Doc. Degree at St Mary’s University, is intended to find out the benefits of self-directed learning for young people who at risk of being excluded from mainstream schools. What is a self-directed learner? A young person is a self-directed learner if they are able to choose what and how they learn. They may choose to learn on their own, with family members or in informal groups, clubs or part time
classes. If a young person chooses to take a class in a teacher-led environment such as a school or college; they are still a self-directed learner as it is the act of choosing freely that defines them as a self-directed learner. A self-directed learner will choose what they want to learn and this includes choosing to study formal qualifications and awards but also includes learning skills and knowledge outside of the national curriculum. What sort of research is being done? Jeannette is collecting stories from young people who have got into 'trouble' at school and left to become a self-directed learner through home education or by joining a democratic school or self-directed learning centre. In order to collect the stories, Jeannette is inviting young people to tell their stories to her through the format of an interview. Jeannette will listen to their stories and turn them into a written piece of narrative. Participants will check the written narrative and can make amendments until they are satisfied that the story represents their experience. The stories will be anonymised. The interviews will take place via the Zoom video conferencing platform. The interviews will take place at a date and time that will be agreed with the young person and the parent/ carer (if they are under 18). The person carrying out the interview will be Jeannette Simpson, the researcher. The audio from the interviews will be recorded and transcribed into written notes. Audio recordings will be destroyed as soon as they are transcribed. The draft and final narrative account will be sent to the young person for them to give consent for their use. There is a possibility that the research may be published, but participants will remain anonymous in any outputs and they would not be able to be identified in any way. If you would like more information please click this link which allow you to download the participant information sheet. https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-5tqo59TI710vCAsHtHTSO9xBnrPYdcT?usp=sharing
Finally, if you think you may like to participate and want Jeannette Simpson the researcher to contact you please complete the recruitment questionnaire below:
https://stmarys.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/doctorate-research-project-self-directed-learning-as-a-p
