Learning contracts are both a teaching strategy and an assessment tool used to encourage self-directed learning. They are a negotiation between student/teacher and in some cases parents which help define what each parties responsibilities are. Learning contracts allow for shared responsibility of the planning and learning experiences. This allows for the learner(students) to actively participate in the learning process from start to finish. Students begin to feel the need to learn because the learning objectives become their own personal goals. In turn, students begin to take responsibility and control over their own learning. In this way they are an effective teaching strategy in helping students become intrinsically motivated and responsible for their own learning.

Learning contracts provide flexibility for teachers to meet the individual needs of students. They allow students to work at different levels according to their own knowledge. Students are not forced to do unnecessary tasks, but rather negotiate their work on what they need to learn. This in turn, provides them with motivation to reach a goal instead of feeling that they are doing needless work or learning things that they already know.

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