In the new social studies of childhood research the concept of "children
as social actors" has been established since the 1980s. Based on these
theoretical premises children do not encounter a ´ready-made´ social
reality to which they simply have to assimilate as passive objects of
socialization. In fact, "children as social actors" actively participate
in the production of social reality. In line with the agency concept
"children as social actors" are certified a capacity to act respectively
an effectiveness to act, however, this capacity and effectiveness
remain opaque as to their concrete theoretical underpinning. This is the
starting point for our contri-bution. Based on the practice theory
approach, we focus on how pupils engage in constituting actors and
subjects, and how these processes can be theoretically and empirically
investigated. We argue that children´s agency cannot be taken for
granted as a quasi ´natural´ ability, but that it is always embedded in a
dynamic social practice. This social practice continuously requires of
the actors to configure their capacity to act anew via interactive
practices of addressing.