The Early Years Learning Framework promotes the need to recognise children’s participation rights and for educators to be responsive to and promote child agency. This study explored how infant and toddler educators understand agency, and what role they ascribe to themselves in infants’ and toddlers’ realisation of agency. Research was undertaken in early childhood settings in Brisbane, Australia. Interviews and reflection activities were conducted with 15 educators working with children under three years, and responses coded through thematic analysis. Participants provided some working definitions of agency and examples of supporting children’s agency in their everyday practices. However, responses largely revealed confusion and limited understandings of agency. Through engaging a critical feminist paradigm, a connection between the status provided to infant–toddler educators, and the impact upon their knowledge and practice is proposed, and recommendations put forward for increased opportunities relating to birth to three pedagogy.

在早年学习框架促进需要承认儿童的参与权，并促进教育工作者响应和促进儿童能动性。本研究探讨了婴幼儿教育工作者如何理解代理，以及他们认为自己在婴幼儿实现代理中的角色。研究是在澳大利亚布里斯班的幼儿环境中进行的。对 15 名从事三岁以下儿童工作的教育工作者进行了访谈和反思活动，并通过主题分析对回答进行了编码。参与者提供了一些关于能动性的工作定义以及在他们的日常实践中支持儿童能动性的例子。然而，回应在很大程度上揭示了对代理的混淆和有限的理解。通过采用批判性的女权主义范式，将提供给婴幼儿教育者的地位、