LiTTLe Conference

The LiTTLe conference was held in London on Saturday 11th June 2011. The conference was intended for parents engaged in (or interested in) an autonomous (or unschooling) approach to education. The conference had been recommended to me by Katie Pybus a home-educating mother and blogger and member of my facebook group. It had also been recommended to me by Jeanette Nelson a fellow PhD student researching home education in England who had found me via my profile on academia.edu.

I was thankful for the recommendation as the day turned out to be useful both in terms of its formal content and the networking opportunities it afforded. It was interesting to listen to authors whose work I had been engaging with since embarking on this research in 2007. Whilst the conference was interesting and valuable in terms of my research interests, it must be remembered that the insight was into one part of these educational traditions and not indicative of the whole: whilst many families have an autonomous (or unschooling) approach many others do not. This is an issue I keep in mind when considering sampling for my research.

The conference was organised by Julie, James and Adam Daniel. Julie reported how she had thought it would be good for someone to organise an event where families could hear from inspirational and knowledgeable speakers. In mentioning this idea Julie had realised that she could be this 'someone' and had set about setting up the day with help from her young son in finding venues.

Imran Shah, a home-educating father and social worker, spoke on ‘Attachment: the value of attachment in your child's early years and in home educating families’. Whilst Imran's talk was not of direct relevance to my research, it gave some context to the philosophy and science behind some of the parenting and education methods preferred by some autonomous home-educators.

Sandra Dodd spoke on 'The Past, The Future and Now. What helps with naturallearning, what hinders? Can people go too far or not far enough? Is it possibleto mess this up?'. Although Sandra's experiences were from the United States, I found Sandra’s anecdotes of autonomous learning and her philosophies of life and learning to be useful at a broader contextual level. 

David Waynforth an unschooling father of two and senior lecturer and researcher at the University of East Anglia spoke on 'Children'sability to make healthy, autonomous food choices: a scientific perspective'. I found David’s talk interesting on a personal level. It was one of many times I am glad to be a social sciences researcher, for it affords me, sometimes unexpected, access to information and theories of general life relevance. I found myself reflecting on how little I tended to crave chocolate when eating a delicious local balanced diet in India. I also identified my habit of using a cake (or two!) from the University Library tea room as a reward for a good session of work in the Reading Room.

A lunch of sandwiches was provided. This gave a chance for networking and informal conversations. During the day I was able to meet with many home-educating parents and to hear informally of their experiences, motivations, practices and concerns. I enjoyed talking with the speakers, particularly those whose work I had read and those with whom I had been in correspondence in earlier stages of the research. 

Mike Fortune-Wood's talk on 'Children's rights: thegovernment, the agenda and autonomously home educating families' was of particular relevance to my research for it proposed a theory of how the political context of home education in England had changed over recent years and why. Having read Mike's work and having had some correspondence with him, I was aware of his perspective and theories. However, I found it useful to hear him share his understandings in this format and to hear his views on more recent developments.

Harriet Pattison and Alan Thomas gave a session entitled 'What does it mean to learn something without being taught? Autonomouseducation and literacy learning'. Alan’s work, Educating Children at Home, was one of the first I started with when I became interested in this area and thus I found his reflections on his early research experiences to be particularly interesting. Alan and Harriet shared some of their earlier findings. I was familiar with some these findings through having read  their book, How Children Learn at Home. I was now interested to hear their findings specifically relating to reading. Not yet ready to report on many substantial findings at this stage, Harriet and Alan led a brainstorming session with the audience regarding how they believed children learnt to read autonomously. I found this very interesting on a methodological level for it questioned the dichotomy between data collection and research presentation.

Schuyler Waynforth's talk entitled 'Shifted Paradigms: the view from this side of the school fence' combined family anecdotes and diverse sources of information with a philosophical perspective in an engaging essay. Schuyler’s talk felt like a letter written for a friend and shared aloud. Albeit not formed around my specific research foci, Schuyler’s talk held some substantive interest to me for it offered insight into her families’ education practices, philosophies and experiences. Moreover, the form of the talk was interesting for me methodologically, given that I hope to use the written and oral testimonial accounts as the basis of my research. The account encouraged me to reflect upon the nature of memory and oral history, as often discussed with my supervisor. Sometimes oral history appears to take the form of a story often recounted and at others it has a more variable nature and constructed form. Schuyler’s letter often appeared to blend the two with a dialogue created between her philosophising and her personal stories. At times, the philosophy dominated with personal anecdotes used as examples beside references from the wider-world found in research or the news. At other times personal life-story narrative formed a basis for philosophical tangents. I suppose this natural way of writing is a mirror both of the ways we think, learn and experience life with our thoughts and experiences reciprocally informing one another. I imagine that Schuyler’s holistic approach to the talk may be a reflection of her educational philosophy and practices. Schuyler's talk afforded me insight into how some parents view education. However, as ever, I am reminded that whilst some may share Schuyler's, and/or the earlier speakers' views, these traditions and communities are characterised by diversity and variety and that precludes suggesting that such views are universally shared.

There followed a pizza supper, with further opportunities for networking and discussion and a final question and answer session. This afforded insights into parents’ concerns which included meeting the distinct needs of siblings, dealing with social services and political and legal developments.

I am very glad I attended the day.

References

Badman, G. (2009, June) Report to the Secretary of State on the Review of Elective Home Education in England (Crown Copyright, London, The Stationery Office)

Dodd, S. (2006) ‘Moving a Puddle and other essays’ (Lulu)

Dodd, S. (2009) ‘Sandra Dodd’s Big Book of Unschooling’ (Lulu)

Fortune-Wood, M. (2005) The Face of Home-based Education 1: Who, Why and How (Nottingham, Education Heretics Press)

Fortune-Wood, M. (2006) The Face of Home-Based Education 2: Numbers, Support, Special Needs (Educational Heretics Press)

Fortune-Wood, M. ed. Home Education: The Journal of Home Education in the UK and Beyond (Cinnamon Press)

House of Commons: Children, Schools and Families Committee (2009) The Review of Elective Home Education, second report of session 2009-10 (The House of Commons, London: The Stationery Office Limited)

Thomas, A. (1998) Educating Children at Home (London, Paul Chapman)

Thomas, A. and Pattison, H. (2007) How Children Learn at Home (Continuum International Publishing Group)

Waynforth, D.C. (2007) ‘The influence of parent-infant co-sleeping, nursing, and childcare on cortisol and SlgA immunity in a samply of British Children, Developmental Psychobiology’, 49 (6), pp. 640-648


© Charlotte D Rochez