INFORMAL
EDUCATION: ROLE
OF THE COMMUNITY HOME
AND PEER GROUP
Vishnu Sasidharan (No. 82,
English)
INTRODUCTION
Education is a lifelong process from
birth to death, so it is a continuous process. Education aims at bringing about
changes of behavior of the students according to the different needs.
Achievement or performance in any task being the academic need in the
educational setting, all the contributing for this achievement should be taken
care of in the total educational system.
The ultimate aim of the education is
the total development of the individual. The examination system has many
limitations in ensuring that education succeeds in fulfilling its ultimate aim.
It focuses only on cognitive learning out comes and completely ignores the
non-cognitive aspects which are a vital component of human personality.
There are many socializing agencies
of education. They may be informal, non-formal and formal. These agencies have
an important role in the relam of education. From family and the school and as
a social animal it requires from the society also. From these agencies, three
of them have same role. But in the case of informal agencies, home, peer group
and the community are the major factors. Informal education is that education
is not formal and it is not from an authorized resource. In this type of
education there is modification of the behavior of the learner, but no
conscious efforts are made for it. All social institutions exist for the
betterment and improvement of the individual. The individual is the architect
of his own destiny. Education therefore, must care for the complete development
of the individual.
AGENCIES OF EDUCATION
There are three major agencies for
the education. They can be classifies as informal, formal and non-formal
agencies. The first kind of classification refers to the formal agencies and
the other formal agencies of late, in between the non formal institutions are
pre-conceived and pre-planned. They are developed as a result of some of the
needs of the society. The school, the college and the universities come under
this category. They are governed by rules and regulations. They may be
statutory in some cases. They have a legal order of their own.
The non-formal agencies are simply
out-of-school institutions. They stand in between the formal and informal.
The informal agencies of education
are formed in the natural course of development of the society. They are
neither pre-conceived nor-preplanned. They are not governed by any regular code
or regulations. The family, the church, the community and the state come under
this category. Man’s education begins at birth; before he can speak or
understand, he is learning. Experience precedes instruction. His learning goes
right up to his death. It is continuous process. Education comes to us from
nature, form men or from things, school is only a small part of environment
which helps us to learn. There are several other forces acting on an individual
and his education. Press, mass media, church or other religious agencies,
friends, libraries, satellite or computer system also play their role in the
education of a child.
INFORMAL EDUCATION
Education for which no formalities
are observed is known as informal type of education. In this type of education,
there are no, pre-determined aims, no definite curriculum, no well thought
methods of teachings, no qualifies and trained teachers and no definite place
of education. Here education is received by the company of friends that is in
the peer group or relatives, community etc. whatever as education is received
plays a very important and significant role in the life of the educand. In this
type of education, there is modification of the behavior of the learner, but no
conscious efforts are made for it. Whatever is learnt here is not preplanned.
It is rather incidental. Here neither the teacher nor the learner is conscious
of the process of teaching learning. For example a person goes to the play
ground, for physical exercise and there comes across someone who tells him very
good ways of utilizing leisure time. Surely in this situation one acted as a
teacher and the listener was a student but none of them was conscious of the
fact that the process of teaching learning occurred informally. In this way
through our daily routine of life, teaching learning may take place and we are
quite unaware of it. This type of education is known as informal education. It
is a casual type of education which is received through daily experiences and
activities.
The informal agencies of education
are formed in the natural course of development of the society. They are
neither pre-conceived nor pre-planned. They are not governed by any regular
code or regulations. The family the church or any religious institutions, the
community and the state come under this category. Through the religious
organizations come under informal agencies of education, they become formal
institutions, when they run educational institutions of their own. In the
socializing agencies of education the informal education is in the out of
school system, or other any institutions. The branches of informal education
are mainly the home, the peer group, and the community as a whole the state
also.
FEATURES OF INFORMAL
EDUCATION
·
Informal education is incidental, incidental,
indirect and spontaneous. There is no conscious effort involved it.
·
It is not pre-planned and structured.
·
There are no specialized agencies to impart this
education.
·
There are no formal ends and objectives. In this
type of education, there is no prescribed time table and curriculum.
·
There are no examinations and awarding of
certificates.
·
Is it lifelong education. It continues
throughout life.
·
In other words, it takes place through daily
activities and experiences.
AGENCIES OF INFORMAL
EDUCATION
In any country there are many socializing agencies of
education. They may be formal, non-formal and informal. The formal agencies
such as school, colleges and universities, non-formal agencies like, church,
mass media etc. and informal agencies like home, peer group and the community.
In this community as a whole include the society, itself. Where informal
agencies the home, the peer group and the community played an important role.
The social systems are mutually dependent. The school is dependent on the state
for its finances. The state is dependent on the community for its revenue. The
home is dependent on the community and the state its existence and its
security.
Informal agencies of education like home, peer group and the
community as a whole the heart of the society. Home is the fundamental unit of
the social structure. From there the child get his first lesson for his life.
Then from his peer group and to the community, or to the society at last as a
social animal. Educations from any authorized institutions like school, college
have a structure of their own. With in that area it provides a wider canvas for
the pupils. But as in the case of informal learning, it get from anywhere at
the society. The child acquires knowledge or, share his views to his parents or
his friends. The sharing and classification of ideas led a vast study about the
matter. Informal learning sometimes may be bad or good. This type of education
may result into learning sometimes wrong or bad. That is negative education and
that may create some problem. The
family, peer group and the community are the important agencies of informal
education.
FAMILY
It is a well-known fact that the
family is atypical informal agency of education. It has been and to large
extent still remains the main educational agency of mankind. We call it as
informal agency because, there is no fixed schedule of teaching, no time table,
no formal syllabus and very little formal teaching. Atmosphere without any affection and
atmosphere with too much of affection are both as dangerous to a child at
school as at home. A good home gives a good start in life. The root of the
human life is the home. This is the institution around which all the other
institutions revolve and for which they ultimately exist. Home is the great
school of character and citizenship. From family child will derived his first
habits, his ideas of the world and perhaps more important than these, his first
standards of conduct. Family lays foundation for the physical, mental, moral,
emotional, social and spiritual growth of the child. When we think of that
transmission of knowledge from one generation to another, it is clear at once
that the family is always one of the fundamental agencies of education in
society. Before the establishment of schools, parents were responsible for the
education of their children. The child also develops qualities like love
sympathy, and sensitiveness to the needs of others. There is much emotional
learning also.
EDUCATIONAL FUNCTIONS OF
FAMILY
·
Renders good nourishment and healthy habits
physical as well as mental.
·
Caters to the varied needs of the child at
various stages of development.
·
Helps to develop desirable interest and
attitudes in the child.
·
Provide opportunities for recreation, vocational
interest, development of skill etc.
·
Training in democratic work, which leads to
inculcation of dignity of labour.
·
Give affection, sense of belongingness and
security to the child.
·
Basis of democratic principles should be laid
down at home.
·
The family provides opportunities for the
exercise of the senses.
·
Social learning takes place in the home by
imitation and assimilation.
·
It helps them to develop harmonious adjustment
with surrounding civilization.
·
It encourages the formation of worthy home
membership.
·
Family life helps in the acquisition of
language, aesthetic skills, sex, education, married life and its roles, parenthood,
childcare and conformity with traditions and customs and so on.
PEER GROUP
Peer group education in ‘out-of-school education’ is
relevant for youth organizations, youth services, youth agencies and youth and
social work in general. The aim to give young people the responsibility for the
education of other young people can be achieved by the continuity of the
out-of-school sector. The challenge to the adults in out-of-school education is
the step by step retreat out of peer group education programmes. Working
towards loss of ‘control’ and allowing for action alongside the structured
programmes of organization, agencies and services. Peer group education
programmes can reach out to a winder public than only to the “members” of the
organization and institutions and can therefore bring about synthesis and
enrichment.
Peer group forms an important informal and socializing
agency with which the individual comes into contact during the early childhood,
later childhood, and adolescence. The members of the peer group may be
classified as infant peers, childhood peers and adolescence peers. The peer
groups are the activity groups of young children, which also play the
educational role of informal agency in their own way. They are the associations
formed spontaneously for the purpose of recreation or play or such other common
mutual interests. They are formed without the interference of elder generation.
The peer groups can be classified into two primary groups such as play groups,
gangs etc, and secondary groups such as youth clubs, youth leagues, youth
association etc.
EDUCATIONAL INFLUENCE OF
PEAR GROUP
·
Peer group help the child to develop leadership
qualities.
·
Child learns group values such as co-operation,
tolerance, accommodation and team spirit.
·
It helps the child in the development of
rational conscience and scale of values.
·
It provides experience to play various roles in
groups, which enables to develop leadership qualities.
·
Inculcation of desirable social attitudes and
habits of mutual co-operation.
·
Its helps to equip the young people efficiently
and effectively for future.
COMMUNITY
Community is an important informal
and active agency of education. Just as the family and the school have a great
influence upon the child, much in the same way the community also modifies the
behavior of child, through social contacts, group activities and group dynamics
in such a way that he begins to participate in all the desirable activities of
the community of which he is an integral part. It is why we still hear the saying
that children of a community develop as the adults of that community wish them
to become. In fact, the child does not develop in the environment of his family
alone. The environment of the community also moulds and modifies the behavior
of the child according to its ideas, ideals and goals.
Every community has its various
needs and glaring problems. When these needs are met and problems solved, the
standard of community rises higher and higher. This progress goes on gradually
and continually on the contrary, a community which is unable to provide right
type of education to its members, it remains cramped up and stagnant with the
result that its progress is blocked and stunted. In other words a community
tries to mould education according to its social, economic and political needs
or aspirations. This is an ongoing and continuing process. The school run by a
community is therefore called a miniature of society. In short, the community
as an agency of education influences its children both formally and informally.
Each community influences the education of the child form all aspects as well
as informally. It influences on a child’s influence on physical, mental,
social, cultural, character and moral development. Also in his or her political
ideas can be mould by this, as a social animal.
QUALITIES OF COMMUNITY
AS AN AGENCY OF INFORMAL EDUCATION
Community tries to influence the
education of its children in both formally and informally.
·
Community education is meaningful. It is
applicable in any learner belonging any age level.
·
Informal education provided by community,
emphasizes the principle of utility. According to this principle education
emphasizes upon those ideals which are useful to the individual as well as to
the community itself.
·
Community education gives real life experiences
to the children through the peer group, or youth clubs etc.
·
Community education emphasizes upon the
principle of activity. Instead of simply hearing the lectures, children learn
effectively by doing and manipulating things and processes.
·
The community imparts its cultural heritage to
the children, as an agency of informal learning.
·
The community creates consciousness in children
about their rights and duties and thus develops in them those qualities and
capacities which make them active and dynamic citizens.
·
The community bestows upon children the capacity
to think creatively and constructively. This makes them responsible and
self-reliant citizens.
The community provides many informal devices and materials
to children for their developed in various aspects of personality. Radio, mass
media, libraries are the various and varied devices of influence the
development of children of the community.
CONCLUSION
The informal agencies of education are formed in the natural
course of development of the society. They are neither pre-conceived nor
pre-planned. Formal education is classroom based, provided by trained teachers.
Informal education happens outside the classroom, in after school programs,
community based organizations, museums, libraries or at home. In general
classrooms have the same kids and the same teachers every day. After school
programs are often drop-in so attendance is consistent, as it leadership.
Informal education programs need to complete an activity each day because a
difference group of kids could be in attendance every day, as in their meetings
in youth clubs, or in their peer group.
Classroom – based teachers have a certain level of training
in educational philosophy, effective teaching strategies, classroom management
and content. But in informal educational programs provides by contrast, vary in
experience and knowledge about the society, and also teach or acquire group
management also.
An additional benefit of developing materials for informal
educational settings are that may be useful to parents at home, as in the part
of home as an active agency of informal education. And or to adult learners who
are looking to expand their knowledge level at the platform of their peer
group, either for their own enrichment or to increase their career options.
Later it reflects on the society by its citizens, there can be acquired through
the same community itself also.
REFERENCES
T.Paul
Varghese (1967) Philosophical and Sociological foundations of education, Allied
printers, India, Trichur, Kerala.
T.C.
Thankachan, (2007 -5th edition 2012) Philosophical and Sociological
bases of education, V Publishers, Kottayam- Kerala.
NR.
Sworoop Saxena (2001) Philosophical and Sociological foundations of education
Meerut: Surya publication.
K.V.
Eapen (1997) Teacher and Education in Indian Society, Kollett Publications –
Kottayam, Kerala.
