What did you learn at school today? By Naomi Fisher

School isn't the only way to get an education, and the school way isn't the only way to learn. In fact, some of the skills we need at school are quite different to the skills we need in order to direct our own learning.

Naomi Fisher How do we learn?

This table from my new book contrasts some of the skills we need to do school 'well' with the skills we need to direct our own learning. Jumping in rather than waiting for instructions. Quitting rather than sticking with it when you've had enough. Diving down the rabbit holes rather than keeping on topic. So many of us learnt how to do school without realising that in the process we were forgetting how to learn.

The table is from Naomi Fisher's ‘A Different Way to Learn: Neurodiversity and Self-Directed Education’.

Dr Naomi Fisher is a clinical psychologist and author of Changing Our Minds: How Children Can Take Control of their Learning. She writes about self-directed education, trauma, autism and imagines a better way to learn.

Read her articles on Substack