There is growing recognition that non-formal education (NFE) can play an important role in providing basic education for disadvantaged children and young people. However, development agencies and governments face difficult questions about how to manage the relationship between NFE and the formal education system. This paper offers strategies to support and expand the provision of quality non-formal basic education without compromising its innovation and responsiveness to the needs of different groups.The paper first provides an overview of the history of debates, ideological perspectives and practice in NFE, and outlines key areas of relationships between NFE and the education field as a whole. It draws on examples from Mali, Mexico, Tanzania, India, Namibia, Burkina Faso, Trinidad and Tobago, Somaliland, Brazil, South Africa and the Latin American Fey y Alegria (Faith and Joy) movement.
The Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) at the University of Hong Kong is proud and privileged to present this book in its series CERC Studies in Comparative Education. Alan Rogers is a distinguished figure in the field of non-formal education, and brings to this volume more than three decades of experience. The book is a masterly account, which will be seen as a milestone in the literature. It is based on the one hand on an exhaustive review of the literature, and on the other hand on extensive practical experience in all parts of the world. It is a truly comparative work, which fits admirably into the series Much of the thrust of Rogers' work is an analysis not only of the significance of non-formal education but also of the reasons for changing fashions in the development community. Confronting a major question at the outset, Rogers ask why the terminology of non-formal education, which was so much in vogue in the 1970s and 1980s, practically disappeared from the mainstream discourse in the 1990s and initial years of the present century. Much of the book is therefore about paradigms in the domain of development studies, and about the ways that fashions may gloss over substance.
This book is the first comprehensive account of developments in open and distance non-formal education in developing countries for over more than 20 years. It includes many instructive and inspiring examples of how international agencies such as UNESCO, FAO, WHO, UNICEF, USAID and the Commonwealth of Learning and national providers are using radio, TV, online and mobile learning, telecentres and other means to achieve the Education for All, Millennium Development and Sustainable Development Goals. It describes the educational needs of the world’s most disadvantaged, vulnerable and least formally educated children, youth and adult populations, including the disabled, refugees and prisoners. It also reports on the successes, outcomes, constraints and shortcomings of using open and distance methods and technology to deliver literacy and numeracy programmes, equivalency, ‘second chance’ or alternative schooling, life skills and rural community development programmes and income generation and vocational training outside the framework of the formal education system. It concludes with suggestions for the extension and improvement of such lifelong learning. Designed to encourage further research and development in these capacity-building practices outside the established formal system, this is a must-read for all policy-makers, managers, educators, students and researchers interested in non-formal education for individuals, families and communities in the developing world.
This book reviews the state of education in Myanmar over the past decade and a half as the country is undergoing profound albeit incomplete transformation. Set within the context of Myanmar’s peace process and the wider reforms since 2012, Marie Lall’s analysis of education policy and practice serves as a case study on how the reform programme has evolved. Drawing on over 15 years of field research carried out across Myanmar, the book offers a cohesive inquiry into government and non-government education sectors, the reform process, and how the transition has played out across schools, universities and wider society. It casts scrutiny on changes in basic education, the alternative monastic education, higher education and teacher education, and engages with issues of ethnic education and the debate on the role of language and the local curriculum as part of the peace process. In so doing, it gives voice to those most affected by the changing landscape of Myanmar’s education and wider reform process: the students and parents of all ethnic backgrounds, teachers, teacher trainees and university staff that are rarely heard.
The two parts of this book consider two main facets of nonformal curriculum development: theory and practice. Part I on nonformal curriculum theory has four chapters. Chapter 1 addresses the origins, meaning, purpose, and scope of nonformal education. Chapter 2 examines three major themes in discussions on nonformal education: nonformal education as an instrument of positive change, as a social control mechanism, and the context. Chapter 3 explores the rationale. Chapter 4 examines the rational planning model and three models that have relevance for curriculum development in nonformal education: psychosocial, liberal education, and Bhola's core-interface. The five chapters in Part II on nonformal curriculum practice consider the case of the People's Educational Association of Sierra Leone in integrating population education into adult literacy. Chapter 5 describes nonformal education in the Sierra Leone context where it is an educational response to the problems of out-of-school youth and illiterate adults and an alternative development strategy. Chapter 6 sets forth the rationale for population education and literacy. Chapter 7 describes the process of curriculum integration. Chapter 8 is a case analysis of the population education project. Chapter 9 highlights these conclusions: contingent nature of curriculum development in nonformal education; importance of learner participation; and need for staff development. Appendixes contain a 359-item bibliography and index. (YLB)
The United States' failure to educate its students leaves them unprepared to compete and threatens the country's ability to thrive in a global economy and maintain its leadership role. This report notes that while the United States invests more in K-12 public education than many other developed countries, its students are ill prepared to compete with their global peers. According to the results of the 2009 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), an international assessment that measures the performance of 15-year-olds in reading, mathematics, and science every three years, U.S. students rank fourteenth in reading, twenty-fifth in math, and seventeenth in science compared to students in other industrialized countries. The lack of preparedness poses threats on five national security fronts: economic growth and competitiveness, physical safety, intellectual property, U.S. global awareness, and U.S. unity and cohesion, says the report. Too many young people are not employable in an increasingly high-skilled and global economy, and too many are not qualified to join the military because they are physically unfit, have criminal records, or have an inadequate level of education. The report proposes three overarching policy recommendations: implement educational expectations and assessments in subjects vital to protecting national security; make structural changes to provide students with good choices; and, launch a "national security readiness audit" to hold schools and policymakers accountable for results and to raise public awareness.
This book provides policy recommendations on how best to structure and organise systems for recognition of non-formal and informal learning and is based on an OECD review of 22 countries.
An international joint study by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and UNESCO's International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) was conducted on education and rural development to review the status of the topic from the standpoint of public policies and the conceptual frameworks on which they are based and also to shed light on what may be called "good practice." The findings of the study are meant to serve not as models, but rather as points of reference for all those who are seeking ways of developing education in rural areas and contributing more effectively to rural development. Chapter I, "Education and Rural Development: Setting the Framework" (David Atchoarena and Charlotte Sedel), provides a contextual and theoretical introduction to the new rural development and poverty reduction thinking, as well as a discussion on the contribution of education to rural development. In Chapter II, "Basic Education in Rural Areas: Status, Issues and Prospects" (Michael Lakin with Lavinia Gasperini), the book reviews in depth the provision of basic education in rural areas and offers some policy directions for improvement. Further exploring a particular dimension of basic education, Chapter III, "Making Learning Relevant: Principles and Evidence from Recent Experiences" (Peter Taylor, Daniel Desmond, James Grieshop and Aarti Subramaniam), devotes specific attention to strategies linking the formal school teaching with students' life environment, including agriculture, and to garden-based learning. The intention is to provide updated information and new insights on much-debated aspects which are often associated with rural areas although their application is much broader. Chapter IV, "Strategies and Institutions for Promoting Skills for Rural Development" (David Atchoarena, Ian Wallace, Kate Green, and Candido Alberto Gomes), shifts the analysis from education to work and discusses the implications of the transformation of rural labor markets for skill development. A particular concern is the rise in rural non-farm employment and the need to enlarge the policy focus from agricultural education and training to technical and vocational education for rural development. This debate is taken further in Chapter V, "Higher Education and Rural Development: A New Perspective" (Charles Maguire and David Atchoarena), which considers higher level skills and the contribution of the tertiary education sector to rural development. Special attention is given to the reform of higher agricultural institutions and lessons based on case studies are provided to document good practice in institutional reform. Finally, Chapter VI, "Main Findings and Implications for Policy and Donor Support" (David Atchoarena with Lavinia Gasperini, Michael Lakin and Charles Maguire), concentrates on the main findings of the study and discusses policy implications and possible responses for donors and countries. (Contains 28 tables, 14 figures, and 64 boxes.).
This book deals with the relevance of recognition and validation of non-formal and informal learning education and training, the workplace and society. In an increasing number of countries, it is at the top of the policy and research agenda ranking among the possible ways to redress the glaring lack of relevant academic and vocational qualifications and to promote the development of competences and certification procedures which recognise different types of learning, including formal, non-formal and informal learning. The aim of the book is therefore to present and share experience, expertise and lessons in such a way that enables its effective and immediate use across the full spectrum of country contexts, whether in the developing or developed world. It examines the importance of meeting institutional and political requirements that give genuine value to the recognition of non-formal and informal learning; it shows why recognition is important and clarifies its usefulness and the role it serves in education, working life and voluntary work; it emphasises the importance of the coordination, interests, motivations, trust and acceptance by all stakeholders. The volume is also premised on an understanding of a learning society, in which all social and cultural groups, irrespective of gender, race, social class, ethnicity, mental health difficulties are entitled to quality learning throughout their lives. Overall the thrust is to see the importance of recognising non-formal and informal learning as part of the larger movement for re-directing education and training for change. This change is one that builds on an equitable society and economy and on sustainable development principles and values such as respect for others, respect for difference and diversity, exploration and dialogue.
