Are Non-formal Activities a Strategy to Improve Students’ Academic Performance?

Abstract

Abstract At the academic level, teaching and learning are mainly focused on formal curriculum, structured on courses, seminars and speciality practice, all of them finalizing with exams. Students have to treat very seriously this formal curriculum if they want to achieve good results and, at the end of the licence cycle, to occupy a good job for which they prepared. The reserach aims to analyze if, by organizing non-formal activities with students from all three years of study, their academic performances are improving. This is also our reserach hypothesys – if students are involved in extracurricular activities, their perception about learging is enriched and their performances will improve. Reserach is mixed: qualitative and quantitative. The students investigated are matriculated in all three years of license study. The hypothesis is confirmed, after analyzing and interpreting the findings. Research findings: even if, at the beginning, from various reasons, students are reticent at participating at non-formal activities, gradually they get involved more and their perception about learning the formal courses is enriched, their cultural horyzon is widened and consequently their academic results get better.