Intercultural Learning in Non-Formal Education - Theoretical Frameworks and Starting Points

The terms “formal”, “non-formal” and “informal education” have given rise to a fair amount of debate in the last 20 years owing to their non-exclusive nature and the difficulty involved in providing an adequate explanation of the educational processes that take place in our society. The term “non-formal education” appeared for the first time at the end of the 1970s when there began to be talk of a “global education crisis” in formal education systems. In our study we are going to focus on the principles and characteristics of non-formal education in training activities with young people, as established by the European Commission and the Council of Europe. These are as follows: • voluntary and self-organised character of learning, • intrinsic motivation of participants, • close link to young people’s interests and aspirations, • participative and learner-centred approach, • supportive learning environment, • open character and structure, transparency and flexibility of the underlying curricular construction, Intercultural learning in non-formal education • preparation and staging of activities with a professional attitude, regardless of whether the activity is run by professional or voluntary youth workers and trainers, • evaluation of success and failure in a collective process and without judgment on individual success or failure, • sharing of results with the interested public and planned follow-up.