Abstract

Author:
Junru Zhao

Doi: 10.26480/eldn.02.2024.43.48

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License CC BY 4.0, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Unschooling is a form of homeschooling in which parents stay clear of any formal or standardized curriculum, offer their children much freedom, trust and respect and encourage them to play and learn completely based on their own interests and at their own pace. Due to its potential benefits, such as fostering children’s intrinsic motivation, facilitating their autonomy, and increasing the whole families’ closeness, unschooling has gained much popularity worldwide in recent years. This position paper will first take a review of previous scholars’ literature in identifying significant content and findings related to unschooling philosophy and practices. Then, it will further explore whether unschooling could be an acceptable substitute for traditional early childhood education based on the findings of current study. By drawing lessons from this research, preschool and kindergarten teachers today can build on the advantages of unschooling to compensate for the disadvantages of traditional early education when conducting their future teaching activities, so as to fully promote young children’s development in all physical, cognitive, language and social-emotional domains.