Is wildschooling the answer to the future of education in South Africa?

According to educator and life coach, Natalie Whyte most education systems, including South Africa’s are stuck in the 80s.

Whyte believes that we are all but preparing our children for the jobs and soft skills that will be needed in the future. According to her, we are not using the vision of the future – which is ultimately what we’re preparing our kids for – to create the curriculum that we’re giving them now.

By the looks of things, we can’t keep up with the technological changes happening around us these days. Why? Could our education system be lacking? Isn’t it time to consider alternative schooling methods, especially with life evolving so rapidly?

What are the alternative schooling options in South Africa?

While home schooling is an alternative schooling method that has been broadly explored in South Africa, not much is known about other schooling – or rather unschooling – methods.

With home schooling, children are still required to follow a certain curriculum. With unschooling, children get to learn through experience.

Whyte, who studied psychology and then moved on to education, is passionate about alternative schooling methods. Her alternative take on education stems from doing psychology first and particularly working with children with autism.

“I was able to see the actual neural learning process,” she says.

“Experience is so important to be the framework before you put the theory on top, and that has informed my teaching and education style since then. The experience creates all the sensory stimuli which then creates the neural networks and then on top of that you put the theory.”

Whyte has since compiled a website from her research on alternative schooling methods, which now includes 48 different schooling trends across the globe. Under these you’ll find the term, unschooling which can also be seen as an umbrella term for concepts like ‘wildschooling’ and ‘worldschooling’.

Unschooling explained

Natalie says schooling is very prescriptive and learners are rewarded extrinsically, which damages the internal motivational system.

“Without getting some external direction of what to do, they don’t know how to seek pleasure themselves through doing an activity.”

She describes unschooling as taking children out of school and literally leaving them be. They need to be allowed to get into a pattern of doing something because they love doing it and they want to do it.

“The amazing outcome is that you actually end up seeing the children’s aptitudes, because they will always go toward the things they love the most. And, as long as you just keep providing a variety of stimuli, they will go toward that aptitude, and it becomes really easy to help them and guide them to go and study and go into what they are good at.”

READ: Anti-school mom takes daughters to the beach instead of school

What is wildschooling?

Wildschooling is one of many forms of unschooling and is entirely connected to nature.

According to author, Brittany Horton, who wrote a book on wildschooling, it is a progressive parenting philosophy that encourages creativity, curiosity, and joy – things that children naturally express. With wildschooling children are not required to follow a specific curriculum.

Horton says that the focus of the unschooling philosophy is “trust of a child’s own ability to learn without coercion and encourages children to explore their passions.”

Her book titled Wildschooling focuses on the evolutionary aspect of parenting and human consciousness. “We are facilitating our children’s innate potential to success in a joyful, productive life by pursuing their passions, and not someone else’s agenda,” she writes.

“We focus on child-led, inquiry-based experiences and projects, drawing inspiration and opportunities for growth from everyday life. The goal here is to get up and get out into our community and out of our shell. Providing the time and space for lots of free, unstructured play. We look to nature as our primary platform for knowledge, reflection and discovery.”

Natalie practiced wildschooling with her children for a short period of time and says it involves using the natural environment as a stimulus for learning; a cue to learn different concepts.

Why is wildschooling not practiced in South Africa?

Natalie believes it’s purely due to a lack of knowledge that wildschooling is not being practiced in South Africa. While some attempts have been made to adapt the education system, the method of teaching has yet to see change.

“What I have seen is the intention of bringing more technology into the school, but it’s very much been an idea of replacing textbooks with digital textbooks,” says Natalie.

“They haven’t changed the way in which teaching happens. They are changing the tools that we’re using to teach.”

She says that the way children are taught needs to change and believes that that is what’s holding us back.

The outcomes

Whilst there is not much research on unschooling and its various facets yet, Natalie says she pulled her children out of school because she noticed that they were lacking initiative.

She kicked off their unschooling journey with gamified education, followed by worldschooling (often also referred to as travel schooling) during which they travelled across South Africa for ten months.

“They saw every single ecosystem in South Africa,” Natalie says. “We lived in communes, we lived in backpackers, Airbnb’s, we camped – every way you could live, we did it.”

Her children were exposed to various ways of living and different people and cultures. But, her children missed other children and having friends.

During the Covid-19 lockdown, Natalie’s children unschooled at home and afterwards they asked to be put into a school where they can make friends. Now, they are in a small private school where she is also a teacher.

“If you truly are educating your child for your child, then the cue comes from them. What do they need?” According to Natalie you need to adapt what you believe about education to your children’s needs. “The child will lead you.”

Challenges that might come with unschooling methods

Natalie says doubt is probably the biggest challenge one would have to face once embarking on the unschooling journey, as there is not much research on the outcomes that could back your decision.

With that comes the external pressures from family, friends and the education system. “It’s trying to justify something that you don’t know the outcome of,” she says.

This could also lead to self-doubt, but Natalie says letting your children lead you will ensure that you always take care of them first, adapting according to their needs.

Other unschooling obstacles might include a lack of information and socialising. Children need to experience diversity. When your children aren’t exposed to other people, it definitely has an impact on their ability to socialise and to connect to people who are different to them.

What is the best way forward for education then?

For Natalie it starts from the top. Educators should consider the various education trends and see which ones can be applied in South Africa. Even if you start small, it’s a step in the right direction.

Teacher training is of utmost importance. “You can take any curriculum. The curriculum is irrelevant. It’s the way in which it is taught.”

The secret lies in making education into an experience first – whether it’s a game, an experiment, a story or a simulation – and then putting the theory on top. Like with wildschooling, “we learn through association and repetition. If you create an experience, the association is already there, you almost don’t have to repeat it.”