Nonformal Education and Learning

Abstract

Nonformal education (NFE) has a significant function to play in learning. Recognition of the importance of NFE has grown over the past 50 years, and education no longer is limited to formal schooling alone. This chapter conceptualizes education as learning in a wide range of contexts and argues for research programs that include the broad sweep of learning in family and community, as well as in the many institutions in addition to formal schools in which this occurs. This revised conceptual framework is presented with contemporary relevance to early childhood development (ECD) and primary and secondary school stages. Implications for research, practice, and policy in low- and middle-income countries are emphasized, particularly for vulnerable, excluded, and disadvantaged children and communities.