Self-Directed Learning: A Trend, or the Future-Proof Way to Learn?

In today’s parenting world there is a growing trend of parents selecting to home-school their children or place them in self-directed learning programmes.

Why are so many parents choosing to do this?

Increasingly, parents are concerned that the formal education system will not prepare our children adequately for future job prospects. Structurally, not much has changed in the education system in the last hundred years. But when you look at the world around us, just about everything else has. Students are being asked to learn specific subjects, at the pace of the class average, regardless of where their interest or abilities lie.

Consequently, students have been experiencing a rise in anxiety levels, failure rates continue to increase, and absenteeism is at an all-time high.

Many parents will argue that a formal schooling system is necessary, especially for those students who lack the discipline and motivation to do it for themselves. They believe their children must first be exposed to a wide range of subject areas before they know enough to choose to specialise later on. They also believe their children must understand hierarchies. The authority figures, the grading by age and performance, the special status given to leaders in the current system, all of it is seen as necessary preparation for the real world.

Many parents believe that because they themselves went through a formal schooling system and went on to live very successful lives, then the system must have worked. But what jobs will be available to our children in the next ten to twenty years?

Yes, we will always need doctors, lawyers and engineers. But with unemployment rising and artificial intelligence looming large, our children need adaptability, grit and critical thinking.

Consider Elon Musk, the maverick founder of PayPal, Tesla and SpaceX. He does not have just one passion. He has interests and ideas that he develops and pursues, across the digital world, space exploration and engineering. He has the ability to identify bold new opportunities, devise disruptive solutions and build the teams to deliver on them. Musk also happens to be an advocate of self-directed learning.

Raising true learners

Self-directed learning allows children to become true learners. They are encouraged to find a topic that interests them and develop that passion. If your child is interested in gaming, why not guide them into developing their own games. If your child is interested in painting, let them watch tutorials, and let them paint.

There are thousands of apps available for just about every interest, and then there is our good friend Google, who always has the answers.

And if your child loses interest in painting? That is perfectly normal, and we need to be there to encourage them to find a new interest to pursue. Following this model, you find that your child is enthusiastic about learning, because they are doing something they are interested in. On a good day, they may not even want to stop for dinner.

We all want the best for our children. We want to keep as many doors open for them as possible, while encouraging them to be entrepreneurs and independent thinkers, not just followers.

So how do we do this? Here are six advantages that self-directed learning has to offer.

1. Anxiety-free. Learners are not being forced to do anything they don’t want to do, and they can work at their own pace and level, creating an anxiety-free environment. Seeing your child anxious on a daily basis is torture.
2. It encourages creativity. Learners are fully invested in their projects and seek ways to improve. You can see a child’s face light up when they show you something they created.
3. It is self-paced. There are no time pressures. Many students in formal schooling crack under the time limits the curriculum enforces, adding anxiety to an already stressful situation.
4. It happens anywhere, any time. Inspiration can strike no matter where you are or what you are doing. All it takes is a little idea, and you are learning.
5. It develops real learners. Instead of being made to complete an assignment, self-directed learners teach themselves about a topic, and in doing so, actually learn the content.
6. It is intrinsically motivated. Learners are driven by their own interest and engagement. They feel a sense of accomplishment and reward when working on something they are fully invested in.

Think about your own learning as an adult. What interests you? We do this kind of learning all the time without even realising it. If you see a meal you like, you research the best recipe, tweak it, and make it. You do this without anxiety, without time pressure, and throughout, you are interested and engaged. If the recipe doesn’t quite work, you tweak it and try again.

This kind of iterative learning and discovery works incredibly well for us. So why are we not letting our children learn in the same way?

Mostly, I believe, it is because we do not know there is another option. We are doing what was done for us, and what our friends and family are doing for their children. The first step is simply knowing that another way exists.

Written by

Tamryn Sherriffs

Founder and editor of DIFFERENTLY. She writes about the systems that shape how we live, learn and work, many of which she has spent two decades experimenting with.

Read her full story