What if the best curriculum was none at all?

Abstract

Student agency is a necessary condition for developing essential competencies and for human flourishing but is at odds with curriculum-driven education. This paper explores how education without a formal curriculum (such as Self-Directed Education) can create space for non-formal, informal, and emergent curricula in which young people are agentic co-participants with staff. This study uses participatory case study data from one non-school setting in England where 17 students and 13 staff engaged in interviews, focus group discussions, and creative research activities. It explores how education without curriculum works in practice, alternative systemic conditions that support learning, and the benefits and challenges of this approach. Within an environment that nurtured their agency, students developed intrinsic motivation and reported profound improvements in well-being compared to prior experiences at mainstream schools. The findings from this study underscore the potential of education without a formal curriculum to foster agency, well-being, and intrinsic motivation.