Self Education For Excellence

"If you've picked up this book, you may be struggling with the same questions I once had, as someone who decided to pursue unschooling with her two children many years ago. Now that you've decided that your child(ren) will be leaving the traditional school setting, you may be asking yourself some pretty deep questions. What, if any, curriculum should you apply? You may be asking yourself, "Am I qualified to be their primary educator? What if I don't do a good job of preparing them for life because I overlooked what they needed in their formative education years? What is the healthiest approach to education? How does self-education work and how do I know if it is the right approach for my child?"Let us first look at some points around the natural development of a child. For the moment, I would like you to go back to the time when your child or children were very young, and were just starting to reach certain milestones, like crawling or babbling. Do you recall when they first pulled themselves up to a standing position? What about when they sat for the very first time? Do you remember when they took those first steps by themselves, and the look on their face when they did? You probably witnessed, as I did, their pure wonder and self-accomplishment radiating from the inside out. It was all over their face. Pride in oneself is an amazing thing. It's ownership of a job well-done. "Mom, Dad, look at me! I did it!" Hopefully, we didn't miss it as we ran from room to room removing all the low hanging lamps, vases, and costly collectibles." Allyson McQuinn, The author If you're looking for further justification for taking the plunge into self-education, world schooling or unschooling, look no further. You hold in your hands a book that will satisfy your need for a history of education, a rich philosophy, a take on health as it pertains to self-education and how you're in fact laying the bricks for autonomy and even human freedom for your child. "By picking up this book, you are helping to think beyond a model of indoctrination that operates against the individual, one which actively works against our mental health, sense of self and social justice, which in turn, manages to completely extinguish the learner's natural love of learning. By adapting the concepts of self education you are working against the narrow, ageist, classist, ableist, sexist and racist version of 'education' that the current system and world at large supports. By picking up this book, you are starting to transform your own ideas surrounding the social construct we call "education" and start to focus on the value of "learning" instead." Lainie Liberti"Ally, I am going through it all several times and each time I hear myself saying "Yes!" to SO much here; it's blowing my mind and satisfying something so fundamental within me that it's like reaching the summit of a sheer rock face cliff climb when you get to put two feet on the ground and REALLY feel them there! Planted. Solid ground under my feet; and damn it feels good!" Lesley Breen, DMH, DynPh, Live & Layered Blood Cell Microscopy, MEd."I'm enjoying this book immensely. Thank you for sending it my way. And for reminding me that keeping my kids home with me and out of the school system and IN the world is an act of love, a tending and a caring for, not a test or challenge or egoic kind of practice. I love how you're connecting disease with not only compulsory learning, but the waning and stifling of those organic questions, the questions that become our dreams, really, our ambitions. I've read a lot of deschooling/unschooling texts and have never (I don't think) seen that blatant connection. I believe it." Amy Robertson, Unschooling Mom

* Can a school-led system truly become self-improving? * What is the difference between good and great schools? * Who should inspect and regulate? * How should local authorities change? * Is the landscape ahead one of all schools in partnerships? The English schools' system is at a crossroads. This landmark collection of essays brings together some of the country's leading education thinkers and practitioners. Their polemic is intended to help teachers, school leaders, governors, researchers and policy makers think deeply about future directions. 'As a Minister, I would ask which organisation was responsible for resolving a particular problem in education, only to be told: 'Don't worry, Minister - it's no longer the DFE. That is now a responsibility of the School-Led System. They will be delivering it.' Often, when you probed a little deeper, you discovered that the school-led system was nowhere near as well formed and ever present as some Ministers and senior civil servants liked to think.' David Laws 'This is a time of great possibility. Teachers are attempting to do extraordinary things. If we had more courage to shape our schools around what we believe to be a good education, then we could make life so much better not just for teachers but for the students we serve.' Peter Hyman 'For a self-improving system to be truly successful and to have a significant impact, it requires the highest performing schools to be outward reaching and to establish deep partnerships.' Rachel Macfarlane 'A self-improving school system must not become a self-regarding or, worse, a self-protecting school system. The role of external challenge is key to this.' Russell Hobby

Although specific definitions may change over time, few goals are considered more important to education than the pursuit of academic excellence. There are many different viewpoints on this issue today among educational psychologists and other social scientists. One particularly glaring fault line in the debate divides those who emphasize developing individual learning and those who focus on promoting cultural and institutional reform. These two perspectives are rarely addressed in a single volume. In this book, well-known theorists and researchers present a range of perspectives on how to promote excellence in education. This allows those who stress transformation of educational practice and those who emphasize individual abilities to speak to each, and invites readers to jointly consider the arguments for both positions, or for some synthesis of the two. The point is to consider how these two divergent viewpoints can be reconciled, or simply coordinated, in an effort to benefit both students and society at large. The main thesis is that excellence can be fostered without sacrificing equity, both of which are fundamental tenets of a democratic education. The issues addressed in this book have implications and relevance for school reform efforts and across the fields of educational psychology, curriculum and instruction, philosophy of education, and educational leadership. The volume provides a unique source for students and teachers in various disciplines who want to gain a broader and more integrated view of the nature and development of excellence through education.

Transform ordinary ho-hum homeschooling into legendary success with the same techniques used by Thomas Edison, Teddy Roosevelt, Agatha Christie, Louis Armstrong, and other famous homeschoolers. Parents will be inspired to break free of conventions, unleash their child's unique creative genius, cultivate determination, and create an authentic atmosphere of learning.

This book critically analyses the current education political strategy of cultivating excellence in education. It shows how the new policy for selecting talented students in Denmark deconstructs the compromise from which the comprehensive school was built and reduces equal opportunities. It discusses how the current practice of measurement, selection and guidance of talented students brings about significant changes in education policies, in pedagogic practices, a restructuring of school organisations, and changed requirements of teachers. It explains how the internal differentiation of education systems based on self-selection and free choice, but also on new assessment techniques, tends to widen the inequality gap between students. The analysis clearly shows the relationship between the circulation of new ideas and normative frameworks at international level, and their transfer into national policies, while situating these developments in a socio-historical perspective. The book illustrates by means of a concrete case study with important empirical data that demonstrate the reality and influence of this new policy on the day-to-day work of teachers.