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.