Education is undergoing significant changes that are acknowledging a difference between "schooling" and "learning."
Schooling refers to formal, organized education that typically takes place in schools.
Learning encompasses a broader range of ways people gain knowledge and skills.
As we explore new educational methods, self-directed schooling has emerged as a powerful model that combines the strengths of both schooling and learning. It emphasizes health and safety while supporting students’ individual interests and collective well-being.
The Importance of Health and Safety in Any Schooling
Self-directed schooling upholds the health and safety principles of a traditional school setting. Schools must provide environments that protect both students and staff. This includes ensuring clean facilities, having emergency plans, and offering mental health support. For example, schools implement hygiene practices, mental health initiatives, and safety protocols to create a secure learning environment. By prioritizing health and safety, the self-directed schooling model can foster similar trust among students and educators allowing all involved in the shared learning space to collaborate without fear or distraction.
However, a self-directed schooling model does not conflate the need for structured oversight and accountability for health and safety with academic learning; instead, it emphasizes the need for teachers to coach students on learning strategies to increase their ownership and agency over the learning process throughout their developing stages as a human.
Emphasizing Learning Principles
Does explicit instruction take place? Of course, it does, but it does not follow the same structure you may have experienced growing up in primary and secondary schools.
Self-directed schooling embraces a variety of learning principles, allowing for a more individualized and effective educational experience. While explicit instruction does occur, it differs significantly from the traditional structure many experienced in primary and secondary schools.
The following are only two of many learning principles to reflect on and discuss.
Principle: Concepts and Skills Follow Progressions
Traditional school models follow progressions via age-assigned grade-level expectations.
The Self-Directed Schooling model in later grade levels, similar to traditional models, builds upon foundational knowledge acquired in earlier grade levels. Clear progressions help students to recognize how skills develop so they may choose to master each part of a progression when they are ready and motivated to do so.
For instance, consider a fifth-grade student who struggles with multiplication but is explicitly taught exponents. Or think of a sixth-grade student reading at a third-grade level who can analyze complex aspects of literature and information when read to them but who are expected to analyze complex literature beyond their reading ability. These scenarios highlight the limitations of the conventional schooling model, where students may be pushed to learn concepts specific to their age-assigned grade level that outpace their foundational skills -- and graded on those concepts.
Now, picture a student reading below grade level but who is deeply passionate about environmental science. This student might engage in hands-on projects to research local ecosystems and participate in community sustainability efforts. With appropriate support from teachers and parents, this student can be guided to explore relevant topics that inspire them, encouraging them to read informational materials that may exceed their current ability. While they may lag behind in reading literature and prose, they may still gain valuable knowledge about environmental science, similar to that of their peers who have an interest in literature from around the world and lag in specific topics that do not interest them.
Principle: Social Learning and Feedback
Traditional school models are social on the playground with classroom feedback monitored primarily by the teacher who may choose to direct and monitor peer-based feedback.
Learning does not happen in isolation; it thrives on collaboration and communication between students, teachers, families, and peers.
In a self-directed schooling model, students learn from each other -- not because they are explicitly assigned to work on a group project or engage in mandatory class discussions, but because learning is inherently social when people find an interest worth sharing with others.
For instance, in the case of a high school student with an interest in professions requiring higher education, they will likely need to learn about topics that do not interest them to obtain a high school diploma and, as a result, they may choose to involve peers who do have an interest in that area to help them learn about that topic -- again, not because they were assigned but because they have deemed it necessary to do so. When students work together to learn, they often find it helpful to share insights, ask questions, and learn from each other's strengths and weaknesses. This collaborative environment inherently supports learning within a schooling setting.
Additionally, constructive feedback from teachers plays a crucial role in this process. Rather than just grading assignments, educators in a self-directed model provide ongoing guidance and encouragement, coaching students on how to recognize their progress and understand strategies areas for addressing areas those students have identified are in need of improvement. For example, a teacher might commend a student’s research skills while also suggesting additional resources to enhance their understanding of a topic.
Fostering a Shared Learning Environment
In traditional classrooms, collaboration often occurs in structured formats, such as group assignments or partner activities.
In both traditional and self-directed settings, students benefit from working together on projects, sharing insights, and learning from one another. However, self-directed schooling takes this a step further by encouraging students to take the lead in their learning experiences and coaching collaboration skills as needed.
In a self-directed schooling environment, rules and norms are not static. When student voices are heard, a safe and respectful learning space evolves with the students. When students feel safe and valued, they develop a strong sense of belonging, which enhances their overall educational experience.
For example, when students discuss and establish ground rules together, they often overlook aspects of accountability they may have previously assumed were things that didn't need to be written down as part of a social agreement. This helps students program reasonable expectations for their classroom and deepen their sense of empathy as they consider the needs and feelings of their peers through these experiences.
Reach out to learn more about this self-directed schooling model.
Greg Mullen
March 19, 2025