spent on extracurricular activities is 7.74 hours per week. The questionnaires had special section aimed at assessing proactive behavior (agency). In particular, the respondents were asked whether their parents participated in choosing of extracurricular activities (or the decision was made solely by a child him- or herself), whether they tend to take the initiative and make decisions about everyday activities in the company of peers, how the decisions are made about joint activities with parents, and where from they obtain most of the money for their personal expenses (for instance, do they have a paid working experience). The respondents' responses for each category were ranked and as a result, a total integral indicator (agency index) was calculated, i.e., the level of agency for each respondent. Finally, information about children's participation in extracurricular activities was juxtaposed with the agency index.

The level of agency increases depending on the child’s age reflected through the corresponding stages of education, that is the transition of a child to the next educational level from junior school to secondary school and then to high school. A non-linear relationship between the level of agency and academic performance at school was identified. On the one hand, the higher the grades of academic performance in various subjects, the lower the proportion of the respondents who are characterized by a lack of agency. However, the highest academic scores are more likely to be characteristic of the respondents who demonstrate an average level of agency. Remarkably, the highest level of agency did not correspond with the highest academic scores at school. At the same time, the participation of schoolchildren in extracurricular activities demonstrates a strong positive relationship with the level of agency. Only 28.8% of the respondents with a low level of agency are involved in extracurricular activities. Among schoolchildren with a high level of agency, 83.3% are involved in extracurricular activities. The respondents with a low level of agency attend an average of 1.9 courses. The respondents with a high level of agency attend on average 2.8 courses. The respondents with a low level of agency spend an average of 7.4 hours per week on extracurricular activities, and 12.1 hours per week with a high agency level. The higher the level of agency, the higher the proportion of the respondents involved in extracurricular activities of all types. It is important to note that, with an increase in the level of agency, the involvement of schoolchildren in the courses that prepare children for technical colleges, university, tourism, and crafts in school increases most significantly. Similar increases are observed in courses on crafts, tourism, science, and technology performed outside of school.

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