Straddling discourses of transformation and status quo: the contradictions inherent in a museum youth panel addressing socio-ecological crises

In Thailand, before any kind of education was formally introduced, education or learning existed mainly in the form of informal learning. In addition, some forms of informally organized nonformal education also existed. In 1940, the Division of Adult Education was established within the Ministry of Education to look after nonformal education which was called at that time adult education. The main purpose of the latter in that period was to provide adults with literacy skills coupled with knowledge and understanding about citizen roles in a democratic society. Later on the division was upgraded to become the Department of Non-Formal Education, and the scope of responsibilities was extended to serve all after compulsory school-age people, including adults. When the National Education Act, 1999, which focused on lifelong education, was promulgated, all types of education were recognized as main components of lifelong education: formal education, nonformal education, and informal education. This chapter provides readers with the details of both nonformal and informal education in Thailand. It begins with the definition and concept of nonformal and informal education and non-formal and informal education as components of lifelong education. Then discussed is the evolution and development of nonformal and informal education, including policy implementation and the identification of best practices of nonformal and informal education. The data sources derive from both the documentary search and field studies. The author has synthesized all related information and data together with her own experience working in the field of nonformal and informal education for over 30 years to compose this chapter in order to provide readers with diverse perspectives on nonformal and informal education in Thailand.

Стаття присвячена аналізу теорії і практики медичної просвіти дорослого насе-лення в умовах неформальної освіти Україні. Обґрунтовано актуальність проблеми освіти дорослих у сучасних соціально-економічних вимірах. Проаналізовано пріоритетні напрями функціонування центрів освіти дорослих в Україні як закладів неформальної освіти. Наголошено на пріоритетності розвитку неформальної освіти дорослих в Україні. Визначено, що підґрунтя розробки нормативної і науково-методичної складових медичної просвіти дорослих складають комплексна оцінка, аналіз тематичного спектру освітніх потреб дорослих в сфері медицини, а також можливостей їх задоволення, оцінка якості, територіальної і фінансової доступності різних типів просвітницьких програм. Акценто-вано увагу на необхідності розширення кола провайдерів медичних послуг з освіти дорослих. Охарактеризовано розвиток освіти дорослих у контексті реалізації міжнародних програм та виявлено перспективні напрями розвитку медичної освіти в структурі неформальної освіти дорослих в Україні.

The article presents a qualitative analysis of museum educational products. These products have been studied in terms of the possibility of their use in formal, non-formal and informal education. Thus, the role of the museum as an actor of continuing education has been determined. The role of continuing education in the educational process is becoming more obvious for most participants, and informal education plays a huge role in this process. It is urgent now to develop high-quality educational environment. Due to museums and their offline and online educational products, it is possible to get success. The author analyzed educational activities of leading Russian and foreign museums. As a result, the possibilities of museums as an educational institution for formal, non-formal and informal education were determined. Formal education is characterized by the network interaction of educational organizations and museums when the museum educational resources are included in the educational process. The largest number of museum educational products in traditional and innovative forms is made for non-formal or supplementary education. The traditional forms of museum educational resources include excursions, game formats for acquaintance with the exposition/exhibition (quests), museum master classes, interactive classes, as well as offline continuing education programs for a professional audience. The innovative forms include intra-museum programs, for example, performances, thematic classes within the museum’s profile, and Internet resources such as pages of official museum sites, online academies of museums, museum groups on social media, official museum channels on YouTube, webinars, virtual museums. Thus, non-formal educations could be in onsite or online training forms. Informal education can apply the museum’s resources both in traditional forms and in an innovative one. The museum online resources such as online museum games, massive open online courses (MOOC), and podcasts have the highest priority in this area. Museums and universities cooperate to get high-quality competitive educational online resources. In conclusion, it is possible to speak about a new stage in the development of museum educational activity. This stage is characterized by increasing attention to professional education by adding formal and non-formal (supplementary) educational programs, and, simultaneously, increasing the role of informal education due to online technology. It should be emphasized that museum staff could develop museum educational products for formal and non-formal education independently, but it is advisable for museums to intensify cooperation with universities to enter the online education market.

Objective setting and evaluation for learning in the affective domain are often neglected in educational programs, largely because affective learning is a poorly understood phenomenon. This is particularly problematic in nonformal science education facilities, which are uniquely suited to facilitate affective learning. To address this problem, a heuristic model of affective learning in nonformal educational facilities was developed. The model, referred to as the Meredith Model, displays a sequence of events occurring in the affective responses of learners in nonformal educational experiences and identifies factors which may influence individual events within this sequence. The model is proposed as a conceptual framework for gaining an increased understanding of affective learning and for making recommendations for practice of nonformal science education and for further research. J Res Sci Teach 34: 805–818, 1997.

The article investigates the rather new educational phenomenon – about twenty years ago under the impact of educational reform the theatre subject teaching was introduced. In many neighbor’s countries there is no such separate theatre subject still yet. The focus of the article is on the relationships between the curricula of theatre subject (2008, 2001) and the practice of long-lived non-formal education of children and youth of Lithuania. The curricula of theatre subject were prepared according to comprehensive discipline-arts education conception formed in United States of Amerika. Taking into account the notion of M. Lukšienė, that experience of other cultures, as well as the educational innovations must be adopted according to “own cultural model”, the attention is paid to analysis how curricula of theatre subject are grounded on traditions of Lithuanian non-formal education, especially its artistic trend. The self-expression paradigm or psychological trend of theatre education is less evident in our context.
 The roots of artistic trend are in Jesuit’s school theatre that existed in Lithuania 1570–1843. The artistic trend was recreated at the end of 20th century in non-formal theatre education in Lithuania by relaying on the professional theatre pedagogy (the training of professional theatre pedagogues started, the first books of methodology of theatre education appeared). Analysis showed that common concepts, as “theatre” and “education through theatre” are those which relate artistic trend of non-formal theatre education with curricula of theatre subject, accordingly, which are grounded on discipline-based art education conception. Especially that is clear from the revealing of content of “education through theatre” concept and explaining its formative and cognitive impacts on children and youth who are acting the roles created by dramaturge. The biggest challenge related with coming of theatre subject as separate, is the creating of theatre knowledge appropriated for school children. Now the theatre subject curricula describe the knowledge which are known in professional theatre pedagogy and in artistic trend of non-formal theatre education, but only in part. Thy must be expanded by new knowledge which will be get by way of externalization from direct practice. Also, there is a need of artistic orientation of theatre didactics – that can guarantee the succession of the best traditions of Lithuanian‘s theatre education and encourage their development.

Considering education in the context of making and unmaking sustainable futures, a growing relevance is attributed to the role of shared beliefs or mental infrastructures which shape the way people perceive crises and solutions. The currently dominant capitalist economic paradigm is seen as one such powerful belief that generates imaginaries which cannot accommodate sustainable futures. At the same time, in educational practice, social movements, and academic discussion, the perspective of degrowth has gained attention as an approach which challenges this paradigm. In this article, we address the role of education in processes of socioecological transformation in the context of degrowth. We do this from a perspective of practice, linking our experiences in non-formal education to academic discussions on education and sustainability. The aim of this article is to contribute to a pedagogy of degrowth as one path within a complex search for ways to imagine and support sustainable futures, which address root causes of the current crises. Analysing these crises as crises of conviviality, resulting from imperial modes of living and producing, we sketch the framework for sustainable futures marked by world relations of interconnectedness and solidarity. Relating a theory of transformative learning to a critical-emancipatory understanding of education, we propose two interlinked aspects for pedagogy of degrowth: creating spaces for reflection and emphasizing the political in educational settings. We discuss our practical experience as learning facilitators in non-formal educational contexts. As a cross-cutting challenge, we will touch upon the role of strengthening psychological resources in education for a degrowth society.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand what a sustainable future would look like and the nature of the changes needed to achieve it. Continued reliance on economic growth to meet the demands of a growing population is unsustainable and comes at an unacceptable social and environmental cost. Given these increasing demands, radical changes to present practices of production and consumption are needed to enable a sustainable future. Design/methodology/approach To address this the projective technique of backcasting was used in a pilot study to explore student visions of a sustainable future. An integrative framework comprising housing, clothing, travel, leisure and food provided the structure for six focus group discussions. Findings Thematic analysis identified three key characteristics of a sustainable consumption future, namely, efficiency, sharing and community and three critical elements, namely, the role of government, education and technology, necessary for its achievement. Research limitations/implications Demonstrating the usefulness of backcasting will encourage its application in a wider range of consumption contexts with a broader range of participants. The vision of a sustainable future provides a blueprint that identifies its nature, and the basis upon which decisions to achieve it can be made. Originality/value The research introduces the technique of backcasting and demonstrates its usefulness when dealing with complex problems, where there is a need for radical change and when the status quo is not sustainable. Unexpectedly, results suggest a commitment to prosocial values, collaborative experience, collective action and the importance of community. Research and social implications demonstrating the usefulness of backcasting will encourage its application in a wider range of consumption contexts with a broader range of participants. The vision of a sustainable future provides a blueprint that identifies its nature, and the basis upon which decisions to achieve it can be made.

This article examines a paradigmatic change of contemporary art education in the context of visual culture and focus to the integrity of arts in formal and informal art education. The article is based on an international research “Contemporary art and visual culture in education” which reveals the problematic aspects of contemporary arts and visual culture in education in general. The research method was the discourse analysis of the participants and researchers, who presented the insights in reflective groups and during the interview with teachers and educators.This paper explores how contemporary cultural context and the spread of visual culture provide preconditions for changes in art education. The aim of the article is to analyze theproblems and perspectives of integral arts education in formal and non-formal education: what the educational challenges and opportunities appear in the context of contemporary art and visual culture? How the integral arts could be realized in art education practice in different arts disciplines and areas of education?Contemporary art and visual culture is increasingly multidimensional, the wide range of visual art forms integral with per formative arts, new technologies and media merge the limits between the arts disciplines. That becomes relevant pedagogical problem with the fact that arts education is traditionally allocated to the separate arts subjects such as music, art, theatre, dance, which also can also be divided into separate areas. This subject segregation of the school curriculum and strong subject orientation limits multimodal contemporary arts education. Secondary Education programs provide opportunities for several options of arts education disciplines (photography, cinema art, graphic design, contemporary music technologies), but it needs special resources for the schools and professional teachers. Many schools follow on traditional model of teaching art and still focusing on simple interpretation of modern artworks, different media and technical skills.Contemporary model of teaching integrated arts and visual culture in education is challenging, because it is based on visual literacy and critical thinking skills, it emphasizes inquiry-based education, a critical understanding of contemporary art practices, problem solving and creating new valuable ideas. Knowledge and experiences came from various sources: formal, non-formal, accidental, individual.Great potential for contemporary art education has non-formal art education programs and projects. Successful project-based initiatives in art education have been excellent examples of arts integration.Artists and other creative people involved into a process of education, their collaboration with schools and communities could initiate some interdisciplinary and collaborative practices. Non-formal arts education environment creates more space for creativity, freedom and diversity. Additional arts education programs, museum and gallery education, artistic competitions and international projects allows for the wider development of arts education. Art education in the new age requires changing attitudes towards learning and teaching, changing roles of the educator and new learning environments.

Introduction. The update rate of information and the scope of social transformations became a trend of modern life. To remain competitive, a person needs to foster his/her competencies and skills. Non-formal education is becoming the most mobile way to solve the tasks, allowing to quickly acquire relevant knowledge and experience. Research interest is focused on the impact of non-formal education on the formation and development of the human capital. The purpose of the article is to study the involvement of representatives of various generations in a non-formal education. Materials and Methods. The research draws on the methodology of the in-depth interview interpretation analysis. The data was obtained using the focus group method: a series of 27 group interviews, 9 for each age category (youth, mature and older). The focus groups included 253 people – residents of Tyumen, Tobolsk, Ishim, and settlements in the South of the Tyumen region. Results. The possibilities of non-formal education in the process of accumulation and realization of human capital were revealed. The analysis of the practices of youth, adult and older generation’s non-formal education was carried out. Based on the study of generational theories, the educational attitudes of various age groups and the needs for non-formal learningwere analyzed. Based on the analysis of the intensity of educational practices, three types of actors were identified depending on their involvement in non-formal education: the active type “eternal student”, the moderate type “situational student” and the passive type “indifferent student”, which were found in representatives of different generations. The authors identified the following things that motivate and demotivate people to receive non-formal education: operational updating of competencies, fostering of personal and professional skills for a specific professional position, reducing the qualification gap. Analysing the non-formal educational practices of youth, adults, and the older generation, the authors found that non-formal education significantly affects the dynamics of professionalization, the nature of social and labour transfers. Discussion and Conclusion. The results of the study will aid in sizing the impact of non-formal education on human capital in terms of the generational approach. The materials of the article are useful for building an educational ecosystem at the regional and national level and for practical application in the development and adjustment of strategies for working with people of different age groups.

In the last ten years of economic and fiscal crisis, Non-Profit organizations across Europe provide a very important service through volunteering in relation to environmental education. Their role is mainly attributed to the use of non-formal education practices, which take place in schools and in local communities. Non-formal environmental education deals with a large audience and is focusing on increasing awareness, knowledge, skills, and actions of individuals and groups targeting environmental sustainability. It requires incorporating specific methodologies that cover environmental education objectives, various teaching methods, and evaluation techniques. The involvement of volunteers from different educational backgrounds creates the need for specific management and strategies. To determine the challenges and benefits of volunteering in Cyprus, a SWOT analysis was performed. Data was collected from various non-governmental organizations (NGOs) through questionnaires. Data collected revealed interesting and valuable results. Volunteers coming as placement from another European country for 3-12 months are highly committed, dedicated, and enthusiastic in relation to the weak youth voluntary participation of locals. Nevertheless, economic, social, and environmental opportunities indicators were collected which can be used for designing and improving future strategies. Furthermore, data showed that many Non-profits remain underfunded, understaffed, and unequipped. According to the survey, the non-formal education sector provided important support for the formal education system, leading to improved vertical integration from international policy to regional implementation. The findings show the potential of the informal sector to develop synergies in which the governmental sector may lack the ability to provide adequate educational resources to schools and communities.

Traditionally, qualifications and skills developed through formal learning have been the cornerstone of enhancing the employability of young people. However, the trajectory from education to work in contemporary society is far from linear; hence, the purpose of this paper is to evidence the potential benefits that non-formal educational practices, specifically involving sport-based interventions (SBIs), may offer to support the transition to employment. This paper presents data from 19 semi-structured interviews that were conducted with participants from organisations that either designed and/or delivered SBIs focused on enhancing employability or were from organisations that had experience of commissioning or funding sport-based employability projects. This paper outlines why SBIs may offer an effective alternative form of education to employment provision and also how SBIs enable young people to navigate non-linear education to employment transitions. Crucial to enhancing this transition is the provision of a supportive and inclusive non-formal educational environment where young people can acquire both propositional and procedural knowledge, whilst concurrently (re)connecting them with formal educational systems to expedite the transition to work. Importantly, this paper highlights that this concurrent blend of non-formal and formal education is particularly critical for young people without formal qualifications and who are furthest from an employment destination.

Although a growing number of research articles in recent years have treated the role of informal settings in science learning, the subject of the history of science in museums and its relationship to informal and non-formal education remains less well explored. The aim of this review is to assemble the studies of history of science in science museums and explore the opportunities for the further use of the history of science in science museum education practice. Α number of mainly interdisciplinary texts from the fields of science education, history of science, scientific museology and museum education are reviewed. The review shows that the study of the role of history of science in informal and non-formal science education is heterogeneous and fragmentary. It is necessary to raise new research questions and construct new lines of research to investigate the subject in a more systematic way.

The social purposes of education are long term and oriented towards the construction and maintenance of a sustainable future. This article focuses on developing-country contexts with relatively low formal school enrolment rates, where dropout and failure rates are alarming, and where many children leave school semi-literate, soon to relapse into illiteracy. This has negative consequences for their participation as individuals in the creation of a sus-tainable world. Since the 1960s, nonformal basic education has offered alternative educational and training activities, with innovative learning methods aimed at the development of practical skills, including matters of health, sanitation, literacy, to be applied in real-life situations. Drawing on a five-year empirical study of young people at the point of transition be-tween the nonformal and formal sectors of schooling in Bangladesh, this article analyses the nonformal education paradigm against a framework of models linking education and sustainable development. By following an activist citizen model, nonformal education empowers students to critically consider new circumstances and to believe that they can make a change when needed.

Introduction. The research topicality lies in the inference that formal education system loses its ability to respond quickly to socio-cultural and technological changes in society. The purpose of the article is to study the international and domestic experience of non-formal education, to identify the practices of non-formal education among students, and to examine the prospects and para doxes of non-formal education. Materials and Methods. The study encompassed such levels as macrosocial, mesosocial, and microsocial. The authors’ methodology comprised two stages. The first part of the research was theoretical. The second part included in-depth interviews (N = 126) and questionnaire results processing (N = 894). Results. The examples of foreign countries show institutional opportunities, regulation mechanisms, and means of recognition of non-formal education. The scale of distribution of non-formal education in the world is presented. The empirical research shows that the absolute majority of the Russian students are not involved in non-formal educational practices. The main objective of non-formal education is to obtain actual knowledge, living and vocational skills within a short time period. Only a third of respondents admit that non-formal education has had a positive ef fect on their employment. Discussion and Conclusion. The study allows to deepen knowledge about the education system transformation, to identify possible strategies to remove young people’s qualification gaps and retards and overcome barriers existing on the labor market. The study results can be used to develop theoretical concepts and conduct a comparative analysis, as well as in practical activities of educational organizations. The study will help identify the opinion of employers regarding their readiness to recognize qualifications earned through non-formal education.

The practice of community education in Nigeria