Is formal education the only form of learning?

To set the record very straight, formal education is not the only form of learning. This definition of education by Tanwani (2009) that “education is the process by which society deliberately transmits its accumulated knowledge, skills and values from one generation to another. It could through a formal educational setup, by mere observance or via quasi formal or non-formal means” gives us a broader perspective of education. Education is not only limited to the organized form of learning that takes place under the four walls of the classroom. In fact, if a child is only introduced to formal education without blending it with the other ones, it tells on their behavior negatively. EDUCATION, in its widest sense, indicates ways in which people learn skills and gain knowledge, information and understanding. It can be divided into various ways of learning namely – formal, informal and non-formal or quasi formal (Tanwani, 2009). From the foregoing, it has been well established that formal education is not the only form of learning. Having said that, let’s peruse some of the major forms and see their relevance to our day-to-day living.

Formal education refers to instruction given in formalized structures like schools and day care centers. In many nations, people enter a system of formal education during their early childhood. In this form of education, the people in charge of a school decide what is to be taught and children then study those things under the direction of teachers. Learners are expected to come to school regularly and punctually work at the same speed as their classmates and to give tests to show how well they have learned and progressed. At the end of the year, successful students move up to the next level–that is, to the next standard, class or grade. In the end, they may earn a diploma, a certificate or degree as a mark of their success over the years(Tanwani, 2009). The Enhancing Education platform also maintains the same view about what a formal education is. According to the center, “Formal education occurs in a structured environment whose explicit purpose is teaching students. Usually, formal education takes place in a school environment with classrooms of multiple students learning together with a trained, certified teacher of the subject. Most school systems are designed around a set of values or ideals that govern all educational choices in that system. Such choices include curriculum, organizational models, design of the physical learning spaces (e.g. classrooms), student-teacher interactions, methods of assessment, class size, educational activities, and more.” So far, what both postulations have held in common is that formal education is systemic, organized, done under the tutelage of a teacher and under the control of experienced administrators.

Informal education, on the other hand, involves people learning while they go about their daily lives. For example, young children learn new words simply by hearing others speak and by trying to speak themselves. In the same manner, they learn to dress themselves, eat with civil manners, ride a car, make a telephone call or operate a computer or a television set. When people try to find out information or to gain skills on their own initiative without a teacher, this is also a part of informal education. For this, they may visit a bookshop, library, village, cinema or museum. They may watch a television show or a videotape or listen to a radio program. They do not have to pass tests. There are many other ways to learn such education like on the job learning. People are free when learning informally compared with the formal context where they have to pass some examinations before they can be certified as being qualified (Tawani, 2009).

In informal learning, there is often a reference person, a peer or expert, to guide the learner. If learners have a personal interest in what they are informally being taught, learners tend to expand their existing knowledge and conceive new ideas about the topic being learned (Erickson et al., 2016). For example, a museum is traditionally considered an informal learning environment, as there is room for free choice, a diverse and potentially non-standardized range of topics, flexible structures, socially rich interaction, and no externally imposed assessments (Knutson et al., 2014). While informal learning often takes place outside educational establishments and does not follow a specified curriculum, it can also occur within educational settings and even during formal learning situations. Educators can structure their lessons to directly utilize their students’ informal learning skills within the education setting (Erickson et al., 2016).

Non-formal education belongs somewhere between the formal and informal types. As in formal education, people using non-formal methods adopt planned and organized camps. But the education procedures are less tightly controlled than those of formal systems of schooling. For example, in countries whose populations have included many people who could neither read nor write, a popular non-and formal approach to literacy has been the each-one-teach-one and each one reach one methods. With this method, educational leaders first prepare simple reading materials, then ask each individual who already can read to teach just one illiterate person to read the materials. After the illiterate person has mastered the skill of simple reading, he or she must then teach one other illiterate person. By this approach, thousands of people have learned to read in nations like China, Mexico, Cuba, Pakistan, Bangladesh and India (Tanwani, 2009).

Sometimes, learning can be indigenous. Indigenous education refers to the inclusion of indigenous knowledge, models, methods, and content within formal and non-formal educational systems. Often in a post-colonial context, the growing recognition and use of indigenous education methods can be a response to the erosion and loss of indigenous knowledge and language through the processes of colonialism. Furthermore, it can enable indigenous communities to “reclaim and revalue their languages and cultures, and in so doing, improve the educational success of indigenous students.” This is primarily meant for nations that were colonized or who were not very serious with their mother tongue and due to their carelessness, endangered it (May & Aikman, 2003).