Education continues to be a significant aspect of a nation as it plays a vital role in making a country flourish. Experts say it is an essential element in the development of a person. It affects how a person behaves, thinks, speaks, and develops one’s personality. Education is not only about being aware of the history and learning facts and figures; instead, it is a vast area. It changes people positively and makes them wiser in their life choices. People learn how to differentiate between right and wrong on an educational basis and adopt a better life approach. It helps open one’s mind, broaden a person’s horizons, and accept new and better ways to enhance life quality. Educationists have always maintained that education does not only happen in enclosed rooms and can occur in various settings.
Someone has rightly said that the only constant thing in the world is change. The evolution of education is a living example. The modern world’s instruction modes are vastly different from the previous years, as technological advancements have brought a massive change. During the last years, educators were against technical devices in classrooms and used to snub students. Today, these devices have reached classrooms, and educators use technology to enhance students’ learning and give them in-depth insight into various subjects.
Education modes are various. When appropriately structured, every student out there can get educated. Teaching can be different, but education can occur outside classrooms, covering academics and other areas.
Below we are giving an all-round insight into the modes of education, specifically for 2021:
- Formal Education
Education, which takes place in educational institutes’ premises, comes under the umbrella of formal education. All types of schools, colleges, universities are the organizational structures where they provide students formal education. Educational institutes hire qualified teachers who have a firm grip on academics. Still, they also possess skills of transferring knowledge to students. Traditional education has specific rules, and educators make students bear consequences on the negligence of regulation. Apart from rules, formal education has a proper setup of assessments. They promote children after making them go through a process.
STEM and STEAM are two new phenomena of education that are gaining immense momentum in the present age. STEM stands for science, technology, education, and math, whereas STEAM is an acronym for science, technology, education, arts, and math. Educators focus on these four or five areas. They believe that students can choose a major in higher schools and continue further training to gain professional skills. A debate of STEM vs STEAM has taken a focal point. Often, educators indulge in the argument and present their views. Nonetheless, STEM and STEAM, both modes of education, happen in formal settings.
- INFORMAL EDUCATION
In most informal education cases, the one who is learning and the one who is teaching, none is aware the education is taking place. A parent teaching a child about the correct method of tying shoelaces or a neighbor educating an older adult using a smartphone are a few examples of informal teaching. Although conscious efforts are not involved in informal education, educators say that people retain information for a longer duration in this education model. It neither has a schedule nor takes any assessments; people either learn or do not, but nobody grades them. Informal education does not require a proper structure or a building, and neither does it have a set curriculum. Learning is a lifelong process, and so is informal education. Friends, family, environment, a stranger, media, almost anyone you interact with can help you learn something, and it comes in informal education.
- SEMI-FORMAL EDUCATION
Learners have different abilities, and students having the same family, background, resources, and teachers can perform differently. Semi-formal education helps people with some weak spots to work on those areas and gradually come up to a higher level. Semi-formal education primarily focuses on a personalized approach.
Educators modify the curriculum as per individuals’ needs and help them cope with the stress and pressure. They use various techniques and help students enhance their learning, grasp concepts, and excel in education areas by altering the syllabus and bringing them to learners’ level. Semi-formal education does not only focus on academic qualification; instead, it has a holistic approach. It helps learners improve critical and analytical thinking and enhance their communication skills. Educators are coming up with different ideas and designing personalized curriculum to cater to differently-abled children. The year 2021 will see more variety of semi-formal educational programs.
- NON-FORMAL EDUCATION
Non-formal education is not very popular, but it is slowly gaining momentum. Adult primary education, school equivalency preparation, and adult literacy education are some elements of non-formal education. People do not enroll in a school, yet they learn the academic skills and equip themselves with more advanced knowledge. Although there is no proper organization for non-formal education, it has a systematic approach, and people deliberately and consciously make an effort. In some settings, a group of people with the same needs come together and hire a tutor. Fitness programs, boy scouts, girl guides developing some swimming or skating courses are a few examples of non-formal education. Non-formal education is flexible as it does not have a bound curriculum or age. It is an open-ended system where the public and private sectors are not distinguished.
- VIRTUAL EDUCATION
E-education or distance learning was already getting hype. Still, educational institutes’ closure, owing to the spread of COVID-19, forced people to turn towards virtual learning. People are learning the benefits of virtual education, and an increasing number of people switch to online education. It is flexible and allows people to fulfill other duties. The cost of living has hiked up in a few years, and people are struggling to pay the tuition fee of regular courses. Virtual education is comparatively reasonable. It does not force people to spend money on books and notes and save the expense of a daily commute. Educators have predicted a further increase in the enrollment of virtual degrees in 2021.
CONCLUSION
In the modern world, a vast majority believes that education goes beyond the four walls and is more than acquiring a degree. People are also getting awareness about the significance of gaining an education and making efforts to obtain degrees. Education can be of various types, and people can earn it through multiple modes,
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