What Is Self Managed Learning?

Self Managed Learning is an approach that enables people to take responsibility for their own learning: deciding what they need or want to learn, how they will learn it and how they will assess their progress.

It is based on a simple but important recognition: people manage much of their own learning already. They decide what to pay attention to, what feels relevant, which opportunities to pursue and when to change direction. Self Managed Learning makes that process more conscious, purposeful and strategic.

The approach can be used by people of any age and in many different settings. It has been used within businesses and other organisations, universities, schools, learning communities, families and home education. Although the context may change, the central process remains the same: the learner considers where they are now, where they want to get to, what they need to learn and how they will know whether they are making progress.

The aim is not simply to pass a test, complete a training course or gain a qualification. These may all be useful steps, but Self Managed Learning places them within a bigger picture. It helps people become autonomous, thoughtful and capable of continuing to learn throughout their lives.

The origins of Self Managed Learning

Self Managed Learning was first developed by Dr Ian Cunningham in the late 1970s. Ian initially applied the approach within higher education and organisations, where it enabled people to take greater responsibility for their professional learning and development.

Over the following decades, he worked with a wide range of organisations in the UK and internationally. These included major businesses, the NHS, government departments and local authorities. Rather than assuming that everybody in the same role needed to follow an identical training programme, Self Managed Learning began with the person: their experience, present circumstances, aspirations and learning needs.

This work demonstrated that learning could be both individually owned and carefully structured. People did not need to be left entirely alone, nor did an organisation need to dictate every detail of their development. A clear framework, regular review, appropriate challenge and access to other people and resources could support learners to make purposeful choices.

Ian later began applying the same principles to young people. This did not require the creation of a completely different educational philosophy. The underlying questions remained relevant at any age. Young people, like adults, have different histories, strengths, interests, circumstances and ambitions. They also benefit from learning how to make informed decisions, seek appropriate help and assess their own progress.

This work eventually led to the establishment of Self Managed Learning College in Brighton, the first learning community of its kind in the UK. It is this application of Self Managed Learning to young people that much of the work of SML Alliance now develops and supports.

Applying Self Managed Learning with young people

Learning does not only happen when somebody teaches. Young people are already making decisions about learning every day. In school, they decide what to pay attention to, what to ignore, which subjects feel relevant and when to disengage. Outside school, they may spend hours developing knowledge and abilities connected to gaming, music, sport, animals, technology, art, relationships or any other personal interest.

Teaching and learning are not the same thing. An adult can present information, set work or explain an idea, but they cannot make another person learn. Self Managed Learning starts by recognising that reality and asks a more useful question:

How can we help young people make thoughtful, informed and purposeful choices about their learning?

Adults still have an important role, but it is different from that of a conventional teacher. They help young people understand themselves, think about the future, explore possibilities, find resources and review their choices. The intention is neither to control learning nor to leave a young person entirely unsupported.

More than ‘learning to learn’

When applied in education, Self Managed Learning is sometimes mistaken for study skills, independent working or learning how to revise. These can all be useful, but the approach goes much further.

It asks young people to consider:

• who they are and what has shaped them;
• what matters to them now;
• what kind of person and life they might want in the future;
• what may be worth learning in order to move towards that future;
• which ways of learning are most appropriate;
• what support, people and resources they may need;
• and how they will recognise and assess progress.

These are strategic questions. A qualification, lesson or project may be a useful tactic, but it should serve a wider purpose. Passing an exam is not automatically valuable in itself. Its value depends on what it makes possible for that particular young person.

For one learner, GCSEs may be an important route into further study. Another may need practical experience, a portfolio, specialist coaching or contact with people working in a field that interests them. Many will benefit from a combination. Self Managed Learning does not reject qualifications or formal teaching; it places them within a wider, more personal learning strategy.

The Five Questions

At the centre of the Self Managed Learning approach is a framework of five questions. The same questions can be used by adults and young people:

1. Where have I been?
   What experiences have shaped me? What have been the high and low points in my education and life?
2. Where am I now?
   What matters to me? What do I enjoy? What am I good at? What do I find difficult? How do I currently see myself?
3. Where do I want to get to?
   What kind of person do I want to become? What kind of life might I want? What possibilities would I like to explore?
4. How will I get there?
   What do I need or want to learn? How might I learn it? Who or what could help?
5. How will I know whether I have arrived?
   What would progress look like? What evidence will I use? How will I assess and review my own learning?

The questions are deliberately broad. They do not impose the same destination or curriculum on every learner. Instead, each person fills the framework with their own experiences, interests, needs and ambitions.

Answers do not have to be complete or permanent. A young person may not yet know what they want to do as an adult, and they should not be pushed into making a fixed choice. The purpose is to begin thinking, exploring and making connections. Plans can change as the learner gains experience and discovers more about themselves and the world.

Choosing what is worth learning

A national curriculum can specify what a population of young people will be taught, but it cannot fully account for the life, abilities, circumstances and aspirations of each individual.

Self Managed Learning begins with the person. What is worth learning will partly depend on:

• their interests, strengths and challenges;
• the kind of person they wish to become;
• the life and work they may want;
• their relationships and responsibilities;
• the world in which they are likely to live;
• and the knowledge, skills, qualities and values that will help them navigate it.

This creates room for conventional subjects, but also for learning that is often given less attention in formal education: collaboration, judgement, creativity, self-knowledge, practical capability, communication, resilience, ethical thinking and the ability to continue learning.

The future cannot be predicted precisely. Technology, work and society will continue to change. Young people therefore need more than a store of information. They need to be able to identify what they need to learn, find credible sources and appropriate help, try different approaches, respond to feedback and change direction when necessary.

Choosing how to learn

There is no single best way to learn. A useful method depends on the learner, what they want to learn and the circumstances in which the learning will take place.

Learning might involve:

• reading, watching or listening;
• practising and experimenting;
• making something or completing a project;
• joining a workshop, course or community group;
• speaking to an expert;
• being coached or mentored;
• visiting a workplace or taking part in a placement;
• researching, interviewing or observing;
• learning alongside peers;
• using online resources and technology;
• preparing for a qualification;
• or reflecting on direct experience.

Different methods can be combined. A young person interested in film, for example, might watch and analyse films, learn editing software, interview somebody working in the industry, make a short film with others and seek feedback on the finished work.

Preference is relevant, but it is not the only consideration. The learner also needs to ask whether a chosen method is suitable for the goal. You cannot learn to dance only by reading about dance, or learn to work well with others entirely on your own. Sometimes a young person may need encouragement to try an unfamiliar method because it offers something important.

Mistakes are part of this process. A method that does not work is not necessarily a failure; it provides feedback. The learner can consider what happened, make a change and try again. In this way, they develop practical judgement about their own learning.

Freedom needs structure

Self Managed Learning is not the absence of boundaries, expectations or adult involvement. Nor does it mean that a young person must work alone.

Real autonomy develops within reliable structures. These can provide continuity, safety, access to other people and opportunities to think more carefully than the learner might do in isolation.

Useful structures can include:

• a learning agreement owned and regularly reviewed by the young person;
• a self-written timetable or plan;
• regular opportunities to reflect on progress;
• a small learning group;
• meetings with a mentor;
• community agreements covering safety, respect and use of shared resources;
• access to appropriate spaces, equipment, expertise and activities.

These structures should be clear and dependable without dictating the content of every learner’s day. They create a framework within which young people can make real decisions and take responsibility for them.

Adults also retain their ordinary responsibilities for safeguarding, legal requirements and the wellbeing of the young people involved. Supporting autonomy does not mean abandoning care.

The role of adults

Adults do not need to know everything a young person wants to learn. Their most important contribution is often not subject knowledge, but attention.

A parent, mentor or practitioner can help by:

• listening without immediately correcting or taking over;
• helping the young person notice their strengths as well as their difficulties;
• asking questions that widen thinking;
• introducing possibilities the learner may not yet know exist;
• helping them locate people, places, information and resources;
• discussing risks, responsibilities and consequences;
• offering relevant knowledge or feedback;
• and creating regular opportunities for planning and review.

The adult needs to avoid two extremes. One is control: quietly replacing the learner’s goals with their own while still describing the process as learner-led. The other is abdication: offering so little interest or support that the young person is left to manage with only the opportunities already visible to them.

The role is to assist learning while keeping ownership with the learner.

Learning with other people

Self Managed Learning is not an individualistic or isolated approach. We learn through relationships as well as through private study.

A learning group is one way of providing this social support. In the programmes developed by SML, a learning group usually includes no more than six young people of a similar age and an adult mentor. The members may all be pursuing different interests. What they share is the process of planning and reviewing their learning.

Meeting regularly allows members to understand one another’s goals, patterns and ambitions. They can ask questions, offer feedback, share contacts and ideas, notice progress and challenge avoidance. They also develop listening, communication and judgement.

The mentor helps the group work well but does not become a conventional teacher or take ownership of each person’s plan. Clear ground rules, voluntary participation, confidentiality and a commitment to attend all help create the trust needed for useful discussion.

Self Managed Learning in a learning community

A learning community brings young people and adults together regularly to support learning without reproducing a conventional school. It can offer relationships, shared structures, practical resources and access to a much wider range of activities than one family could provide alone.

Young people may pursue individual projects, work with others, attend workshops, use specialist spaces, meet visiting practitioners, spend time outdoors or connect with local organisations. Adults assist learning rather than deliver a fixed curriculum.

The word ‘community’ is important. Learner choice sits alongside shared responsibility. Members need to consider the effect of their actions on other people, contribute to agreements and help maintain an environment in which different kinds of learners can flourish.

A learning community should also look beyond its own building. No single setting can contain every form of expertise, equipment or experience. Partnerships with libraries, workplaces, artists, tradespeople, sports organisations, colleges, charities and community groups can greatly expand what is possible.

SML College: 24 years of Self Managed Learning

The ideas behind Self Managed Learning were first developed by Dr Ian Cunningham in the late 1970s and used extensively with adults in organisations. He later applied the approach to young people.

In 2001, this work led to the creation of Self Managed Learning College in Brighton. It was the first learning community of its kind in the UK and, running for 24 years until 2025, the longest-running.

SML College supported young people aged 9 to 16 who were not attending conventional school. Some had experienced bullying, anxiety or difficulties within school; some were neurodivergent; and others attended because their families had actively chosen a different approach to education.

The College had no imposed curriculum, conventional classrooms or fixed programme of lessons. Young people created their own timetables and were supported to decide what, how, when and where they learned. They worked within a caring community with clear agreements and access to adults, peers, resources, workshops and opportunities beyond the College.

Small learning groups gave young people regular space to plan, discuss and review their learning. Community meetings enabled them to participate in decisions and take collective responsibility for how the community worked. Older learners could choose to work towards GCSEs where those qualifications supported their longer-term aims, while others followed different routes.

This was not a short-term experiment. Over nearly a quarter of a century, SML College showed that young people can take meaningful responsibility for their education when they are treated as real people and given the right combination of freedom, structure, relationships and support.

Although SML College closed in 2025, its experience and learning continue through SML Alliance and through the growing number of learning communities developing across the UK.

Why Self Managed Learning matters

Education should help a young person prepare for the test of life, not simply a life of tests.

Young people will enter a world in which they may change roles and careers several times, use technologies that do not yet exist and face problems for which there is no memorised answer. They will need to collaborate with others, make judgements, evaluate information and keep learning.

More fundamentally, they need opportunities to discover who they are, what matters to them and how they can contribute. A young person who has always depended on others to decide what is important, what to do next and whether their work is good enough may struggle when those structures disappear.

Self Managed Learning helps young people practise making choices while support is still available. They learn that autonomy does not mean doing whatever they want without consequence. It means thinking carefully, making decisions, acting, reviewing the results and taking responsibility for what comes next.

Find out more

SML Alliance has produced three ebooks exploring how adults can support young people to manage their own learning. Together, they look at the foundations of the approach, how to decide what is worth learning and the many different ways a young person might choose how to learn.

Download the ebooks to explore practical ideas you can use with your young person.

If you are interested in creating a learning community, SML Alliance can offer guidance based on the experience of setting up and running SML College for 24 years. Get in contact to discuss your plans and find out how we can support you.