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Pedagogical Approach

Unschooling

Named Pedagogical Models and Movements

Unschooling is a child-led approach to education, distinct from the broader legal arrangement this atlas records separately as Homeschooling, in which a young person pursues topics from their own curiosity and daily life with no assigned curriculum, textbook or fixed schedule, on the premise, associated with educator John Holt from the 1970s onward, that structured schooling itself, not merely a particular school, can suppress a child's natural motivation to learn.

Facts
Central Question
Does the anxiety, fear of failure and threat of punishment built into conventional schooling reduce children's actual ability to learn 1
Most Effective For
Preserving children's intrinsic curiosity as the ongoing driver of their own learning 1
Connections

Developed By

John Holt, Thinkers
Source Unschooling - Wikipedia

Includes

John Holt, Thinkers
Source Wikipedia: John Holt (American educator)
Sources
1. Unschooling - Wikipedia
  • Motivations section
    the anxiety children feel at constantly being tested, their fear of failure, punishment, and disgrace, severely reduces their ability both to perceive and to remember
  • Natural learning subsection, under Methods and philosophy
    Unschooling is based on the premise that learning is an ongoing process driven by intrinsic curiosity.
  • Developed By: John Holt, Lead
    The term unschooling was coined in the 1970s and used by educator John Holt, who is widely regarded as the father of unschooling.
  • In Group: Alternative and Self-Directed Schooling Models, Lead
    Unschooling is a practice of self-driven informal learning characterized by a lesson-free and curriculum-free implementation of homeschooling.
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Wikipedia: John Holt (American educator)
Includes: John Holt, Article text: in-approach
Quote, Includes: John Holt, Article text: in-approach
John Caldwell Holt (April 14, 1923, September 14, 1985) was an American author and educator, a proponent of homeschooling (specifically the unschooling approach), and a pioneer in youth rights theory.
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