NAOMI FISHER
The side-effects of school
As a clinical psychologist, each day brings me more requests from parents, asking for help for their children. Distress, anxiety, loss of enjoyment of learning and an ongoing sense that their voices don’t matter. These unwanted effects are located in the young people and their parents, and so rather than addressing the root cause, the government has introduced fines and punishments for those who don’t comply. We need to take side effects seriously. We can’t ignore them just because we’d prefer that they weren’t happening.
Bio
Dr Naomi Fisher is a clinical psychologist and mother of two young people who have never been to conventional school. She is the author of the book Changing Our Minds: How Children Can Take Control of Their Own Learning. In her clinical work she specialises in trauma and autism.