Formal and informal learning situations or practices vs formal and informal ways of learning

Abstract

During the last decade there has been an awakening interest in considering not only formalised learning situations within institutional settings, but also all the various forms of informal musical learning practices outside schools. Informal musical learning outside institutional settings has been shown to contribute to important knowledge and aspects of music education. In this article, I will examine research studies which in different ways focus on formal and informal learning situations and practices or formal and informal ways of learning. I will consider the relationship between music education as praxis (music pedagogy) and as research, and the relationship between these two facets of music education and the surrounding society. I will identify four different ways of using and defining formal and informal learning, respectively, either explicitly or implicitly, each one focusing on different aspects of learning: (i) the situation, (ii) learning style, (iii) ownership, and (iv) intentionality. Formal – informal should not be regarded as a dichotomy, but rather as the two poles of a continuum; in most learning situations, both these aspects of learning are in various degrees present and interacting. Music education researchers, in order to contribute to the attainment of a multiplicity of learning styles and a cultural diversity in music education, need to focus not only on the formal and informal musical learning in Western societies and cultures, but also to include the full global range of musical learning in popular, world and indigenous music in their studies.

Analysis of Different Views and Conceptualizations of the Literacy Practices of Pupils, Families, and Teachers in Costa Rican Primary Education

“…This transformation is observable in schools (Maybin, 2006) where formal literacy (developed in an academic environment, directed by a leader/teacher and assumed as a model) is mixed with everyday 115 experiences of informal (as the self-acquired literacy, defined by its holistic and self-directed approach) and nonformal literacy (acquired from a leader/teacher serving as a model, in nonacademic or conventional environments) (Folkestad, 2006). Indeed, the ecological approach to literacy has incorporated the concept of multiliteracies (Cope & Kalantzis, 2009) in multimodal contexts (Kress, 2010), which emphasizes a system of hybrid literacy that combines print and digital 120 elements (Kalantzis & Cope, 2000).…”

Musikalsk kompetanse som “mangfold og fordypning”. Kunnskapsdiskurser i Rammeplan for kulturskolen.

“…Anerkjennelsen av formelle og uformelle (Folkestad, 2006) laeringsarenaer utenfor kulturskolen, og oppfordringen til samarbeid, er i tråd med den forskyvningen av musikkpedagogisk og forskningsmessig interesse vi har sett i senere år, fra undervisning til laering, fra laereren til de laerende og fra skole til laeringsarena, laeringsfellesskap og laeringskultur. Poenget har ofte vaert å vise hvordan ulike sosiale og kulturelle arenaer og nivåer samvirker når det gjelder musikalsk laering (Dyndahl & Ellefsen, 2011, s.185).…”

Mediaciones instrumentales entre distintas culturas de aprendizaje musical

“…Y a su vez establece diferentes tipos de prioridades hacia la música, los parámetros musicales buscados y valorados, y por lo tanto genera diferente impacto en el tipo de prácticas que las diferentes culturas enfatizan (Trilla, 1997). La Tabla 1 muestra las diferencias entre los polos formales e informales, a raíz de Folkestad (2006) En los últimos años hemos investigado con culturas de aprendizaje musical representativas de distintos puntos de este continuo formal-informal. Realizamos análisis de contenido del discurso y del tipo de prácticas de músicos de la cultura de aprendizaje del flamenco, que pertenecen a la etnia gitana, y de músicos de la cultura de aprendizaje del jazz y el clásico (Casas-Mas, Pozo y Montero, 2014;Casas-Mas, Montero y Pozo, 2015).…”