These Australian kids are missing out on learning basic life skills. It’s time to call that what it is: Neglect.
Unschooling. It’s not to be confused with home schooling — because its advocates don’t just reject the idea of attending a school, they reject the idea of a curriculum altogether.
That’s right. Instead of classes, chapters and tests, children are expected to rely on play, curiosity, travel and family discussions to learn. Oh, and unschooling is all about “learner-led” education — meaning, quite literally, that children just get to choose what they want to do each day. (Uh-huh…)
If that sounds irritatingly new-age or just downright shocking to you, you’re not alone. Because as a NSW parliamentary inquiry report has just found, the increasingly popular education trend may amount to “educational neglect”.
“The committee is concerned that taken to its extreme, children who are unschooled may not achieve even basic levels of literacy and numeracy,” the inquiry’s newly released report says. “The application of unschooling may constitute educational neglect.”
The committee’s deputy chairman, Greens MP John Kaye, added that “subjecting children to unschooling raises serious educational and welfare issues”.
Despite those alarming revelations, NSW Premier Mike Baird has ruled out investigating the trend — this week signing an official response saying the government won’t support the inquiry’s recommendation for independent research into unschooling, Fairfax reports.
Top Comments
Private or Public schooling can work, Homeschooling can work & Unschooling/Child Led learning can work. As long as it is done correctly. There is a difference between being a facilitator for your child and neglecting your child. Most unschooling & homeschooling parents do not neglect their children. If anything they are much more involved in their child's learning than parents who just send their child to school expecting other people to fill their child's head with all the things the goverment believes your child should learn/know. My children go to public school only because I am very busy during the day and do not have the time to dedicate to my childrens interests & learning. My eldest daughter has made it clear that she does not want to go to high school so I am planning to do child led learning with her when she is older. Hopefully by then I will have the time I need to devote to being a good facilitator.
The problem with un-schooling is to many times it "Mask" neglect. For instance, I have heard of some families who un-school and their children are indeed extreamly intelligent...but because un-schooling must still have boundaries to be effective. Than you have the opposite. The family that un-schools and allows their kid to do nothing. Perhaps they spend one hour a week playing with basic math or reading concepts and the other 35 hours of school time running around the neighborhood or playing at home. Now lets stop and think about how the second mention is unfair to these children. What you'll find behind this second sort of family is the selfish mother who can't bear to admit her child needs special help in school and whom she can't control at home, a parent who suffers from depression, or the prepper type parent who is preparing their children for end of the world scenarios. What they are doing is taking away opportunity from their vulnerable children who don't know any better. Can they not teach their children all these special and fun skills while also offering them a formal education? Sure they can! Perhaps there needs to be a little more regulation for homeschooling/unschooling parents in which they have to present a curriculum or learning plan? Its unfortunate that there needs to be so much oversight and government involvement but these parents who cannot manage their children and are neglecting them are hiding under the veil 'unschooling',