ADLT 101

INTRODUCTION TO ADULT
EDUCATION

Lecture 4 – Key Concepts and

Terminologies in Adult Education

Lecturer: Dr. Yvette Ussher

College of Education
Department of Adult Education and Human Resource Studies
2020/2021
 Lecture Overview

• In this lecture we will attempt the

explanation of some key terms and
concepts in adult education.

Slide 2
 Lecture Objectives/Goals
• By the end of this lecture you should be able to:
–Explain lifelong and continuing
learning
–Differentiate between non-formal,
informal and formal education
–Discuss the meaning of extension, re-
current and extra mural education

Slide 3
 Key Topics
Key topics to be discussed are:
• Formal education
• Informal Learning
• Non formal education
• Lifelong learning
• Continuing education
• Recurrent
• Extension
• Extra-mural
 Formal Education
• Is the type of education provided in schools, colleges and universities. Is
usually graded by age, and structured from the primary level to the
universities.
• Is also systematically arranged and students are enrolled or registered to
follow established courses, either on full-time or part-time basis. The
learning activities normally take place within the walls of institutions. The
courses are structured and lectures are presented through teaching,
discussions and group work/presentations. Examinations are conducted and
those who pass are awarded certificates, diplomas and degrees.
• Included in this form of education are remedial classes and parallel evening
classes of schools, colleges and off-campus sites, for example, Accra City
Campus of the University of Ghana.
• Distance education courses that lead to same qualifications from universities
are formal education, except that the lecturers teach through printed
materials, on-line, DVDs, videos and occasional face-to-face meetings.
 Informal Education/Informal
Learning
• It involves learning unintentionally and accidentally
as one engages in daily routines, such as meeting
people, attending meetings and reading newspapers.
Some people think that informal education is not
education because it is not organised at all; learning
comes naturally in one‟s daily activities. As such, it has
been argued that a better term is informal learning (not
informal education).
 Informal Education/Informal
Learning
• Informal learning has the following characteristics:
– absence of any form of planning
– absence of stated purpose or objective of the
learning
– it is a lifelong, and only ends when one dies
– learners may not even be aware they are learning
– It is largely through informal learning that
indigenous knowledge is accumulated over
generations living in a particular environment and
transferred from one generation to succeeding ones.

Slide 7
 Non-Formal Education/Out of
School Education
• Refers to education organised outside the school system for
particular groups in the society.
• Such forms of adult education cover training and instruction
given to particular groups of people and may use the methods
and approaches of the school system.
• Examples of non-formal education include education
provided by nurses for pregnant women and those with young
babies; agricultural extension agents also provide non-formal
education for farmers to improve their productivity. Training
provided for unemployed young school leavers, and at
vocational centres, and literacy classes for adults to learn to
read and write are also forms of non-formal education.
 Lifelong Learning
• Is the notion that human beings need to learn from
birth to death. Hence learning is from birth to
death, learning has no end until we enter the grace
• One needs to learn to keep one‟s place in life as we
live in a changing society.
• Lifelong education suggests that initial education,
whether in school or in the society, is not sufficient to
take one through life.
 Continuing Education
• Is where the adult is given the opportunity to continue
his/her education from where he/she left off. It implies
that the learner had had some formal education background
and has come back to continue from where they had left off.
• Continuing education therefore refers to the opportunities
provided by universities and other institutions for adults to
further or to continue with their education. This has led to
many adult education departments to change their
designation to Department of Continuing Education
• The term also refer to denote adult learning at a higher level,
including in-service training sessions for the advancement of
professional or vocational competence following initial,
formal training. For instance, lawyers, and nurses are some
professionals who benefit from continuing education.
 Recurrent Education
• Is the organisation of the whole educational system so that
learners do not think they can start their education when they
are young and complete it in one stretch, when they reach the
university for example. Rather, human beings as lifelong learners
may come back to education throughout life; that is education
recurs in their life.
• The term suggests periodic return of adults to learning to meet
emerging social, occupational and professional changes, for
personal or professional development. For example, a teacher
with a diploma may teach for four years, enter the university for a
degree, teach for some time, and go back for a master‟s degree.
He may also participate in in-service training activities and take
part in non-teaching related workshops, may be as an
assemblyman or a lay preacher.
 Extension Education
• Refers to efforts that universities make to extend
their traditional knowledge and resources to those
who are not part of the university.
• The term is used in connection with agricultural
education in rural areas, thus we still have agriculture
extension officers.
 Extra-mural Studies
• These are programmes designed by universities for
those outside their walls. In fact, “mural” is the
Latin word for wall, so extra-mural means „outside
the walls‟ of the university.
• The university run courses for some learners who are
not regular students of a university but registered for
a short or series of courses. Many of such courses are
aimed at cultivating the mind, widening the learner‟s
horizon or giving the learner the opportunity to learn
to understand some particular issues.
 Assignment

HOPE YOU WILL

ENGAGE IN
FURTHER READINGS
THANK YOU
Slide 14