A Learner-Centered Movement

Learner-centered education is a distinct paradigm for seeing, thinking about, and acting on education. It focuses on three key aspects about the learner. First, each learner is seen as being unique in meaningful ways. They have unique backgrounds, circumstances, and starting points with unique strengths, challenges, interests, and aspirations. These unique attributes call for unique responses from the education system where they learn. Second, each learner is seen as having unbounded potential—potential that will unfold at its own pace and in its own way. And, finally, each learner is seen as having an innate desire to learn. Therefore, when learning is not happening, the conclusion is not that the child doesn’t want to learn; it is that the system is not creating the conditions for learning.