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Global Health Econ Sustain Self-directed learning supporting mental health

them identified that it is because of self-initiation that self- Author contributions
directed learning promotes positive psychosocial outcomes
– the outcomes identified by John Dewey over 100 years ago This is a single-authored article.
as the fundamental goal of public schooling. In addition, Ethics approval and consent to participate
only two articles (Manoharan et al., 2022; Zhu et al., 2022)
considered parental expectations of standardization – both Not applicable.
finding these expectations detrimental. Consent for publication
Recognizing the importance of self-initiated self-
directed learning for positive mental health, it became Not applicable.
evident during the COVID-19 limitations related to Availability of data
in-person public school attendance that public schools
have the capability to support self-directed online learning Not applicable.
independently of in-school learning. While some students
did not experience positive self-directed online learning Further disclosure
or positive mental health during this period, others – the An earlier version of this paper has been uploaded to or
self-initiated self-directed online learners – did experience deposited in a preprint server, Preprints.org, https://doi.
positive results in self-directed learning, online learning, org/10.20944/preprints202306.1498.v1.
and their mental health. This positive experience improved
their psychosocial outcomes, with much of the variation References
in success attributed to both a reliable internet connection Adedoyin, O.B., & Soykan, E. (2023). Covid-19 pandemic
and parental expectations that were not tied to standardize and online learning: The challenges and opportunities.
learning (Al-Adwan et al., 2022; Manoharan et al., 2022; Interactive Learning Environments, 31(2):863-875.
Maltais et al., 2021). Furthermore, with the appropriate
teacher support, students who initially lacked an interest in https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2020.1813180
self-directed learning were observed to develop a positive Agnafors, S., Barmark, M., & Sydsjö, G. (2021). Mental health and
experience with self-directed learning (Amina & Susilo, academic performance: A study on selection and causation
2022; Dwilestari et al., 2021; Manoharan et al., 2022). effects from childhood to early adulthood. Social Psychiatry
and Psychiatric Epidemiology, 56(5):857-866.
Consequently, public schools are encouraged to
continue providing online learning for students who are https://doi.org/10.1007/s00127-020-01934-5
self-initiated self-directed online learners rather than Akabayashi, H., Taguchi, S., & Zvedelikova, M. (2023). Access
insisting that they return to in-person standardized to and demand for online school education during the
learning. It is acknowledged that the latter is unable to COVID-19 pandemic in Japan. International Journal of
produce positive psychosocial outcomes, both for the Educational Development, 96:102687.
highest-achieving (Agnafors et al., 2021; Wu & Zhang, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2022.102687
2023) and lowest-achieving students (Sörberg Wallin et al.,
2019). By providing these students with reliable internet Al-Adwan, A.S., Nofal, M., Akram, H., Albelbisi, N.A., &
connections and relieving them from parental expectations Al-Okaily, M. (2022). Towards a sustainable adoption
of E-learning systems: The role of self-directed learning.
tied to standardized learning, some of these highest- and Journal of Information Technology Education Research,
lowest-achieving students may be safeguarded from 21:245-267.
the ongoing global mental health crisis of public school
students. https://doi.org/10.28945/4980
Almroth, M., László, K.D., Kosidou, K., & Galanti, M.R. (2019).
Acknowledgments Academic expectations and mental health in adolescence:
Kiera Quinlivan and Don Berg are thanked for their A longitudinal study involving parents’ and their children’s
insights regarding an earlier preprint of this paper. perspectives. Journal of Adolescent Health, 64(6):783-789.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jadohealth.2018.11.015
Funding
Amina, I.Y., & Susilo, H. (2022). The impact of learning during the
None. COVID-19 pandemic on science literacy, social interaction,
and digital literacy at senior high school Palangkaraya City.
Conflict of interest Jurnal Biologi-Inovasi Pendidikan, 4(2):141-150.
The author declares having no competing interests. https://doi.org/10.20527/bino.v4i2.113344

Volume 1 Issue 2 (2023) 12 https://doi.org/10.36922/ghes.1219