ABSTRACT

Individual autonomy is widely regarded as a fundamental value in educational theory and practice. Supporters of a systematic approach to knowledge in teaching and learning often claim that one of the main outcomes, if not the most important, of the educational process is its contribution to the making of an autonomous person. In the tradition of liberal education, the forms of human thought and knowledge are to be studied for their own sake, for the distinctive values they can bring to a person's life, and not simply for the sake of an extrinsic end they may happen to serve. It is not surprising that the qualities of mind promoted through such disinterested studies should be described in terms of personal freedom and autonomy. Among the so-called radicals in education, autonomy is not simply an achievement to be promoted, but a condition to be respected even in children and thus a basic criterion of the kind of educational procedures that may legitimately be employed. Whatever other defense may be offered for such practices as the open classroom, participatory democracy in decisions of schooling, selfdirected and individualised learning, the stress on creativity and learning by discovery, they are often thought to be justified in the name of autonomy.