Reflections on Self-Managed Learning

Abel - now in sixth form:

Before going to college, my entire academic journey had been very unconventional, and spread across numerous different schools that fostered an environment of self-managed learning.

Until the age of nine, I had been homeschooled, and mostly spent my time playing video games and doing activities with other homeschooled friends. Following this, my family moved to Paris, and I attended a democratic school there, where, once again, I mostly spent my time playing games with other students. Although I learnt next to nothing that could be called 'academic' during this time, I think these years were extremely valuable for me, and part of the reason I have done so well in school since (I have 12 GCSES, 11 of which are 9s and one of which is an 8, and I now do IB at Exeter College and I'm part of the Reach Academy for academically gifted students there). 

There are many reasons why I believe that not going to school during this period in my life (around 4-11) was beneficial for me, but one of the most important involves the development of negative associations that can impede future learning prospects. When young children are forced to 'learn' things (but really just memorise them), this often creates bad experiences that prevent the students from doing things in the future that they might otherwise have enjoyed.

Maths is a good example, I think, because it is fundamentally a large set of logic puzzles that may or may not have practical real life applications. When it is not framed as obligatory, but rather given as an option, students are allowed to discover for themselves the intricacies of algebra, and the joys of geometry, without having the painful friction that is created by forcing somebody to do something that they don't see the point in doing, and don't want to do.

A common rebuttal to this view is to say that 'if children aren't forced to learn, they won't learn'. I believe this sentiment to be both missing the point and largely incorrect.

Firstly, I've found that this is simply empirically not true. I personally have always loved learning because it is something I choose to do that makes me feel good, but I think that if it had been mandated by others from a young age that I must learn, the joy and motivation to do so spontaneously (which is to say, without being forced to) would have evaporated.

Secondly, I believe that this idea does not hold up from a more general psychological perspective either. Once children have reached a certain age (it depends, but I would say often around 11-13 ), they almost invariably begin to want to do more than just play, and often start to think about what they want to do in the future, and the different possibilities that lie ahead of them. When the opportunity to learn is laid out in front of them to explore of their own volition, this is generally when they begin to venture into the, from their perspective, unknown and exciting world of science, mathematics, English, history, foreign languages… This is not to say that everybody will always enjoy all of the subjects, but just that they will be free to find the ones they like without pressure that might otherwise spoil it for them.

But what if they don't like many subjects, or dislike one of the 'essential' subjects, like maths? In this case one of two things may happen if they are left to choose what they want to do without external force. Either they will do it anyway (which due to current government policy, is sadly necessary for maths, no matter how much someone dislikes it) because they recognise that doing it will help to take them where they want to be in the future, or they will do something else instead. As a parent, the second option may seem undesirable, or even scary, but in the end, if a child really dislikes a subject, geography or history, say, why should they be forced to do it, when instead they could spend the time enjoying their childhood or learning something they are actually interested in? Surely forcing them is only likely to make them more unhappy, and happiness, especially during these formative years, is very important.

You may also believe that children aren't intelligent enough to make all these decisions themselves, and, although they may need some help from kind and supportive adults, children are generally capable of much more than adults give them credit for, and so should manage just fine.

Maybe you think this idea sounds good on paper, but are asking yourself: how can this be applied in practice? This is were the concept of self-managed learning, and especially self-managed learning communities, comes into play. From age 11 until going to college, I attended self-managed 'schools' that fostered an environment of learning and mutual help, rather than competition, and helped me very significantly in getting to where I am now. This kind of establishment allows students to learn what they find interesting (which might be drawing, playing the guitar, or even riddles and math puzzles), as well as being given the opportunity to learn about GCSE maths, English and other such subjects.

And when an environment is created that allows them to start thinking about college and their future they will choose to do these subjects without much, if any, external help. Another crucial aspect of child development is being given the chance to have social interactions with other children, something that is also fostered at self-managed learning communities. The interplay of sociability and free learning, when handled correctly, creates an extremely positive environment that not only accepts the differences in interests between different students, and does not force them to struggle to fit themselves into a generic academic mould, but also actively encourages cooperation and helping others with subjects that they have difficulty with, but have decided to do because it will help them get to where to want to be in the future.

This atmosphere of positivity and possibility is a major reason why I believe that you should consider sending your child to a self-managed learning community. Not only will they be happier when they are finally freed from the shackles of studying subjects they abhor, they will also likely do better in the future. By the time they move on from secondary school, they will have had the experience of making decisions for themselves (which, by the way, is a very useful skill to have in the more independent environments of college and university), and will not have wasted time creating negative associations with both subjects they will never like, and ones they could have liked, if only they had been allowed to explore them by themselves.