Independent Learning?

We all want to foster independent learning in our classrooms, right?  Be careful what you wish for!

Independent learners in the end take charge of their own learning and use their teachers to help them on their own learning journey, which will lead them to the peak of academic success in the form of outstanding exam results.  Over the years I have come across these learners and perhaps I have played a part in creating them.  Paradoxically, these learners are also the ones who take up a lot of teacher time because of - not despite - their independence.  They will be asking more questions, and questions at a deeper level.  In my subject they will be looking to make products in novel ways or using advanced techniques that others would not consider.  In fact these independent learners demand more support than more dependent learners: strange but true.  More dependent learners are not aware that they need the support, are reluctant to ask for it or are unaware of the next level so cannot ask about it.  These independent learners that any teacher loves to teach; they challenge themselves and they challenge their teachers.  They also deliver exceptional exam results. 

There is another breed of independent learner that I have come across.  These come fully formed into the classroom; I cannot take any credit in their creation.  These learners also take responsibility for their learning but they do not recognise the constraints of the school curriculum and I have to say that computing and physics - my subjects - attract more than their fair share of this breed of independent learner.  These learners also explore levels that ordinary learners are unaware of.  One of these learners once tried to produce a laptop version of an old Amiga computer.  You may well ask why?  He did it because it was a challenge and he thought he could do it.  Another decided to make a touchscreen computer, long before the iPad, and he got it to work.

These people are the true independent learners.  They really are driven by their own interests and their own curiosity and if it does not correspond with the demands of the exam board it does not matter to them - they'll ignore the exam board and carry on ploughing their own furrow.  There is something to admire in this attitude although these guys (and they are almost all guys) can be infuriating to teach.  Also, they rarely achieve the exam grades that they could because they will not focus on the artificial constraints put on them by exam specifications.  They often underachieve, sometime massively; however, if they had to opportunity for a viva voce with an examiner they would fly through it.  They often know and understand more than their teachers within the field that they are interested in.  These people are the mavericks who have the potential to change the world but our current educational system, with its league tables, value added tables and floor standards does not cater for them.  It is a shame that the educational system as it currently is formulated, does not respond better to the needs of these students.