5 - Research Project: K-12 vs equity, inclusion and student agency
Project scope
Categories
Data analysis Humanities Education Social sciencesSkills
self-discipline management researchNumber of positions available: 1 team of 2 persons
The UnschoolingSchool.com team is launching a project to synthesize the many sources of proof and evidence that Self-Directed Education (SDE) works and is an optimal way to educate children. We have partnered with Riipen.com to engage university and college students in short projects to help with the work of gathering and synthesizing the evidence.
If you are interested in helping us change the narrative, read the document in the Resource section.
This project will be centered on the following problem:
The conventional school system does not provide equal opportunities for students, which restricts equity, inclusion and student agency.
Question: What evidence do we have that these rights and opportunities are restricted in conventional schools?
For example:
· fails to provide the equal possibility of success for all and practice for democratic participation
· infringes on basic human rights with inherent barriers & constraints for some segments of the population
· overrepresentation by some groups in: drop-out numbers, underemployment, welfare
· unequal participation in: higher education, management,
· puts a higher value on classic academic intelligence vs physical, practical, emotional, artistic intelligences
· is not effective for groups/individuals who learn best through real-life experience
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Find the evidence that equality and inclusion are restricted in conventional education, and the current system's inability to ‘work’ for those who don’t ‘fit the model’.
Resources
a) Data that demonstrates inequity: Indigenous Affairs, Statistics Canada, Ministry of Education, Council of Ministers of Education, People for Education
b) The Harm of Coercive Schooling, Peter Gray
c) Interview J’eanna Clements, author of Decolonization of Education https://www.unschoolingschool.com/decolonizing-school.html
d) Interview Akila Richards - author of Raising Free People
We are looking for one team of 2 students for this project. If you know someone you would like to work with, you can apply as a team.
Deliverable is a report, APA format, to be discussed prior to the start of the project
We will provide a minimum of 5 hours mentorship to help guide you.
About the company
We are a national non-for profit organization dedicated to creating a shift in what counts as learning and education. We are seeking open-minded, critical, and creative thinkers to seek out evidence for our belief that the time is NOW to radically change public schooling and create meaningful, sustainable, learning opportunities for all.
“Ideally, what should be said to every child, repeatedly, throughout his or her school life is something like this: 'You are in the process of being indoctrinated. We have not yet evolved a system of education that is not a system of indoctrination. We are sorry, but it is the best we can do.” Doris Lessing in The Golden Notebook
We are dedicated to changing this narrative!
Unschooling School is in initiative (launched in 2020) of Classroom Connections, founded in 1997.
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