Written by Liz Koester
At a recent training, the teachers at my campus were asked to reflect on why we went into teaching. A number of educators responded partially in jest, but with some seriousness, “I went into teaching because I like being in charge.” This led me to think about the system of education as it is currently known. Teachers hold most of the power in education, and students have very little control over their learning journey. I began to contemplate the concept of “unschooling” and how we can allow students to take greater ownership of their education.
The term “unschooling” was coined by the late John Holt, one of the godfathers of the home-schooling movement, who wrote about alternative ways of educating children. The basic tenet of unschooling is that the child decides what, where, who, how, and why they learn. Mintz (2004) defines learner centered education as “education where students are actually empowered to make decisions about their own education.”
The system of education that seems to be the most prevalent in schools today is teacher- led learning. As teachers we need to assist students to take interest in and responsibility for their own personal learning journey. The website whyunschool.info states:
Educational institutions on the other hand tend to suppress and eventually extinguish this natural tendency by enclosing children in an artificial environment where they cannot touch, taste, see, or experience the world, but rather they read about others who have explored the world for them. Children are taught not to wonder about things, because that’s coming in a future chapter or grade. They’re taught not to become too interested in a subject because classes are rotated every 45 minutes. They’re taught that they can’t be entrusted with their own education—because only the professionals know how they should be educated.
Children can be guided to take control of their learning, and by putting into practice some of the aspects of the unschooling movement, we can create a more learner-directed environment in our classrooms and schools. Allowing children to take a more active role in their education can be a scary thing, but children by nature are able and ready to learn on their own. There must be patience, acceptance, and willingness on the part of teachers who want their students to discover their natural, innate curiosity.
“An important aspect of unschooling is that it allows children to learn from experiences and activities that are matched to their own abilities, interests, rate of learning, and learning styles” (Wheatley, 2009). Children possess natural interests and fascinations individually, and without adult guidance children naturally educate themselves on their own about things that are of interest to them.
Allowing younger children to play freely instead of planning activities (as is often found in traditional schools) allows them to develop and navigate through an important psychosocial stage, Eriksen’s stage known as Initiative vs. Guilt. Children naturally learn to plan activities, face challenges that arise, and then accomplish tasks. If children are not allowed to play and take initiative to discover and maneuver around their world, or their attempts are stifled by adults or caregivers, they often begin to feel guilt or failure, and children fail to feel that they as individuals have a sense of purpose.
In middle-to-late elementary school, allowing students to have their own time to participate in free study gives them freedom to take their interests in their own hands. Wheatley (2009) states that test-driven education ignores most areas of a child’s development. Teachers are strongly encouraged to ask higher-level questions so students can develop their critical thinking skills. Students will be far more likely to think critically about something that is of interest to them and something they know.
“Unschooling may help American educators make the paradigm change that America’s schools so desperately need” (Wheatley, 2009). Children can be guided to take control of their learning, and by putting into practice some of the aspects of the unschooling movement, we can create a more learner-directed environment in our classrooms and schools.
Liz is a Martin Luther College graduate student. Liz earned her BSE with a secondary music major from MLC in ’02. Currently, she is a special education teacher working in resource/content mastery at Kennedy-Powell Elementary in Temple, TX.
References:
Mintz, J. 2004, July 28. Building democratic schools. Radio Free School. Talk retrieved from http://www.radio4all.net/pub/archive/07.30.13/grassroots@hwcn.org/ 125-1-20040729-0728rfsc10.mp3
Wheatley, K. (2009). Unschooling: An oasis for development and democracy. Encounter, 22(2). p. 27-32.
Montessori would be under this article’s definition. Students are often given 3 hour chunks of time in which to choose their own topics of learning in undisturbed work periods during the school day.
Rachel, I currently use “Google Day” in my Computer Programming class. Google is known for using 20% time in their workplace–20% of the employees time is work related but on a topic of their choosing.
I use the same idea, but educationally. The Programming students have a semester project to turn in but it must serve their church or community group. Every Wednesday is their 20% time to work outside the curriculum on their project. However, it can be any topic of their interest and any program they care to use, whether it is in our programming class or not.
Having seen educational practices come and go over 25 years of teaching, the best approach always seems to be a blended one. In this practice don’t turn the “hen house” (curriculum) over to the “foxes” (students) completely, but with education and encouragement great things can be achieved by all the “foxes” in our classrooms!
This post was shared with me by my adult son who was homeschooled by me and his father, and which he recognized as my/our method, i.e unschooling. I was greatly inspired by the writings of John Holt back in the 80’s as well as by the early homeschool pioneers Raymond and Dorothy Moore. My method was to teach the basics and then let the children pursue to their hearts’ content what interested them. Another tenet I strongly hold to is teaching a LOVE of reading. My son said that because he was allowed to pursue (and have ample time to read about) what interested him as a child he gets to pursue similar things today. (And then he named those things.) For a homeschool parent the validation doesn’t get any better than receiving feedback like that from your adult children. I highly encourage ALL teachers to strive for the unschool, child-led model.
Thank you for your essay. This is a great forum. There certainly can be opportunities in some areas of the curriculum where students can and should be encouraged to follow their interests. I’m thinking especially about science and art.
The other side of the coin (which I was taught to always consider) is that we all need to be forced to study some things for which we may have minor interest. Mathematics, for one, has a fairly well-established sequence. Then if you wish to do science, you need to know math. Again in art, one benefits from being exposed to new and different techniques: “Today we are going to learn and practice dry-brush painting.”
Without scope and sequence which is carefully thought out by adult guidance, students will not see the bigger picture. We need foundational skills and broad understandings. Students going off in many different directions could mean that accepted standards are missed, and teachers are left out of the picture.
I’m thinking of some students that arrived at the college level who knew more than I did about some narrow areas of biology but lacked both the background and desire to expand their understandings in science by digging into math and chemistry and even studying all areas of biology. Furthermore, some did not developed their writing and speaking skills. They knew and enjoyed a subject area but had difficulty communicating it to anyone.
Don’t misunderstand, I do think interests should be followed. There should be time and space for it, but there is also a time to move on in a planned sequence or there will be discoveries that the students will never make on their own. We have to set the stage as best we can We should not assume that guidance is detrimental.
I believe that an enthusiastic teacher who has a love for learning many things is the ideal catalyst for getting a student to think and wonder. I have had such teachers.
Is Montessori considered unschooling? Also wondering if High Scope, the ECE curriculum that MLC follows, is close to this concept with its “work time” where children plan their own play and follow through with a recap of what they did.
Another small off-shoot that was tackled in the full paper was the aspect of democracy within a school. A quote that I used in my paper really resonated with me, a statement about how we should have children practice democracy. “No wonder our citizenry doesn’t feel empowered to bring about change. Most of us spend the 18 years before we cast our first vote with absolutely no say in any of the decisions that affect the place we spend the majority of our days.” (Littky, 2004) An interesting thought to mull over…
Thanks for sharing, Liz! Many of your points brought me back to the TED Talk by Sir Ken Robinson on how schools “kill” creativity in students. (It’s located at http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html if you would like to watch it.)
It also brings up an idea that I’ve seen floating around Twitter…using a “20% time” or “Genius Hour” project in order to allow student to work on a project of their own choosing during an allotted time during the week. The students propose, plan, prepare, and present their project with the teacher acting as cheerleader and support as the project develops.
All of these things make me excited that God has given me the opportunity to be a teacher in these present times.
Thank you Liz for teaching me about UnSchooling. I have added UnConference to my vocabulary as well, so it fits!! I do appreciate your desire to have students empowered to make decisions about their own education. This is met with oftentimes violent resistance by the–wait for it–parents!!
Before you are called “left-wing” or “communist” a teacher should take considerable time, and many opportunities to explain to the parents what will be happening in the room. Tell them that student empowerment doesn’t mean students control the curriculum (essential questions and objectives), but they do decide on content and oftentimes what is done with the content. It does harken back to the days of John Dewey (the “left-wing” reference above) and making education meaningful for the learner.