Conference Program

The choice of unschooling is often criticized as an individualistic withdrawal from civil society. Drawing on a situated and experiential perspective as an unschooling parent, this presentation challenges that narrative. Building on English et al. (2024), it examines unschooling as a form of “democracy without curriculum,” where learning emerges through participation, relationships, and shared decision-making rather than externally imposed educational structures.

Although contemporary educational theories increasingly emphasize learner-centered approaches, institutional schooling often limits genuine autonomy through compulsory curricula, standardized assessment, and age-graded progression. Unschooling pushes student-centered principles further by recognizing children’s capacity to direct their own learning and participate meaningfully in decisions affecting their lives.

The paper focuses on unschooling as a process of mutual parent-child transformation. Creating a democratic learning environment requires adults to engage in a continual process of deschooling, unlearning assumptions rooted in performance, control, surveillance, and standardized outcomes. Following Illich (1971), this involves questioning the tendency to equate education with institutional instruction. Adult authority is not abandoned but reconfigured through dialogue, collaboration, and co-research.

From this perspective, the home becomes a porous social space where learning, care, and citizenship are continuously enacted. Rather than preparing children for future participation, unschooling recognizes them as citizens in the present, actively engaged in cultural, relational, and community life.

The presentation argues that unschooling is not civic disengagement but a practice of democratic renewal grounded in relational care. It concludes that regulatory frameworks imposing school-based standards risk undermining educational pluralism and limiting democratic innovation, whereas unschooling offers a living example of citizenship practiced through autonomy, responsibility, and mutual care.