Changing Our Minds: How children can take control of their own learning

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What’s missing in this Brave New World vision of well-behaved children sitting in rows absorbing knowledge? Well, remember that most of the research we’ve encountered is with adult experts, who have chosen to learn about something (such as chess) because they are highly motivated. People who are passionate about chess often spend all their waking time thinking about or playing chess. Their drive to practice and read and learn comes from within. I’ve seen this process in action with my own children with a rather different pursuit – Minecraft. I did not set out to create Minecraft experts and I suspect that if I had, they would not have been interested. No direct instruction was required for them to acquire expertise: playing Minecraft, YouTube videos and their own research sufficed. An essential guide, informed by educational theory and personal experience, which presents accessibly the evidence and argument for self-directed learning, getting the child to lead where their curiosity and interests should be developed.

I worked from nine to six, and I had no control over when my breaks were; Dave would decide. Sometimes I would start at nine, and he would send me on my break at ten, and then my lunch at twelve, leaving me working from 12.45 p.m. – 6 p.m. without a break. There are different models of learning, with different evidence bases. Only one is being championed by the government, and it’s the one which focuses on controlling children’s learning and behaviour. It’s the one which discourages critical thinking about the curriculum. It’s one which values the culture of (dead) white males over any other. The suggestion that ‘we know’ ‘what works best’ is used to control us too, to prevent dissent and discourage disagreement. We should not allow ourselves to be blinded by claims of evidence. We should continue to apply our critical thinking… even though their model itself suggests that we are not expert enough to do so. Much as I needed the money, I just couldn’t do it. I lasted four weeks. Dave smiled when I handed in my notice. Children are born full of curiosity, eager to participate in the world. They learn as they live, with enthusiasm and joy. Then we send them to school. We stop them from playing and actively exploring their interests, telling them it's more important to sit still and listen. The result is that for many children, their motivation to learn drops dramatically. The joy of the early years is replaced with apathy and anxiety.If you're feeling uncertain about SDE [self-directed education], this book will dispel any fears. This book is helping to pave the way for a self-directed education for more children. I can't wait to share it with our network of families and educators who are thinking differently about education. It is one of the first books out there to describe self-directed education step-by-step. Naomi is helping to lay the groundwork for an education revolution. * Sally Hall, Freedom to Learn Network Lead, Phoenix Education * As well as a grounding in theory, the book provides a roadmap to help self-directed learning become a reality for families. Changing Our Minds blows apart the myths and assumptions underpinning not just compulsory schooling but also wider societal attitudes to topics such as mental health, children's rights and ideas about what constitutes a fulfilling life. * Rose Arnold, founder of Suitable Education * An essential book for anyone with children who reject the confines of the school system, which will leave you exhilarated about the possibilities before you - Heidi Steel, former teacher turned Unschooling Parent, mentor and coach for unschooling families, www.liveplaylearn.org

Autonomy has been related to increased wellbeing in a large number of studies. When people have choice about what they do, and can stop when they want to, they feel better about the world and themselves. Richard Ryan and colleagues found that wellbeing for college students and workers increases at the weekend; the so-called ‘weekend effect’. Even when people work at the weekend, they tend to do it in their own time and in their own way, and therefore have increased autonomy as compared to during the week. Dr Naomi Fisher's book Changing Our Minds eloquently and persuasively makes the case for the importance of choice, autonomy and self-direction in education. Her conclusions are thoroughly grounded in research, and synthesize the latest advances in the fields of education, evolutionary psychology and human motivation. In the process, Dr Fisher asks us to reconsider our fundamental assumptions and views about how learning takes place, advocating for a more student-centred and strengths-based approach to education. The time to reimagine education is now, and this book makes an important and valuable contribution to this conversation. * Gina Riley, educational psychologist and clinical professor in adolescent special education, City University of New York *From this perspective, no two children will learn the same things from their experiences and so standardised curriculums can never guarantee standard results. But from this standpoint, it is not simply knowledge acquisition which an education should focus on, but rather the development of the child as an active learner, a person who sees that their choices matter and that they can have autonomy over their lives. These are the transferable skills. Neurodivergent children experience and interact with the world differently to many of their peers. Standard educational systems often fail to adapt to their unique strengths and ways of learning. School, and even the act of learning, can become a source of great anxiety and trauma. Self-directed education offers an alternative to traditional schools that can help neurodivergent children develop at their own pace and thrive.

The research they cite is from cognitive psychology, and it looks at how humans acquire knowledge and skills. Cognitive scientists such as Daniel Willingham say that it is now indisputable that ‘thinking well requires knowing facts’. His book explains his model of how the brain works, which, when applied to schools and children results in the expert at the front, children as the audience model of education. I don’t know why Dave decided to move me off the mandarin oranges. Perhaps he noticed my vacant expression and thought I needed a change to perk me up. Or maybe there was some new employee who needed to start out on the oranges. We never chatted in the factory. We couldn’t risk missing a cake, and the local radio station blared too loudly anyway. Faces came and went, and we only got to know each other if, by chance, we were sent on our break at the same time. The most stressful work situation to be in is one where you have no control. Naomi Fisher is a clinical psychologist and author of Changing Our Minds: How Children Can Take Control of their Learning, published by Robinson. Naomi Fisher's book is gold dust. It is written for the growing number of parents who feel that 'school' is doing their children more harm than good. It reassures that in most cases the problem lies not with their child but with the controlling, coercive, competitive, test-driven, anxiety inducing experience of school. Fisher sets out, accessibly but with academic authenticity, the science that explains the inhibiting effect of many school regimes on the natural desire of children to learn. She gives courage to parents who conclude that enough is enough and who decide to withdraw their child - either to create a more self-directing environment at home or in a different kind of school. The book concludes with convincing case studies that show that 'education' and 'schooling' are not synonymous. * Derry Hannam, Retired Deputy Head, Inspector and Consultant in Education for Democracy and Human Rights *Expert led, enforced instruction is not the only way to learn, and the evidence that shows that it is the most effective method has clearly defined parameters. If your aim is for all children to learn a specific body of knowledge and retain it, and you are confident that you can motivate children to do so, then direct instruction from an expert with lots of repetition (otherwise known as drilling) may well be effective. If your aim is children who can think critically and creatively, and who are developing their potential as active and diverse human beings, then there is no evidence that drilling them will achieve this. It’s simply not part of the way in which the studies were designed. There is, however, good reason to be sceptical about claims of the utter necessity of all those hours in classrooms, because there is research which shows that children who do not attend school at all learn effectively to the point where they are able to access higher education (Riley, 2020; Fisher, 2021). I’ve read many books at this point on unschooling/child led learning/alternative education, and this is by far one of the best ones! The book is well thought out, with lots of practical examples, sound reasoning, and explains really thoroughly the benefits of self-directed education. Naomi Fisher seamlessly brings together scientific research, life experience and her own extensive personal and professional observations. She walks us gently through both the psychology and adventure of self-directed education.

Soon my dreams were filled with ‘thunks’ and cream. I stopped being able to sleep. I couldn’t do anything with the time I had off work. At the same time, I felt anxious and nervous all the time. My weekends were spent dreading Monday. At work, I was reduced to a rather faulty automaton. I had no control over anything. So the quibble isn’t with the claim that there is evidence. There is evidence that instruction, practice and repetition works, if the aim is to retain large amounts of information, although it’s less clear whether you can successfully impose this on other people without a very strict regime of control. The quibble is more about philosophy of education and whether retaining large amounts of particular types of information is the goal we should have for our children’s education. And there are some difficult questions about exactly what the purpose is of requiring children to learn a lot of information before they are allowed to engage in critical thinking or question what they are learning. With Changing Our Minds Naomi Fisher established herself as the voice of reason in a sea of misinformation about an education system in existential crisis. This new book cements her reputation as a champion of young people's rights by giving a voice to those who are most impacted and yet too often silenced. There is no variation in teaching methods across the school, and there is no differentiation between pupils. If a child isn’t learning, that is their responsibility, and if they don’t comply precisely with expectations, they are punished. Teachers at Michaela, as they explain in their book, give detentions and demerits for infractions such as slouching at your desk, and there are no exceptions for difficult circumstances. From their perspective, those children who have experienced the most adversity have the highest needs for strict rules and so difficult home situations or a trauma history aren’t reasons for non-compliance. It’s not clear what benefits there are in reproducing this low-autonomy system at school. Just because some jobs have few choices is no reason to spend twelve years making children practise feeling powerless. The school system works by gradually reducing autonomy as children grow. At pre-school and nursery, children are typically allowed to choose between a range of activities and are not made to continue with something once they have lost interest. However, from the age of five onwards, school becomes increasingly more controlling. Children generally have no meaningful choices about what they do all day. Even when, at age fourteen, they do get to make some decisions, it’s usually between which classroom they sit in and what information they will be tested on, rather than anything more significant.Those of us who work with children might want more out of education, however. We might want to look at what children learn about themselves and their place in the world, and we might want to know how being so strictly controlled at school affects children’s wellbeing and ability to cope when they get into the less structured environment of university or work – one where intrinsic motivation matters. Children are born full of curiosity, eager to participate in the world. They learn as they live, with enthusiasm and joy. Then we send them to school. We stop them from playing and actively exploring their interests, telling them it’s more important to sit still and listen. The result is that for many children, their motivation to learn drops dramatically. The joy of the early years is replaced with apathy and anxiety. So if GCSEs are the final benchmark of education, all that really matters, then perhaps the Education Secretary is right? Perhaps the real issue in education today is how to get those children facing forwards, so they can be filled with knowledge. Changing Our Minds, by Dr Naomi Fisher, is an invitation to all of us to deschool ourselves and think anew about what is best for children. Touching on a range of topics from schooling to parenting to diversity, this clearly argued and compellingly written book is a must read for anyone who wants to conceptualise how schools can better meet children's needs. * Dr Rebecca English (PhD), Senior Lecturer in Education, Queensland University of Technology *