Unit 2

Non-Formal Education
Aims:
- To practice reading comprehension
- To identify words related with the text
- To differentiate part of speech in the sentence

Starter:
What do you know about non-formal education?
Can you mention the example of non-formal education?
Did you have an experience in attending non formal education?

Activity 1: Read the text carefully and discuss the meaning with your classmates!

Non-formal Education (NFE) consists in a gathering of educational practices which are not
included in the formal system of education. This branch of education promotes non-formal
learning.

As one author says: „ According to my dictionary (Webster‟s, 1988) “non-” is a prefix which
means “not: absence of; reverse of”… in other words the “opposite of‟ something. But non-
formal education is not the opposite of formal education. In many ways they are similar or
overlap.

NFE is a methodology, which translates in carefully adjusted to the participants and

structured practices (although the activities are seldom associated to conventional rhythms or
curriculum subjects) which foster the personal, social and professional development of
people, on a voluntary basis; whereas informal learning is related to what one can learn
during daily life activities (work, family, leisure, etc.) being considered learning by doing.
Informal and non-formal learning can empower youngsters in important conceptions, as
social inclusion, anti-discrimination and active citizenship, as well as contributing to their
personal growth.

Moreover, NFE can be seen as an educational approach which may act in a complementary
way with the formal educational system.

The learning activities within NFE are created to attend the young people‟s needs, aspirations
and interests, on a voluntary basis and learner-centered. The methods used in NFE are very
diverse and are mainly based on creating healthy environments of trust and sharing
experiences. This type of education provides added value for young people, for the economy
and society in terms of capacity-building of organizations, systems and institutions.
This education takes place in a diverse range of environments and address specific target
groups and subjects, facilitating the inclusion of young people with fewer opportunities.

Formal, Non-formal and Informal education

By many authors non-formal education is seen as the “ideal‟ form of education, far better in
all respects than formal education. By others however it came to be seen as a sub-system of
education, certainly not superior and by some as considerably inferior as formal schooling.
By some non-formal education could be described as a temporary “necessary evil in situation
of crisis until formal schooling could be restored. Let‟s look at the basic definitions of
different kinds of education.

Formal education : the hierarchically structured, chronologically graded 'education system',

running from primary school through the university and including, in addition to general
academic studies, a variety of specialised programmes and institutions for full-time technical
and professional training.

Informal education: the truly lifelong process whereby every individual acquires attitudes,
values, skills and knowledge from daily experience and the educative influences and
resources in his or her environment - from family and neighbours, from work and play, from
the market place, the library and the mass media.

Non-Formal Education: any organised educational activity outside the established formal
system - whether operating separately or as an important feature of some broader activity -
that is intended to serve identifiable learning clienteles and learning objectives.
Non-formal education became part of the international discourse on education policy in the
late 1960s and early 1970s. It can be seen as related to the concepts of recurrent and lifelong
learning. Tight (1996: 68) suggests that whereas the latter concepts have to do with the
extension of education and learning throughout life, non-formal education is about
„acknowledging the importance of education, learning and training which takes place outside
recognized educational institutions‟. Fordham (1993) suggests that in the 1970s, four
characteristics came be associated with non-formal education:
 Relevance to the needs of disadvantaged groups.
 Concern with specific categories of person.
 A focus on clearly defined purposes.
 Flexibility in organization and methods.

Taken from: http://www.yeu-international.org/en/non-formal-education

Activity 2: Vocabulary check. Find out the meaning of these words in the dictionary.

Vocabulary Meaning Vocabulary Meaning

Include Superior
Promote Inferior
Opposite Restored
Reverse Intended
Adjusted Identifiable
Voluntary Discourse
Inclusion Recurrent
Attend Extension
Diverse Acknowledge
Activity 3: Based on the text, write T for right statement and F for the wrong one.

1. Non-formal Education (NFE) consists in a gathering of educational practices

which are included in the formal system of education. ……….
2. Non-formal education is similar or overlap with formal education
……….
3. informal learning is related to what one can learn during daily life activities
being considered learning by doing ……….
4. The methods used in NFE are mainly based on creating healthy environments
of trust and sharing experiences. ……….
5. Formal education chronologically graded 'education system' which is not
running from primary school through the university ……….
6. Informal education is lifelong process whereby every individual acquires
attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from school and private course. ……….
7. Non-formal education is intended to serve identifiable learning clienteles and
learning objectives. ……….
8. Concern with general categories of person is the characteristic which can be
associated with non-formal education ……….

Activity 4: write your summary about the differentiate among formal education, non-
formal education and informal education and add your opinion on why we need non-
formal education.
 Parts of Speech Table

part of function or example words example sentences

speech "job"
Verb action or state (to) be, have, do, EnglishClub is a web site. I
like, work, sing, like EnglishClub.
can, must
Noun thing or person pen, dog, work, This is my dog. He lives in
music, town, my house. We live in
London, teacher, London.
John
Adjective describes a noun good, big, red, well, My dogs are big. I like big
interesting dogs.
Determiner limits or a/an, the, 2, some, I have two dogs and some
"determines" a many rabbits.
noun
Adverb describes a verb, quickly, silently, My dog eats quickly. When
adjective or well, badly, very, he is very hungry, he eats
adverb really really quickly.
Pronoun replaces a noun I, you, he, she, some Tara is Indian. She is
beautiful.
Preposition links a noun to to, at, after, on, but We went to school on
another word Monday.
Conjunction joins clauses or and, but, when I like dogs and I like cats. I
sentences or like cats and dogs. I like
words dogs but I don't like cats.
Interjection short exclamation, oh!, ouch!, hi!, well Ouch! That hurts! Hi! How
sometimes are you? Well, I don't know.
inserted into a
sentence

* Some grammar sources traditionally categorize English into 8 parts of speech. Other say 10.
At EnglishClub, we use the more recent categorization of 9 parts of speech. Examples of
other categorizations are:
 Verbs may be treated as two different parts of speech:
o lexical Verbs (work, like, run)
o auxiliary Verbs (be, have, must)
 Determiners may be treated as adjectives, instead of being a separate part of speech.

Activity 5: Decide which parts of speech are the underlined words

1. You have to believe in yourself if you ever expect to be successful at something.
2. We left for the mountain just before six in the morning.
3. We first went to the store to buy a few things.
4. We had a breakfast at a café near the rail station.
5. My friend wasn't strong enough to lift his heavy rucksack.
6. I helped him carry it.
7. The weather was very cold.
8. My friend said, "Oh! What a cold weather!"
9. We didn't spend the night there.
10. We got back home late at night but we didn't go to sleep immediately. We were very
hungry.
11. Steve can play the trumpet.
12. Do you like dogs?
13. They listen to music every day.
14. She is an old lady.
15. The group went climbing in the mountains.
16. This is a fast car.
17. He did well in the test.
18. My father drives carefully.
19. Has your father ever been to Australia?
20. The play was fantastic.