1. Formula of Europe: Today´s competences for tomorrow´s success, April 16-17, 2008, Vilnius The Variety and Differences amongst the Concepts of Non-formal Education Dr. Lasse Siurala Director of Youth, City of Helsinki

2. Dr. Lasse Siurala, Director of Youth, City of Helsinki Curriculum vitae Researcher, acting associate professor of economic sociology at the Helsinki School of Economics (1975- 1995) Director of Youth, City of Helsinki (1995-1998,2002-) Director of youth, Council of Europe, Strasbourg, France (1998-2001) Married: 2 sons, one daughter Finnish Champion in Karate (1974), 1st President of Finnish Karate Federation

3. DEPARTMENT OF YOUTH, CITY OF HELSINKI AIMS:  To promote active engagement & education to democracy  To support youth organisations  To empower youth at risk MEANS:  54 Youth Centres and  specialised services like Youth Information Centre, Media Centre, Cultural Centre, Domestic Animal Farm, Theatre, Nature House, House of craft and visual arts, Traffic Education Centre, Youth Centre for Girls Only, indoor skating hall, 21 outdoor skate parks, two camping islands, residential education centre, a Virtual Youth Centre, etc  300 municipal professionally trained full-time youth workers  Free for a membership card (4 euros/year)  Budget 25 Me (2008)

4. What is non-formal learning? 1.A genuine situation of experience; ”… a personal experience of a problem in an every day situation” 2.Data supply for reflection; ”actions, facts, events, relations of things” 3.Production of ideas as ”suggestions, inferences, conjectured meanings, tentative explanations” of ”possible results, things to do”. 4.Testing the ideas in practice, which ”confers full meaning and a sense of their reality” and learning from the learner’s practice; ”the teacher as the learner and the learner as the teacher” 5.”Education is not a mere means to moral life – education is such a life.” 6.Action: ”It is essential to maintain the continuity of knowing with an activity which purposely modifies the environment.” John Dewey: Democracy and Education, Columbia University 1916

5. A tentative definition. formal education: institution based, structured, hierarchically and chronologically graded, teacher/trainer centred education which emphasises objectivity of knowledge, memorizing and aims at certification. informal learning: learning in everyday life which does not aim at certification but where a diversity of actors each with their own intentions impose meanings on the learner. non-formal learning: learner centred and practice based learning process which emphasises intrinsic motivation, social context of learning, the usefulness of knowledge and aims at identity growth, social change and integration into society. Learning is voluntary, involves conscious educational aims and may be credited. Lasse Siurala: Non-formal learning as an educational approach, in Dorin Festeu and Barbara Humberstone (eds.) Non-formal Education through Outdoor Activities Guide, Buckinghamshire 2006

6. FORMAL EDUCATION Teacher centered NON-FORMAL LEARNING Learner centered INFORMAL LEARNING Context-driven -University -School -Active participation in youth organisations, youth projects, youth clubs -Peergroups -Media & Internet -Everyday leisure

7. FORMAL EDUCATION Teacher centered NON-FORMAL LEARNING Learner centered INFORMAL LEARNING Context-driven -”unconventional learning” -Commercial youth cultures -”additional education” -”out-of-school education” -NGOs? -Youth Centre activities? - Adventure education?

8. FORMAL EDUCATION Teacher centered NON-FORMAL LEARNING Learner centered INFORMAL LEARNING Context-driven ” There are few, if any, learning situations where either informal or formal elements are completely absent… It was the blending of (both) that was significant, not their separation” Colley, Hodkinson & Malcolm: ”informality and formality in learning”, London 2003

9. ”non-formal learning” differences in educational philosophy: non-formal learning as complementary to… formal education

10. “It is time to move beyond regarding formal and non- formal learning as a binary opposition, in which non- formal represents all that is ‘good’ and formal represents all that is ‘bad’. In reality, the boundaries between the two are not firmly fixed. Their respective features fade into one another towards the centre of what is ultimately a continuum of learning contexts, contents and methods.” Lynne Chisholm, Council of Europe, Youth Directorate, 2000 “It is time to move beyond regarding formal and non- formal learning as a binary opposition, in which non- formal represents all that is ‘good’ and formal represents all that is ‘bad’. In reality, the boundaries between the two are not firmly fixed. Their respective features fade into one another towards the centre of what is ultimately a continuum of learning contexts, contents and methods.” Lynne Chisholm, Council of Europe, Youth Directorate, 2000 Relating non-formal education to formal education

11. ”In our opinion it is not useful for ”non-formal education” to react against ”formal education”. They are not in the opposite direction, they are complementary…It is one of the most important challenges in the near future of NFE to join the forces of the two systems” René Clarijs: ”Unlimited talents and non-formal education”, Prague 2008

12. ”non-formal learning” differences in educational philosophy: non-formal learning as complementary to… formal education non-formal learning as an alternative to…

13. Non-formal education as an alternative Formal education Non-formal education as complementary learning ”Non-formal learning is very different from, even opposite to, formal education as to its conception of knowledge, understanding of identity, approach to education and design of learning context’ (Juha Suoranta, Nuorisotutkimuslehti [Journal of Youth Research] 2000/3) FORMAL EDUCATIONNON-FORMAL EDUCATION conception of knowledge one interpretation, objectivist conception of knowledge many relatively true interpretations of the world understanding of identity a stable and coherent identitya changing, multiple and contradictory identity approach to education teacher centerednegotiation learning context curriculum, school booksthe society surrounding the school

14. ”non-formal learning” differences in educational philosophy: non-formal learning as complementary to… formal education non-formal learning as an autonomous field of learning non-formal learning as an alternative to…

15. Thomas Ziehe “It is more important to learn Latin well than to make a class journey to Rome” Theodore Adorno “School and youth – a normative relationship of difference”

16. ”non-formal learning” differences in educational philosophy: non-formal learning as complementary to… formal education non-formal learning as an autonomous field of learning non-formal learning as an alternative to…

17. 1.Non-formal education should be better integrated into formal education (complementary relation) 2. ”Standard pedagogy” of today’s school should be replaced by non-formal learning approach (alternative relation) 3.Non-formal education should be kept at arm’s length from formal education (relation of autonomy)