Reboot Education with Self Directed Learning

Being a self-directed learner and having the freedom to explore means that students can dedicate themselves to projects that are relevant to them, developing persistance, and learning through real life experience. Summer is a creative entrepreneur who wanted to combine her interests and have some fun in the process. Ethan is a musician, composer and performer who wanted to customise his bass guitar. Here are their accounts of their most recent projects. 

• I put in a proposal for a School market day so the Students could come together and create their own produce and have chance to sell it and feel what it was like to have a stall and interact with other people whilst selling their goods.  Summer

• I stripped all the parts off and sanded it to bare wood. Then I sprayed it with primer and sanded it again. Holes and cracks in the wood grain were filled before spraying it again with primer, and giving it a final coat of paint. The final piece was to solder back the electronics and restring it.  I feel amazing. It was a lot of work and I made loads of mistakes, but I learned a lot and it was worth it. I pretty much got a new guitar.  Ethan

Thank you for your continued generous support. You are helping to make democratic self-directed education available to more and more children, and inspiring others to trust in self-directed learning. The movement is growing. The 3rd Democratic Education Ireland Annual Conference was held in November this year. Trustees, founders, staff and students from all of the Irish Democratic Schools, and members from start-up groups from all around the country attended to share their experiences and strengthen the voice of democratic, self-directed learning in Ireland.