Rethinking Education for the New Normal: Formal versus Informal and Non-formal Education and Lifelong Learning

Abstract

<p>In the twentieth century, many assumed that education and schooling were the same thing. However, with the emergence of online and lifelong learning, nonformal and informal education within and beyond schools are also increasingly recognized as significant learning contexts. Now traditional “brick-and-mortar” schools represent one educational arena among others, with more people questioning their value for learning in the future. This chapter thus asks: Do we need an education system for the new normal? It begins by exploring the development of formalized education and schooling in contrast with the historical norm of nonformal education. That is, while many assume the institutionalization of schooling as the historical starting point for education, people around the world were educated nonformally before that time. Next, the chapter considers the significance of technological developments, particularly the Internet and online learning, in relation to formalized, nonformal, lifelong, and informal education. While schools have typically conceptualized curricula, pedagogy, and assessment from top down and as linear, educational alternatives can provide more creative and flexible learning opportunities which do not require systematic progression, assessment, and examination. Furthermore, whereas traditionally school knowledge was seen to come from those with authority and was therefore to be didactically acquired, alternative learning possibilities frame knowledge as socially based and intelligence as distributed. The chapter concludes by discussing the recent trends in online and lifelong learning in relation to the role of the teacher, the school, and the educational system in contemporary and future society.<br></p>