The Power of Non Formal Education

Why this Training Course?

• To stimulate the participants to feel and reflect on the power of Non-Formal Education (NFE) by experimenting with different kinds of non-formal educational methods.
• To analyze the role and reception of NFE in our different countries within a common Europe.
• To discover and debate the European strategy of NFE.
• To change the existing and growing consuming approaches towards young people in the non-formal education field.
• To explore meanings, roles and complementarities of different educational dimensions (formal, non-formal, informal).
• To reconsider daily youth work practices.
• To understand the principles of NFE within the Erasmus+ program and how they can be used as an effective toolbox.

How will it be done?

In order to have a real impact, participants experience an innovative approach, using a total immersion in the experiential learning cycle: doing/feeling, reflecting, transferring...
The training course is not limited to the couple of days the participants spend together but starts before the actual encounter. Participants should therefore be well aware that they will be actively involved from the very beginning. And besides the planned objectives and content of the activity, informal moments will also offer an ideal opportunity to eventually find partners for future European projects.

Pre-training immersion

Starting around 6 weeks before the training, through the “NFE News”, participants will receive weekly news which invites reflection on pedagogical issues and collect information/documentation. Participants are part of the building of this NFE News. Also, a closed private Facebook group will be created to promote interactions between participants before TC starts.

Issues/topics tackled: perception/recognition of NFE in your country, methods you use/have used…

A fundamental flow during the training:

Experiencing: different educational settings, different non-formal education methods (role play, simulation game, exercises...).

Reflecting: on the methods and their impacts, on the power and limits of NFE, on building a pedagogical process…

Transferring: to the own reality of participants, in order to improve ways of working with young people.

Sharing: different perceptions, current situations and experiences.

Developing: the building capacity of the participants, by including them in the decision process of the project design (participants will decide on some sessions they feel they need to have) but also in the implementation of the program (“Power to the People – the People who are you” moments).

The after-training consolidation

Trainers will be available online for the following 2 months for a supportive and consulting approach towards the defined action plans of the participants. Each participant will have the trainers as their mentors during this period.