Nonformal Education E-3

School isn't the only place where you can learn.

An understanding of nonformal education is essential for any educator who works outside of the classroom. Most of our conscious educational experience comes from schools. Yet if we try to act like classroom teachers when we are outside the classroom, we are likely to have problems. This module will look at the difference between formal and nonformal education with an emphasis on nonformal education.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After finishing this module you should be able to:

1. Explain the difference between formal and nonformal education to someone who does not clearly understand the difference.
2. Plan and teach a topic in a formal classroom and in a nonformal educational setting (i.e. an extension workshop).

WHAT IS NONFORMAL EDUCATION?

According to Philip Coombs (1973) it is

...any organized educational activity outside the established formal system--whether operating separately or as an important feature of some broader activity--that is intended to serve some identifiable learning clienteles and learning objectives.

Nonformal education is difficult to define satisfactorily, and some educators even feel that definitions confine more than clarify. Since nonformal educational activities are numerous and diverse, a single definition which applies to all is difficult to develop. Further, because education too often tends to be thought of in terms of schooling, we must be careful to state our assumptions so that this misconception is avoided.

Certain key dimensions can be identified for particular nonformal educational settings. These dimensions are contextual. They may vary from one educational setting to another. A review of literature on the theory and practice of nonformal education found that six dimensions tend to dominate .

1. Learner-centered means that emphasis is on learning rather than on teaching. The learner participates in determining educational objectives and exerts substantial control over content and method. Attitudes of self-awareness and power to control environment are fostered. Local initiative, self-help and innovation are encouraged in order to equip learners to analyze critically and take action to resolve their own practical problems.

2. Cafeteria curriculum (options, variety and flexibility) is featured in place of the sequential, prescribed curriculum associated with schools. Curriculum is generated primarily by learners. A strong entertainment feature is included. Examples include local radio, village newspapers, market day exhibits, posters, mobile libraries, drama, role play, games, puppets and epic narrative. Resources and skills need not be imported or professional.

3. Informal human relationships are essential. Learners and educators are roles which, ideally, switch back and forth among participants. Informal relations based on mutual respect are necessary if education is to be learner-centered and if learners are to choose from a cafeteria of learning opportunities. While this value position is often difficult for professional teachers to accept, local nonprofessional "facilitators" who see their role as catalyst, helper, or enabler are often more effective than lecturers or academics.

4. Reliance on local resources means that costs are kept low without sacrificing quality, that both conventional and unconventional sources are used, and that available resources are deployed efficiently. Expensive technology is not necessary and often undesirable. Because learners often bear part of the costs, higher motivation and greater program accountability usually result.

5. Immediate usefulness refers to educational content and methodology directly related to learners' life styles. Formal schooling often has a delayed impact through its orientation to future application. Nonformal education should involve short term activities with a present time orientation and immediate impact.

6. Low level of structure is necessary when local situations vary tremendously between and within themselves. Since a high level of structure means a high level of control, learner-centered approaches, informal human relationships and immediate usefulness are all difficult under tightly controlled situations. Flexibility is sacrificed for control. But flexibility is necessary for the needs of individuals, subcultures, and minorities. Voluntary organizations and amateurs who learn on the job are favored over governmental programs featuring bureaucratic approaches managed by civil servants. Decentralization is necessary to allow local approaches to local problems.

If these six dimensions are carefully considered by nonformal educators, participatory planning and decision making will be much easier. These dimensions need to be considered in the structure of the educational organization, in its mission statement, in its choice of priorities, in its inservice training of educators, and in its use of educational methods and techniques. To be truly effective in the future, nonformal educators will need to shape their organization, both at the national level and at the local community level, to be flexible in responding to the needs of clients rather than requiring clients to adapt to a rigid and unresponsive organization.

Educators will need to give special attention to the way educational programs are planned. The steps in program planning (see module E-4) do not change with formal and nonformal education. The involvement of people and the techniques used to plan programs collaboratively, however, are strikingly different.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1. Extension agents and other nonformal educators often have difficulties when they try to teach a class in a formal educational setting. Likewise, classroom teachers often have difficulties when they try to teach a group of youth or adults who are not part of a formal class. Why is this?
2. Can an educator develop skills to move effectively between the formal classroom and nonformal educational settings?
3. How will this educator behave differently in each setting?

EXERCISE

Chose a topic with which you are very familiar. Write a plan for how you would teach that topic to a group of adults who have finished their formal education and just want to learn about your topic. Then write a second plan for teaching the same topic in a formal classroom for 50 minutes. If you have never written a lesson plan for a class or a workshop you may want to look at module C-8 (using learning techniques) for a format to plan a class. The module on workshops (LT-1) gives you two different planning formats.

EXERCISE: