INTRODUCTION TO EDUCATION

The original meaning of the word education and its historical development. The word
‘Education’

has been derived from different Latin words like:

• educare’ which means ‘to bring out’ or ‘to nourish’.

• ‘educere’ which means ‘to lead out’ or ‘to draw out’.

• ‘educatum’ which means ‘act of teaching’ or ‘training’.

• ‘educatus’ which means ‘to bring up, rear, educate’.

All these meanings indicate that education seeks to nourish the good qualities in man and
draw out the best in every individual. Education seeks to develop the innate inner capacities
of man. By educating an individual we attempt to give him some desirable knowledge,
understanding, skills, interests, attitudes and critical 'thinking. That is, he acquires knowledge
of history, geography, arithmetic, languages and sciences.

DEFINITIONS:

Philosophers have also defined education in different ways. Let us look at some of these

 Socrates: Education means the bringing out of the ideas of universal validity which
are latent in the mind of every man.
 Plato: Education is the capacity to feel pleasure and pain at the right moment.
 Aristotle: Education is the creation of a sound mind in a sound body
 Rousseau: Education is all that a man goes through from birth to death.
 Herbert Spencer: Education is complete living.
 Heinrich Pestalozzi: Education is natural harmonious and progressive development
of man's innate powers. He advocated therefore for the education of the poor and
emphasized teaching methods designed to strengthen the student ‘s own ability(ies).
Pestalozzi therefore looked at education as an empowerment
 Friedrich Willian Froebel: Education is unfoldment of what is already enfolded in
the germ. It is the process through which the child makes internal external.
 David Whitehead – Education is life in all its manifestations. (Whatever man shows to the
world in terms of behaviour and all its manifestations are a product of education. Education
can also be defined as what a person has acquired so far)

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  John Dewey - Education is a process of living though a continuous reconstruction of life
experience(s). (One may not say he or she is educated at any particular time. One continues
to learn and updating him/herself through new life experiences. We project ourselves in the
future and work towards the goals set for ourselves. In the process, we keep learning new
experiences).

While scholars have defined education as;

i. The act or process of imparting or acquiring general knowledge, developing the

powers of reasoning and judgment, and generally of preparing oneself or others
intellectually for mature life.
ii. The act or process of imparting or acquiring particular knowledge or skills, attitude
and critical thinking as for a profession.
iii. Other scholars define education as a lifelong process where knowledge, skills
attitudes and values are imparted.

UNESCO on the other hand has defined education as an organised and sustained
communication process designed to bring about learning.

KEY CONCEPTS IN THE DEFINITION OF EDUCATION

1) Transmission of knowledge
2) It is a process and not a product (everyday, we are in a process of learning)
3) Progressive development (education is progressive, not retrogressive, education
climbs the ladder)
4) It must be done in a morally acceptable manner. We can then talk about positive
education only because it must be done in a morally acceptable manner.

TEACHING AND LEARNING

The issues of teaching and learning are intrinsic to the successful discussion of education and
curriculum. Unless they are clearly understood, it would be difficult to assess and analyze their role in
the lives of the learners, especially in this context where the impact on the lives of school leavers is
being investigated.

Learning, though defined in various ways, basically entails transformation of an individual due to
exposure to particular situations that provide one with new knowledge, skills and experiences. It is
generally associated with acquisition of knowledge, skills and experiences where an individual is
somewhat transformed in terms of behaviour, thinking, action or feeling. Circumstances leading to

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learning will differ from one environment to another, but normally one would not miss the
transformation in that particular person who is assumed to have learnt.

 Hilgard and Bower (1975:17), define learning as, “the change in a subject’s behaviour to a
given situation brought about by his repeated experiences in that situation, provided that the
behaviour change cannot be explained on the basis of native response tendencies, maturation,
or temporary state of the subject…. may be shown in either the way a person
thinks(cognitive), acts (psychomotor), or feels (affective).”
 According to Hilgard and Bower, learning, more than anything else entails acquired
knowledge from a particular source whose impact is visibly seen from the way one display
themselves.
 According to Louw and Edwards (1998), learning simply means a relatively permanent
change in behaviour or knowledge as a result of being exposed to a particular kind of
experience. It would mean therefore, that learning ideally suggests some form of experience
one is availed of in order to guarantee attainment of a particular set of knowledge or skills
which make someone different from what they were originally.

NATURE OF EDUCATION

After having the knowledge of what education is, lets us now move further and look at the
nature of education.

As is the meaning of education, so is its nature. It is very complex. Let us now discuss the
nature of education:

1. Education is a life-long process- Education is a continuous and lifelong process. It starts

from the womb of the mother and continues till death. It is the process of development from
infancy to maturity. It includes the effect of everything which influences human personality.

2. Education is a systematic process- It refers to transact its activities through a systematic

institution and regulation.

3. Education is development of individual and the society- It is called a force for social
development, which brings improvement in every aspect in the society.

4. Education is modification of behaviour- Human behaviour is modified and improved

through educational process.

5. Education is purposive: every individual has some goal in his life. Education contributes
in attainment of that goal. There is a definite purpose underlined all educational activities.

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6. Education is a training- Human senses, mind, behaviour, activities; skills are trained in a
constructive and socially desirable way.

7. Education is instruction and direction- It directs and instructs an individual to fulfill his
desires and needs for exaltation of his whole personality.

8. Education is life- Life without education is meaningless and like the life of a beast. Every
aspect and incident needs education for its sound development.

9. Education is continuous reconstruction of our experiences- As per the definition of

John Dewey education reconstructs and remodels our experiences towards socially desirable
way.

10. Education helps in individual adjustment: a man is a social being. If he is not able to
adjust himself in different aspects of life his personality can’t remain balanced. Through the
medium of education, he learns to adjust himself with the friends, class fellows, parents,
relations, neighbours and teachers etc.

11. Education is balanced development: Education is concerned with the development of

all faculties of the child. it performs the functions of the physical, mental, aesthetic, moral,
economic, spiritual development of the individual so that the individual may get rid of his
animal instincts by sublimating the same so that he becomes a civilized person.

12. Education is a dynamic process: Education is not a static but a dynamic process which
develops the child according to changing situations and times. It always induces the
individual towards progress. It reconstructs the society according to the changing needs of the
time and place of the society.

13. Education is a bipolar process: According to Adams, education is a bipolar process in

which one personality acts on another to modify the development of another person. The
process is not only conscious but deliberate.

14. Education is a three-dimensional process: John Dewey has rightly remarked, “All
educations proceed by participation of the individual in the social consciousness of the race.”
Thus, it is the society which will determine the aims, contents and methods of teachings. In
this way the process of education consists of 3 poles – the teacher, the child and the society.

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15. Education as growth: The end of growth is more growth and the end of education is
more education. According to John Dewey, “an individual is a changing and growing
personality.” The purpose of education is to facilitate the process of his/her growth.

EDUCATION AND DEVELOPMENT

• It important as at now to relate education to development. Development is defined

differently by different scholars depending the area of operation. In general, development;

 Involves economic progress and improvement in the overall quality of life.

 Implies change, improvement, increased complexity and specialisation.
 Involves a reduction in poverty, unemployment and inequality.
 In individuals, the change enhances one’s capacity to improve the quality of life.

Therefore, education can be linked to development in different ways:

 Education is an integral part of social aspect of development.

 Education also has externalities which impact on the quality of life.
 Education improves agricultural productivity
 Education inculcates attitudes and values that are inherent in social change for
economic growth.

Education can effectively bring about development if the following are put in place:

 Better teaching
 Better curriculum
 Availability of materials and supplies
 Better evaluation and examination system

GENERAL AIMS OF EDUCATION

You may be aware that an aim is a long- term achievement goal. The following are the
general aims of education in developing countries that you need to know;

 Transmission and preservation of culture

 Provision of specialised skills training in order to restock the labour market to
promote economic growth
 Preparation for working life
 To provide universal literacy
 To provide education as a measure of equity economically and socially.

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  To improve the quality of education

GENERAL OBJECTIVES OF EDUCATION

An objective is a specific statement or intention that is quantifiable or measurable4. It is a

short-term measurable goal. The following are some of the general objectives of Education;

 To provide basic education as a human right

 To decrease social inequalities by interesting accessibility to all in educational
opportunities.
 To provide trained labour force for improved economic growth.
 To provide for improved educational efficiency at institutional and national levels.
 To modernise society as a means of liberating individuals from old traditions
 To provide a measure for selection and preparation for working life

CHARACTERISTICS OF INFORMAL, NON-FORMAL AND FORMAL

EDUCATION

Informal education:

It is the learning that goes on in daily life from birth till death which is done outside an
organized setting.

1. Purpose: It has no set objective in terms of learning outcomes and is never intentional
from the learner’s standpoint. Often it is referred to as learning by experience. It
includes heuristic language building, socialization and enculturation and play.
2. Timing: Starts at birth until death.
3. Content: It is experienced directly in its “natural" function of everyday life. It does
not follow a specified curriculum.
4. Entry requirements: It is often spontaneous and creative.
5. Delivery system: It is not necessarily planned systematically but rather, either
unconsciously incidental or consciously intended intuition. It usually takes place
outside educational establishments.
6. Resources: accidentally and sporadically
7. Control: In terms of control, informal education is highly democratic and there is no
governing body but only elders

Non-formal education

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It is an organized educational activity which is done outside the established formal
system.

1. Purpose: Non-formal education is specific. It is non-credential but it emphasizes on

learning and training that focus on defined purpose
2. Timing: Non-formal education usually follows a short period usually a week
3. Content: The content non-formal is individualized according to the provider
perspective; it is centred on practical activities.
4. Entry requirements: The requirements are pre-set, clienteles determine the entry
requirements for non-formal education.
5. Delivery system: Non-formal education the delivery system is environmental-based
and community related, the structures are flexible and are learner centred
6. Resources: Non-formal education is resource saving.
7. Control: In terms of control, non-formal education is self-governing and highly
democratic

Formal education

It is the hierarchically structured and chronologically graded education system running

from low to high level.

1. Purpose: Formal education is credential based such as certificates, Diplomas and

Degrees. Formal education is preparatory for it prepares a learner in the far future
while non-formal is recurrent for a learner is prepared for what is there and then.
2. Timing: formal education follows a long cycle.
3. Content: The content for formal education is standardized and uniform, it is centred
on academics.
4. Entry requirements: The requirements are pre-set for formal education determines
the type of clienteles to be involved in.
5. Delivery system: It is institutional-based for formal education. The structures are
rigid and are teacher centered.
6. Resources: Formal education is resource intensive as it needs a lot of resources to run
Effectively.
7. Control: formal education, there are some external arrangements and follows a
hierarchical structure.

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 Mr. KASONDE E.
DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION AND PROFESSIONAL STUDIES

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