Reactions to the possibility of alternative educational modes

This presentation looks at responses interviewed research participants report having experienced when they meet with the possibilities of alternative educational modes.  The study being carried out in this regard forms part of the data collection for a PhD thesis on what happens to the self of parents and others (such as educationists) when discovery of alternatively oriented pedagogic possibilities happens. The discovery is considered in terms of both a sudden ‘awakening’ and also a gradual ‘dawning’.
A validating body of research has now been done on the various methods and manners of alternative education and, considered in particular here, home education (Meighan 1995; Rothermel 2002; Neuman and Avriam 2003; Thomas and Pattison 2007). There is subsequently data to support an emerging philosophy of the ways in which the self of alternative educators and educatees is as different from the mainstream as the pedagogical practices utilised.
The ‘metaphysical’ and practical ways in which this is the case, in light of this new research specifically on the discovery of such modes, are considered.
An emphasis on the language used by research participants as they describe the moment/s of discovery of the possibility of alternative educational modes for themselves, and the children in their care, is offered with a view to highlighting some interesting parallels between the discovery of such modes and spiritual awakenings of the self. A brief philosophical consideration of why and how this might be the case is made through a late Foucauldian lens of an ‘aesthetics of existence’ (Foucault 1986).

Foucault, M. (1986). The Care of the Self - The History of Sexuality Vol 3. London, Penguin.
Meighan, R. (1995). "Home-based Education Effectiveness Research and Some of its Implications." Educational Review 47(3): 275-287.
Neuman, A. and A. Avriam (2003). "Homeschooling as a Fundamental Change in Lifestyle." Evaluation and Research in Education 17(2&3): 132-143.
Rothermel, P. (2002). "Home-Education: Rationales, Practices and Outcomes." from http://www.dur.ac.uk/p.j.rothermel/Research/Researchpaper/BERAworkingpaper.htm.
Thomas, A. and H. Pattison (2007). How Children Learn at Home. London, Continuum.