How to Raise Your Child for Self-Directed Learning

Parents worry about the emotional and cognitive development of their children, beyond providing basic needs and ensuring health and well-being.

In these aspects, formal schooling provides important support. Educational institutions standardize the quality of teachers and safety of schoolhouses.

While parents have relied on formal schools for their children’s education, self-directed learning has crept into the lexicon of formal schooling. Self-directed learning has not replaced formal schooling. Yet, it is now a desired outcome of the Singapore Ministry of Education’s mission, alongside confidence, active contribution, and civic consciousness.

Self-directed learning is commonly associated with blended learning. This is a mode of learning that combines classroom teaching with home-based learning over the Internet, which was popular during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What exactly is self-directed learning, and how is it relevant? How can your child succeed as a self-directed learner?

Self-Directed Learning

Self-directed learning refers to the ability to acquire know-how through one’s own initiative.

In this mode, self-directed learners actively seek out resources and opportunities to expand their knowledge, skills, and attitudes. Such resources and opportunities include books, videos, workshops, courses, and learning groups.

Relevance of Self-Directed Learning

Oft-mentioned benefits of self-directed learning include responsibility, creativity, and passion for learning.

Some of the best inventors, engineers, architects, scientists, and artists in history were self-taught – for example, James Watt, whose improved steam engine empowered the Industrial Revolution.

As a development concept, self-directed learning is invoked beyond formal schooling. In the presence of market volatility and uncertainty, self-directed learning at the workplace is seen as a key to surviving the present and future economy.

“My Child Cannot Have Self Directed Learning…”

Despite its relevance and prevalence, parents and teachers may find it challenging to add self-directed learning.

Due to factors including prior internalization and environmental pressure, they may believe children are not suited for self-directed learning. Instead, they may use psychological control, for example conditional love and manipulation, to generate preconceived desired outcomes.

This lowers the efficacy of self-directed learning. This is because, in practice, self-directed learners tailor their learning to their specific needs and interests with independence, creativity, and critical thinking skills.

An Alternative Perspective: Self-Determination

In 1985, distinguished researchers Richard Ryan and Edward Deci published their book Intrinsic Motivation and Self-Determination in Human Behavior. They recognized a form of motivation where people wholeheartedly engaged in a way that generated both best experience and best performance.

This broke ground as motivation was then studied largely in terms of control by rewards and punishments.

Ryan and Deci used empirical research to identify 3 universal and innate human needs that allowed such motivation to thrive: autonomy, competency, and relatedness. In other words, humans need to feel related, competent, and autonomous to grow and act optimally.

In this context, autonomy means the freedom to authentically initiate and endorse behaviors when one relates with values and social settings. Further research identified the critical importance of supporting autonomy: read more.

Autonomy Support

In the parent-child relationship, autonomy support means explaining desired behavior and recognizing the feelings and perspective of the child. It also means offering choices and encouraging initiative, and minimizing the use of psychological control.

Different from promoting independence, autonomy support works well with discipline and high levels of parental involvement. Such involvement requires time and psychological availability.

Parents and teachers may face pressure though. This may be due to factors including stressful lifestyles and internal anxiety about the future, limited resources, and unpredictability. Such pressure can lower autonomy support and lead to unhealthy controlling behaviors.

This in turn blocks children’s innate tendency to engage in interesting activities and internalize important values and social behaviors. The result is lower ability to determine their pathways.

Raising Self-Directed Learners

Based on the above research, raising children as self-directed learners in school and at home depends as much on self-clarity, perspective, and resolve, as the practice of blended learning.

With conviction, parents and teachers could raise children as self-directed learners with some simple guidelines:

1. See things from the perspective of the child.
2. Draw relevance to the child’s perspective and emotions when explaining desired behavior.
3. Ask for the child’s choice instead of telling.
4. Support the child’s learning when they have made their choice.
5. Spend time to encourage the child’s initiative.    

At Gracademia, we commit to raising self-directed learners when we conduct our courses. We support their natural desire to play, teach them important subjects with social-emotional learning, relate their learning to the real world, and encourage them to express. We believe in helping them set their pathways. Find out more about our courses here.