The document discusses theories of autonomy in learning. It describes Maria Montessori's view that autonomy occurs when learners interact with their environment and can freely direct their own learning. It also discusses Alexander Neill's view that autonomy involves learners establishing their own rules. Finally, it discusses John Dewey's view that autonomy in school involves self-direction and developing independence through responsibilities. The document concludes that autonomy is best supported when learners are able to challenge themselves, transfer knowledge to real contexts, and develop self-learning strategies with teacher guidance.

1. Nicolás Rozo, November 13th, 2014
Autonomy
Autonomous learning refers to the attitude learners have towards a learning process.
Autonomy takes place when there is interaction between the learner and the subject of
study, and a mutual relationship where the students find ways to construct a self-governing
identity towards their learning process. In this way, they can attempt to reach the
understanding of the topic being taught or learned. Moreover, autonomy refers to a personal
process. It is that learners have attitudes and aptitudes towards their own learning
processes. Students act independently to find tools and ways of enhancing their
understanding and learning skills. They are acting autonomously because the purpose of
each individual is to acquire knowledge to excel in the subject of study.
Theories of Autonomy
The idea of autonomy came from different theories such as Maria Montessori, who
claims that students develop themselves through sensory stimuli (Montessori, 2009). They
have to have a prepared environment that supplies the personal and material needs. In this
way, this supplied environment makes them curious and at the same time it raises the
individual work for the construction of new knowledge. A prepared environment is the
greatest aid to apply self-education because it can help to create knowledge and make
students curious to learn on their own. Both The external and internal environment could
affect motivation and autonomy to learn (Montessori, 2009). When learners have
experiences in the environment, they feel the need to carry out conscious research to
enhance their learning process. This is what Montessori call “freedom of development”
(Montessori, 2009). Well-provided environments may motivate students or make them

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interact with the environment around them. When learners have a structured environment,
they can act on their own because they can find the answers to most of their questions.
The action of being independent is also called free learning development.
Classrooms have to provide all kind of materials so that students can learn and interact with
new and different things on their own. This is call “self-education” (Montessori, 2009). For
this reason, it is advisable to approach students to have real jobs and tasks to put their
knowledge into practice and develop their interest in being autonomous (Montessori, 2009).
Montessori also argued that the content must be shown in the right moment of
growth and brain development, so that students can interact and become interested in
researching different sources for the same topic naturally. When the materials and topics
are shown following students natural growth, they carry out their tasks with relative
isolation to be independent. This is call “motivational-learning” (Montessori, 2009).
Students may have a free yet controlled system to explore their interests in order to have an
individual learning process. For this, teachers may implement different exercises so that
students not only learn on their own, but also from the guidance of the teacher in order to
make them have self-assessed processes and make self-corrections to their learning.
Moreover, individuals are able to learn on their own through exposures and relationships
with others. This is what makes them have an active role in their learning process
(Montessori, 2009). Every learner is a “self practice being” (Montessori, 2009), inquisitive
and anxious to learn, looking for ways to enhance learning unconsciously. When the person
is able to learn individually, this person is “absorbed” and able to set up his or her own
rules.

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Montessori’s concept of learners flourishing within a free but controlled system is
taken even further by Neill (2004), who argues that independence takes place when learners
are able to construct their own rules in order to have free personal growth. In this way,
students will develop their own ideas of real tasks (Neill, 2004).To develop personality and
have an individual role in the learning process. Students have to participate in different
activities in early ages. Bands and other extracurricular learning groups helps them to
discover what they want to learn. The cognitive development starts in the early ages. That
is why students might construct their own rules taking into account their preferences.
Moreover, when learners are able to organize and establish rules in the learning process,
they are able to have a self-government process where students establish their time and
rules to follow their interests (Neill, 2004). Teachers must know pupils’ needs to develop
activities so that they can put into practice what they have learned and develop more
strategies for their learning process. This gives students the opportunity to construct a
learning background. Experiences in learning or learning background help to develop
activities that make them surpass their knowledge.This leads students to find new ways to
learn on their own (Neill, 2004).
Just as Neil argues, independence in the learning process, Dewey claims about self-
direction learning in order for students to be autonomous. “The school is the main place
where individualism takes place because it must be an institution with an individualistic
stand point” (Dewey, 2007, p. 3). Individualism involves self-direction. This is that learners
establish what they want to learn. There must be a relationship between the teacher, the
student and the parents. That leads the student to have a guided learning process. In other
words, their decisions and learning process are monitored. Teachers must take into account

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the weaknesses and strengths students have to provide them different tools, so that they can
search for new information about the topic being taught. This is how a person constructs
independence (Dewey, 2007). Students can develop their own identity by searching
according to their own interests. This makes them have self-directed learning. Classrooms
need to provide not only plenty of materials to discover freely. Furthermore, they must
implement materials that are useful for the students’ social needs. In order to be
independent, students have to face responsibilities and commitments that make them
independent in the society (Dewey, 2007).
Learning Process
When students have self-government, they are able to manage time, tools and
sources to their aptitudes and attitudes (Puig, 2001). It means that individuals set up rules in
the learning process in order to learn what they want to learn without being imposed.This
allows students to carry slower or faster learning process because they are able to establish
goals through their learning freedom. Autonomy can be anything students want, but they
have to be conscious that they are looking for ways to improve knowledge through different
ways. One of them is the praxis. When learners are putting into practice new knowledge,
they are able to understand the topic taught. Further, students will look for ways to put into
practice this new knowledge that leads them to excel in the subject of interest (Gonzalez,
2001). Moreover, praxis helps students to understand concepts because unconsciously
individuals start to look for different ways to improve the activity or the concept that is
being practiced (Gonzalez, 2001).

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Autonomy is a relationship within the object and the subject. This means that
students feel attached to what they are studying. They must feel that they want to spread
their knowledge through different ways to enhance their learning abilities (Gonzalez,
2001). One of the best ways to enhance the learning is praxis because when there is a
relationship within the practice and the desire of learners to improve their knowledge, they
are inspired to go deep into their interest of study. Individuals are able to be autonomous
when they have understood clear instructions provided by the coach or the guide.
How Autonomy Takes Place in Students
Individualism takes place when people are able to act on their own. This is
autonomy, but beings have to be guided in their freedom (Pla, Cano, & Lorenzo, 2001).On
the other hand, praxis has to be an observed action by someone that can guide students. The
role of this person is to follow students in their learning process, even if they are being
independent. The idea is to provide guidance to help learners develop structures, and also to
offer them different environments with tools to practice on their own. (Pla et al., 2001).
Further, when learners feel attached to the subject of study, they can put into practice tools
that are provided by the teacher to start constructing their identity to act independently.
Guiders have to provide learners with different tools to construct an interaction between life
and the world. Learning starts when there are concrete experiences, reflective observations,
and links to previews knowledge with the new experience, and the representation of the
new knowledge (Jarvis, 2009).When individuals create places where they can reflection
new topics, they are able to have social interactions in order to construct different
philosophical assumptions of a topic (Jarvis, 2009).

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To understand a topic learners have to construct a theoretical base so that they can
express what they have learned (Illeris, 2009). In the learning process, there is a triangular
field. These are interactions between content, the way it is presented, and the environment.
These interactions can motivate students to get involved in the topic taught. Moreover,
when the individuals are able to express what they have learned, they can adopt ways to
enhance their learning (Illeris, 2009). The ability learners have to explain what they have
learned also creates social exposure among partners (Illeris, 2009). It contributes to the
learning process because students can develop different learning skills such as inter- and
intrapersonal skills that are helpful to the learners’ autonomous learning (Holec, 2009). The
learning process has to do with both, the ability learners have to provide meaning to the
content of study, and the ability to put what they have learned into real contexts so that they
are able to practice.
Autonomy is when learners are learning to learn (Holec, 2009). This means that
learners are provided with enough information and instructions, and they will be able to
construct natural environments where they are able to put new knowledge into practice and
discover ways to enhance their learning process. New tools can help these learners
construct their own methodology to learn. “Practice-work” is a strategy that enhances
knowledge and makes students search for more information, and with time they will be able
to excel in the subject of interest. That is why autonomy goes stage by stage when learners
plan their own learning process (Holec, 2009). When learners are willing to plan their own
learning process, they create consciousness to achieve complete understanding.
Relationship among Learning and Autonomy

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When students have a good attitude towards their learning process, it means that
they have control over their learning (Benson, 2009). This means that students are willing
to enhance their aptitudes, and look for more information in an independent way. As such,
these learners are willing to search and approach the concept or the subject of study without
being asked to do so. Instead, they look for extra time and set up goals and commitments
towards the learning process. When individuals have control over the learning process, it is
that teachers have to provide students with activities or possibilities. These aids can help
students to go over effective-provided instructions that enhance their learning process
(Benson, 2009). Learners’ autonomous learning depends on different factors, such as needs
in the learning process, age, and learning process (Benson, 2008). Autonomy can be
anything students want, such as watching a movie to practice their language skills, or just
focusing on listening or any other ability just for fun. This practice is considered autonomy
because they are practicing most of the language skills at the same time, or it only focuses
on only one skill. The issue is that students need to be aware that they are putting into
practice what they have learned to spread their knowledge. Further, they can take control
over their learning process.
The process of having control of ones learning leads students to personalize
comments to make positive criticism in their learning (Patchler, & Douglas, 2007). In other
words, it means that learners acquire critical thinking while creating a philosophy of the
discipline of being autonomous. Autonomy is not only the desire to be and construct ways
to enhance the process learning. Autonomy carries out self -responsibility to do so
(Patchler, & Douglas, 2007). When the students are interested in the subject of study, they
find learning significant and reliable. Autonomy requires the implementations of tools to

8. Nicolás Rozo, November 13th, 2014
check problems in the learning process and implement ways to avoid committing errors
again.
Autonomy is relevant for teaching and learning because students are willing to be
autonomous when they can challenge themselves, and transferring knowledge into real
contexts, but not only this. Students have to construct plan strategies, abilities and
environments with the guidance of a coach. Further, they will be able to develop a process
implementing a self-learning- government where they can assess their own learning, find
new way and tools to enhance abilities and put into practice into real contexts.
References
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Authonomy por Jeisson Nicolas Rozo Zamora se distribuye bajo
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