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A Course of Education

The process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university

Education is the transmission of knowledge, skills, and character traits.

Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about what the aims of education are and to what extent education is different from indoctrination by fostering critical thinking. These disagreements affect how to identify, measure, and improve forms of education.

The term “education” can also refer to the mental states and qualities of educated people and the academic field studying educational phenomena.

There are many types of education:

  • Formal education happens in a complex institutional framework, like public schools.
  • Non-formal education is also structured but takes place outside the formal schooling system.
  • Informal education is unstructured learning through daily experiences.

Formal and non-formal education are divided into levels. They include early childhood education, primary education, secondary education, and tertiary education. Other classifications focus on the teaching method, like teacher-centered and student-centered education. Forms of education can also be distinguished by subject, like science education, language education, and physical education.

Education socializes children into society by teaching cultural values and norms. It equips them with the skills needed to become productive members of society. This way, it stimulates economic growth and raises awareness of local and global problems. Organized institutions affect many aspects of education.

For example, governments set education policies to determine when school classes happen, what is taught, and who can or must attend. International organizations, like UNESCO, have been influential in promoting primary education for all children.

Many factors influence whether education is successful. Psychological factors include motivation, intelligence, and personality. Social factors, like socioeconomic status, ethnicity, and gender, are often linked to discrimination. Further factors include access to educational technology, teacher quality, and parent involvement.

The main field investigating education is called education studies. It examines what education is, what aims and effects it has, and how to improve it. Education studies has many subfields, like philosophy of education, psychology of education, sociology of education, economics of education, and comparative education. It also discusses the history of education. In prehistory, education happened informally through oral communication and imitation. With the rise of ancient civilizations, writing was invented, and the amount of knowledge grew. This caused a shift from informal to formal education. Initially, formal education was mainly available to elites and religious groups. The invention of the printing press in the 15th century made books more widely available. This increased general literacy. Beginning in the 18th and 19th centuries, public education became more important. It led to the worldwide process of making primary education available to all, free of charge, and compulsory up to a certain age.

Definitions

Main article: Definitions of education:

The definition of education has been explored by theorists from various fields.

Many agree that education is a purposeful activity aimed at achieving goals like the transmission of knowledge, skills, and character traits. However, there is extensive debate regarding its exact nature beyond these general features. One approach is to view education as a process that occurs during educational events such as schooling, teaching, and learning. Another outlook understands education not as a process but as the product resulting from this process.

It emphasizes the mental states and dispositions of educated persons. Additionally, the term may also refer to the academic field that studies the methods, processes, and social institutions involved in teaching and learning. Having a clear idea of what the term means is important to correctly identify educational phenomena. It also matters when trying to measure or improve them.

The term “education” is derived from the Latin words educare, meaning “to bring up, rear, educate” in relation to the mind, and educere, meaning “to bring out, lead forth” in reference to the bodily level.

Some theorists provide precise definitions by identifying the specific features that are exclusive to all forms of education. Education theorist R. S. Peters, for instance, outlines three essential features of education:

• It is concerned with the transmission of knowledge and understanding.
• This transmission is worthwhile.
• It is done in a morally appropriate manner in tune with the student’s interests.

Such precise definitions often succeed at characterizing the most typical forms of education. But they are criticized because there are counter examples.

This problem can be avoided by offering less precise definitions based on family resemblance. This means that all the forms of education are similar to each other. But they need not share a set of essential features that all of them have in common. According to one view, the term “education” is context-dependent. This implies that its meaning varies depending on the situation in which it is used.

There is disagreement in the academic literature on whether education is an evaluative concept. Thick definitions of education affirm this. They state that it is part of the nature of education that it is beneficial to the student or leads to some kind of improvement. Different thick definitions disagree about what kind of improvement is involved. They contrast with thin definitions, which provide a value-neutral explanation of education.

A closely related distinction is between descriptive and prescriptive conceptions of education. Descriptive conceptions discuss how the term is actually used by regular speakers. Prescriptive conceptions express what good education is or how education should be practiced. Many thick and prescriptive conceptions hold that education is an activity that tries to achieve certain aims.

Some concentrate on epistemic aims, like knowledge and understanding. Others give more emphasis to the development of skills, like rationality and critical thinking, and character traits, like kindness and honesty. One approach is to focus on a single overarching purpose of education and see the more specific aims as means to this end.

According to one suggestion, socialization is the aim of education. It is realized by transmitting accumulated knowledge from one generation to the next. This process helps the student to function in society as a regular citizen. More person-centered definitions focus on the well-being of the student instead. For them, education is a process that helps them lead a good life or the life they wish to lead.

Various scholars stress the role of critical thinking to distinguish education from indoctrination. They state that mere indoctrination is only interested in instilling beliefs in the student, independent of whether they are rational. Education, by contrast, also fosters the rational ability to critically reflect on and question those beliefs, according to this position.

However, it is not universally accepted that these two phenomena can be clearly distinguished. One reason for this view is that some forms of indoctrination may be necessary in the early stages of education while the child’s mind is not yet sufficiently developed. Education can be characterized from the teacher’s or the student’s perspective. Teacher-centered definitions focus on the perspective and role of the teacher. They tend to see education as the transmission of knowledge and skills in a morally appropriate way.

Student-centered definitions analyze education from the student’s involvement in the learning process. They may define it as a process that transforms and enriches their subsequent experience. Definitions taking both perspectives into account are also possible. This can take the form of describing the process as the shared experience of a common world. In the shared experience, different aspects of the world are discovered and problems are posed and solved.

Types

There are many classifications of education. It depends on the institutional framework whether education is formal, non-formal, or informal. Levels of education are distinguished based on factors like the student’s age and the complexity of the content. Some classifications focus on the learner or the topic. Others rely on the teaching method, the medium used, or the funding.

Formal, non-formal, and informal

Tutoring is an example of non-formal education while learning how to cook from ones parents belongs to informal education.

The most common division is between formal, non-formal, and informal education.

Formal education happens in a complex institutional framework. Such frameworks have a chronological and hierarchical order: the modern schooling system has classes based on the student’s age and progress, extending all the way from primary school to university. Formal education is usually controlled and guided by the government. It tends to be compulsory up to a certain age.

Non-formal and informal education take place outside the formal schooling system. Non-formal education is a middle ground. Like formal education, it is organized, systematic, and carried out with a clear purpose in mind. Examples are tutoring, fitness classes, and the scouting movement.

Informal education happens in an unsystematic way through daily experiences and exposure to the environment. Unlike formal and non-formal education, there is usually no designated authority figure responsible for teaching. Informal education is present in many settings. It happens throughout one’s life, mostly in a spontaneous way. This is how children learn their mother tongue from their parents or how people learn to prepare a dish by cooking together.

Some theorists distinguish the three types based on the location of learning. Formal education takes place in school. Informal education occurs in places of everyday routines. Non-formal education happens in places that are occasionally visited. There are also differences in the source of motivation. Formal education tends to be driven by extrinsic motivation for external rewards. Non-formal and informal education are closely linked to intrinsic motivation because the learning itself is enjoyed. The distinction between the three types is normally clear for the typical cases. However, some forms of education do not easily fall into one category.

Formal education plays a central role in modern civilization. But in primitive cultures, most of the education happened on the informal level. This usually meant that there is no distinction between activities focused on education and other activities. Instead, the whole environment acted as a form of school and most adults acted as teachers. However, informal education is often not efficient enough to pass on large quantities of knowledge.

To do so, a formal setting and well-trained teachers are usually required. This was one of the reasons why in the course of history, formal education became more and more important. In this process, the experience of education became more abstract and removed from daily life. More emphasis was put on grasping general patterns instead of observing and imitating particular forms of behavior

Levels

Young children in a kindergarten in Japan

Types of education are often divided into levels or stages. The most influential framework is the International Standard Classification of Education. It is maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
It covers both formal and non-formal education. It distinguishes levels based on the student’s age, the duration of learning, and the complexity of the discussed content. Further criteria include entry requirements, teacher qualifications, and the intended outcome of successful completion.

The levels are grouped into
1) Early childhood education (level 0),
2) Primary education (level 1),
3) Secondary education (levels 2–3),
4) Post-secondary non-tertiary education (level 4), and
5) Tertiary education (levels 5–8).

Early childhood education is also known as preschool education or nursery education. It is the stage of education that begins with birth and lasts until the start of primary school. It follows the holistic aim of fostering early child development at the physical, mental, and social levels. It plays a key role in socialization and personality development. It includes various basic skills in the areas of communication, learning, and problem-solving. This way, it prepares children for their entry into primary education.

Primary school children sitting in the shade of an orchard in Bamozai, Afghanistan

Primary (or elementary) education usually starts at the age of five to seven and lasts for four to seven years. It does not have any further entry requirements. Its main goal is to teach the basic skills in the fields of reading, writing, and mathematics. But it also covers the core knowledge in other fields, like history, geography, the sciences, music, and art. A further aim is to foster personal development. Today, primary education is compulsory in almost all countries. Over 90% of all primary-school-age children worldwide attend primary school.
Secondary education is the stage of education following primary education. It usually covers the ages of 12 to 18 years. It is commonly divided into lower secondary education (middle school or junior high school) and upper secondary education (high school, senior high school, or college depending on the country). Lower secondary education normally has the completion of primary school as its entry requirement. It aims to extend and deepen the learning outcomes. It is more focused on subject-specific curricula and teachers are specialized in only one or a few specific subjects. One of its aims is to familiarize students with the basic theoretical concepts in the different subjects. This helps create a solid basis for lifelong learning. In some cases, it also includes basic forms of vocational training. In many countries, it is the last stage of compulsory education.

A high-school senior (twelfth grade) classroom in Calhan, Colorado, United States

Upper secondary education aims to provide students with the skills and knowledge needed for employment or tertiary education. Its requirement is usually the completion of lower secondary education. Its subjects are more varied and complex. The students can often choose between a few subjects. Its successful completion is commonly tied to a formal qualification in the form of a high school diploma.
There are some types of education after secondary education that do not belong to tertiary education. They are categorized as post-secondary non-tertiary education and are similar in complexity to secondary education. However, they tend to focus more on vocational training to prepare students for the job market.

Students in a laboratory, Saint Petersburg State Polytechnical University

In some countries, tertiary education is used as a synonym of higher education while in others, tertiary education is the wider term. It expands upon the foundations of secondary education but has a more narrow and in-depth focus on a specific field or subject. Its completion leads to an academic degree. It can be divided into four levels: short-cycle tertiary, Bachelor’s, Master’s, and doctoral level education. They often form a hierarchical structure with later levels depending on the completion of previous levels.
Short-cycle tertiary education focuses on practical matters. It includes advanced vocational and professional training to prepare students for the job market in specialized professions. Bachelor’s level education is also referred to as undergraduate education. It tends to be longer than short-cycle tertiary education. It is usually offered by universities and results in an intermediary academic certification in the form of a bachelor’s degree. Master’s level education is more specialized than undergraduate education. Many programs require independent research in the form of a master’s thesis as a requirement for successful completion. Doctoral level education leads to an advanced research qualification, normally in the form of a doctor’s degree. It usually requires the submission of a substantial academic work, such as a dissertation.

Others

Homeschooling is one form of alternative education.

Many other types of education are discussed in the academic literature, like the distinction between traditional and alternative education. Traditional education concerns long-established and mainstream schooling practices. It uses teacher-centered education and takes place in a well-regulated school environment. Regulations cover many aspects of education, such as the curriculum and the timeframe when classes start and end.
Alternative education is an umbrella term for forms of schooling that differ from the mainstream traditional approach. They may use a different learning environment, teach different subjects, or promote a different teacher-student relationship.

Alternative schooling is characterized by voluntary participation, relatively small class and school sizes, and personalized instruction. This often results in a more welcoming and emotionally safe atmosphere. Alternative education encompasses many types like charter schools and special programs for problematic or gifted children. It also includes homeschooling and unschooling.

There are many alternative schooling traditions, like Montessori schools, Waldorf schools, Round Square schools, Escuela Nueva schools, free schools, and democratic schools. Alternative education also includes indigenous education. It focuses on the transmission of knowledge and skills from an indigenous heritage. Its methods give more emphasis to narration and storytelling.
Other distinctions between types of education are based on who receives education. Categories by the age of the learner are childhood education, adolescent education, adult education, and elderly education.

Special education is education that is specifically adapted to meet the unique needs of students with disabilities. It covers various forms of impairments on the intellectual, social, communicative, and physical levels. It aims to overcome the challenges posed by these impairments. This way, it provides the affected students with access to an appropriate education. When understood in the broadest sense, special education also includes education for very gifted children who need adjusted curricula to reach their fullest potential.

Some classifications focus on the teaching method. In teacher-centered education, the teacher takes center stage in providing students with information. It contrasts with student-centered education, in which students take on a more active and responsible role in shaping classroom activities. For conscious education, learning and teaching happen with a clear purpose in mind. Unconscious education occurs on its own without being consciously planned or guided. This may happen in part through the personality of teachers and adults, which can have indirect effects on the development of the student’s personality.

Autodidacticism or self-education is self-directed learning. It happens without the guidance of teachers and institutions. It mainly occurs in adult education. It is characterized by the freedom to choose what and when to study. For this reason, it can be a more fulfilling learning experience. However, the lack of structure and guidance can result in aimless learning. Due to the absence of external feedback, autodidacts may develop false ideas and inaccurately assess their learning progress. Autodidacticism is closely related to lifelong education, which is an ongoing learning process throughout a person’s entire life.

Forms of education can also be categorized by the subject and the medium used. Types based on the subject include science education, language education, art education, religious education, and physical education. Special mediums, such as radio or websites, are used in distance education. Examples include e-learning (use of computers), m-learning (use of mobile devices), and online education. They often take the form of open education, in which the courses and materials are made available with a minimal amount of barriers. They contrast with regular classroom or onsite education.

A further distinction is based on the type of funding. Public education is also referred to as state education. It is education funded and controlled by the government. It is available to the general public. It normally does not require tuition fees and is thus a form of free education. It contrasts with private education, which is funded and managed by private institutions. Private schools often have a more selective admission process. Many offer paid education by charging tuition fees.

A more detailed classification focuses on the social institution responsible for education. It includes categories for institutions like family, school, civil society, state, and church.
Compulsory education is education that people are legally required to receive. It concerns mainly children who need to visit school up to a certain age. It contrasts with voluntary education, which people pursue by personal choice without a legal requirement.

Evidence-based education uses well-designed scientific studies to determine which methods of education work best. Its goal is to maximize the effectiveness of educational practices and policies. This is achieved by ensuring that they are informed by the best available empirical evidence. It includes evidence-based teaching, evidence-based learning, and school effectiveness research.

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