I see a lot of papers and blog entries on the changing role of education from being a teacher-led learning activity to a student-led teaching activity.
While I see, and agree with, may of the benefits of students directing their own learning activities what I think many of these studies ignore is the fact that a large proportion of young learners do not know what they want or need to learn. They turn up at school and need the guidance of the teacher and the education system to provide them with a broad education to prepare them for later life.
Most students, as they enter their teenage years, challenge why they have to learn what is being delivered in the classroom. What to a sensible, mature adult seems appropriate and important is dismissed in an instant. Given the ‘choice’ of what to learn many students during this period would choose to learn nothing.
Rather than provide the choice and freedom during this period of what to learn, perhaps we should be providing the freedom of how to learn. We should be encouraging our students to develop their own strategies for making sense and meaning of their studies.
Ideally, I would like to see more papers address this issue when discussing the transition from teacher-led to student-led learning.
Incidentally, I am a strong believer in student-led learning and an advocate of the transition of the teacher from “the sage on the stage to a guide on the side”. What I need to see for this to work are educational strategies for ensuring a student-led learner covers an appropriate curriculum for their future needs.