Difference Between Formal And Informal Education

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”, said by Nelson Mandela whereas “the only person who is educated is the one who has learned how to learn and change” was said by Carl Rogers. Both of this quotes were stressing mainly the importance of education to human beings and the modern world. Online Oxford English Dictionary defined education as the systematic instruction, teaching, or training in various academic and non-academic subjects given to or received by a child, typically at a school where a person receives in his or her lifetime.
Learning and knowledge are two sides of the same coin, and are fundamentally personal, social, distributed, ubiquitous, dynamic, flexible, non-linear, fluid, and complex

Informal education happens outside the classroom, in after-school programs, community-based organizations, museums, libraries, or at home. So, what are the main differences between the two? Formal education corresponds to a systematic, organized education model, structured and administered according to a given set of laws and norms, presenting a rather rigid curriculum as regards objectives, content and methodology whereas informal education is educative processes endowed with flexible curricula and methodology, capable of adapting to the needs and interests of students, for which time is not a pre-established factor but is contingent upon the student’s work pace, certainly do not correspond to those comprised by formal education (Claudio, Z.D,

Assessments should be developed to enable the learners with difficulties in traditional assessment areas to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of the assessable material (Ziad, H et. al 2010). Formative assessment happens usually during a course of study, and rather than being concerned with assigning a mark, it is more concerned with giving feedback to the students about the learning experience. Feedback as a formative assessment strategy is diagnostic and therefore aimed at improving learning. The feedback could come in many forms, from tutorials or informal presentations and discussions in groups, where the educator gives feedback but the students are also encouraged to give their opinion, to informal submissions of the final coursework, to any number of activities within the classroom that the teacher can observe and help with or give feedback on the spot (Ziad, H et. al 2010). The summative assessment process is described as the check at the end of the formative process. This is usually the time when marks are assigned to the students rather than feedback given, and in this sense it is harder for this type of assessment to contribute to the learning process much; Brookhart’s (2001) paper challenges the validity of summative assessment when used as the only form of assessment, though he concedes that it can