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A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FORMAL AND NON-FORMAL TEACHER

EDUCATION SYSTEMS IN MARDAN

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Research Journal of Education AWKUM Volume No. II Issue No. II (December, 2018).

A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF FORMAL AND NON-FORMAL TEACHER

EDUCATION SYSTEMS IN MARDAN

Mr. Musharaf Khan

Lecturer in Biology
Federal Government Boys Inter College Mardan

Ms. Shahana Musharaf

Associate Professor of Chemistry
Government Girls Degree College No.1 SM Mardan

Dr. Muhammad Khalil

Lecturer in Mathematics
Federal Government Boys Inter College Mardan

ABSTRACT
This study was designed to compare the subject knowledge of Bachelor of Education
graduates of formal and non-formal teacher education systems. The sample of the study was
Girls High and Higher Secondary Schools both from private and public sectors of District
Mardan during 2016-18. To compare the mastery level of the both formal and non formal
graduates, the five subjects of the B.Ed program were selected: Curriculum, Teaching
Methodology, Philosophy of Education, Educational Psychology and English Grammar.
Further, for data collection, a questionnaire was adapted of containing 25 statements divided
into five factors. The analyses of the data revealed that in the formal system the teachers give
65.44% correct answers of teaching Methodology while non-formal system teachers give
43.88% answers of English Grammar. Within 25 questions the formal system have high value
of question 9 (15.441%) as well as collectively while non-formal system have low value
(4.412%) of question 8, within as well as collectively. The result shows that the formal
education is more effective than non-formal education. The data were organized and
analyzed through descriptive analysis.

Keywords: Distance education, formal and non-formal education system,

Philosophy of Education, Educational Psychology and English Grammar

Abbreviations
A: Questions for research work, B: Correct answers given by formal teachers.
C: Percentage within formal graduates, D: Collective percentage of formal and non-
formal graduates, E: Correct answers given by non-formal teachers.
F: Percentage within-formal graduates, G: Collective percentage of non-formal
graduates.

INTRODUCTION
Teaching is a complex phenomenon and, so many skills and attributes are responsible
for the quality of this profession. It is common all over the world that different programs are
offered consist of different subjects by different institutions for this profession. B.Ed is a one
year course program done after the completion of 14 years of education. And the main
purpose of this program to create professional teachers (Khan & Saeed, 2010). There are
many subjects included in this program, such as functional English, curriculum and
instruction, leadership and management, philosophy of education, teaching of English,

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Research Journal of Education AWKUM Volume No. II Issue No. II (December, 2018).

educational psychology, teaching of science, computer education and guidance and

counseling.
Education is inevitable for human resource development and national development.
However, in most of the developing countries, due to the inadequate resources, it is almost
impossible to educate all citizens through on-campus teaching. A huge amount of money is
needed to establish the infrastructure for on-campus teaching which is out of the reach of the
developing countries. In order to educate the majority of their people, developing countries
are to depend on open learning and distance education system. Pakistan is one of the
developing countries in the region. There are many people in Pakistan who want to learn but
cannot attend on-campus classes due to various reasons such as family commitments, and the
number of limited learning institutions. The country is therefore dependent on an open
learning and distance education system. Education is a progressive and developmental
process of all human faculties as it plays an important role in enhancing human capabilities to
lead a successful life. As all human beings are naturally opting for a satisfied and successful
life, they are required to have sufficient amount of knowledge, skills and attributes to lead a
purposeful life by overcoming the problems. Thus, an education system must equip students
to become aware of adulthood responsibilities and problems and learn to deal with them. The
recent trends in education consider life itself as a process of education, that is, from womb to
tomb one goes through the process of education (Pathak, 2012).
According to the Panday, (2003) in the formal education, teachers and students face to
face interaction takes place within the framework of a fixed time table and in a proper
institute while in informal education, denotes a lifelong process of education in which an
individual learns skills and knowledge from his surroundings. The Munshi & Jumani, (2008)
stated that the education which is not obtain directly through instructor but some materials are
communicated through TV channel programs, internet and the learners interact with
instructors through correspondence and telephone, such type of education is called non-
formal or distance education. Rao, (2004) stated that sometimes guidance is provided through
meetings in study centers offered by part time tutors. Teaching the teachers is in itself a
professional procedure, because these teachers serve the society as administrators, trainers
and supervisors; thus educating teachers’ requires a set of practical activities (Verma, 2006).
B.Ed program provides prospective teacher with sufficient content related to teaching
profession that enhance teaching profession (Shavelson, 1985). To ensure and assess the
quality of an educational program, we use questionnaires, follow-up- studies and interview
for the purpose to know how much the participants of the program learned through this
institution (Khan & Saeed, 2009). Their reflections on different indicators after the program
end will decide the quality of that program. And most explicitly, whether the content of that
program has been internalized or not. In Pakistan, there are many problems in achieving the
quality standard of teacher education programs. In which, lack of resources, lack of
technological skills and low standard in assessment are of the most paramount. So many
private and public institutions are offering teacher education program with minimum quality.
In this study the main focus was to compare the participants of the two parallel systems of
teacher educational program (Formal vs. non formal) on the basis of their content mastery.
Like Saif, et al.,(2017), studied and designed to compare the subject knowledge of
B.Ed graduates of formal and non-formal teacher education systems. Binazzi, (2016) worked
on part of an on-going anthropological research, with marginalized children and adolescents
in Central America and, in particular, in the Dominican Republic. Norqvist and Leffler (2017)
studied the insights into the practices of a non-formal education programme for youth
provided by the European Union (EU). It takes a qualitative approach and is based on a case
study of the European Voluntary Service (EVS). Various researches have been conducted to
explain the effectiveness and deficiencies of formal and non-formal teacher education as well

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Research Journal of Education AWKUM Volume No. II Issue No. II (December, 2018).

as the performance and knowledge of their graduates. A brief summary of these researches is
as follows. Jumani (2007) in his study concluded that the teachers did not apply diverse
teaching methods in their classroom. In support, Murtaza (2005) found that least importance
was given to teaching practice in both systems. It is concluded that teachers trained through
both formal and non-formal systems indicated that tutors and supervisors did not use various
instructional aide during training. It was found that in non-formal teacher education, modern
instructional strategies are not introduced.

METHODOLOGY
Research Site
The district lies from 34°12'0"N 72°2'24"E. The elevation of the valley is 1000 to
2056m above sea level. It is bounded on the north by Burner district and Malakand protected
area, on the east by Swabi and Burner districts, on the South by Nowshera district and on the
west by Charsadda district and Malakand protected area. The total area of the district is 1632
kilometers (Khan, et al., 2011).

Survey
The different sites of study area was thoroughly surveyed during the year 2017 - 2018
from time to time to learn the comparison of formal and non-formal teacher education
systems in government and private schools of Mardan.

Significance of the Study

B.Ed program is an essential and pre-requisite for teacher selection, and for
professional development. The program validity and significance initially totally depend on
the acquisition and understanding of its content. So, to create the professional teacher both
the system should focus on to attain the objectives of the program. Especially non formal
system needs more efforts and resources for the attainment of its real objectives.

Informed Consent
Prior to the study, signed consent forms from each interviewer were obtained. These
individuals constituted B.Ed Teachers.

Sampling and Interview of Teachers

In present model 20 schools of government and private sector were selected. From
each school 2formal graduate B.Ed teachers and 2 non-formal B.Ed graduate school teachers
were randomly selected and interviewed through questioner. The questioner composed of 25
questions of different topics i.e. teaching methodology, curriculum and instruction,
philosophy of education, educational psychology and English grammar. Five questions were
selected for each topic. All questioners were attempt in presence of researchers.

DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected through questioners and interviewed were tabulated in Microsoft
Office Excel for test and result. The teacher answers were calculated as a percentage.

Results
The study composed of different aspects of formal and non-formal teachers in case of
B.Ed study. The distribution of Respondent Teachers Related to Curriculum, Teaching
Methodology, Philosophy of Education, Educational Psychology and English Grammar. In
the formal system the teachers give 65.44% correct answers of Teaching Methodology while
non-formal system teachers give 43.88% answers of English Grammar. The formal system

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Research Journal of Education AWKUM Volume No. II Issue No. II (December, 2018).

teacher give less answers of 56.12% of English Grammar while the non-formal system
teacher give less answer of 34.56% of Teaching Methodology (Figure 1).The table 1. shows
that the majority of the teachers of formal system answered the questions correctly (65.254%)
as compare to non-formal system (34.75%).Within questions the formal system have high
value of question 4 (15.256%) as well as collectively while non-formal system have low
value(5.085%) of question 5, within as well as collectively. Therefore, it is concluded that
B.Ed graduates of formal system have more subject knowledge in the area of curriculum as
compared to B.Ed graduates of non-formal teacher education system. The table 2 shows that
both the groups have same level of knowledge about Teaching Methodology; however, the
majority of the teachers of formal system answered the questions correctly (65.441%) as
compare to non-formal system (34.56%). Within questions the formal system have high
value of question 9 (15.441%) as well as collectively while non-formal system have low
value (4.412%) of question 8, within as well as collectively? Therefore, it is concluded that
B.Ed graduates of formal system have more subject knowledge in the area of teaching
methodology as compared to B.Ed graduates of non-formal system. This result is in line with
the results of a previous study conducted by Anees (2005) which concluded that in non-
formal B.Ed program tutors casually attend their tutorial sessions and do not use various
teaching methods. The table 3shows that both the groups have same level of knowledge about
Philosophy of Education i.e. aims of education according to idealism and emphasis of logic;
however, the majority of the teachers of formal system answered the questions correctly
(60.417%) as compare to non-formal system (39.58%). Within questions the formal system
have high value of questions 12 and 14 (13.542%) as well as collectively while non-formal
system have low value (5.729%) of question 15, within as well as collectively. Therefore, it is
concluded that B.Ed graduates of formal system have more subject knowledge in the area of
philosophy of education as compared to B.Ed graduates of non-formal teacher education
system. The table 4 shows that both the groups have same level of knowledge about
Educational Psychology; however, the majority of the teachers of formal system answered
the questions correctly (64.151%) as compare to non-formal system (35.85%). Within
questions the formal system have high value of questions 20 (14.151%) as well as
collectively while non-formal system have low value (4.717%) of question 19, within as well
as collectively. Therefore, it is concluded that B.Ed graduates of formal system have more
subject knowledge in the area of Educational Psychology as compared to B.Ed graduates of
non-formal teacher education system. It reveals that effect of the formal system is more
positive than non-formal system.
100

50
Formal
0
NonFormal

Figure 1. Formal and non-formal system questions value.

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The table 5 shows that both the groups have same level of knowledge about English
Grammar i.e. degrees of adjective and sentences; however, the majority of the teachers of
formal system answered the questions correctly (56.122%) as compare to non-formal system
(43.88%). Within questions the formal system have high value of questions 23 (13.265%) as
well as collectively while non-formal system have low value (45.612%) of question 21,
within as well as collectively. Therefore, it is concluded that B.Ed graduates of formal system
have more subject knowledge in the area of English Grammar as compared to B.Ed graduates
of non-formal teacher education system.

Table 1: Distribution of Respondent Teachers Related to Curriculum

A B C D E F G
1. What does curriculum
15 65.22 12.712 8 34.78 6.78
mean?
2. Which language does
the word curriculum 17 73.91 14.407 7 30.43 5.932
come from?
3. When was the old
viewpoint about 14 60.87 11.864 9 39.13 7.627
curriculum replaced?
4. How many elements
does a curriculum 18 78.26 15.254 11 47.83 9.322
have?
5. What problem does
the present
13 56.52 11.017 6 26.09 5.085
curriculum have in its
objectives?
Total 77 334.8 65.254 41 178.3 34.75

Table 2: Distribution of Respondent Teachers Related to Teaching Methodology

A B C D E F G
6. What does Pedagogy
19 82.61 13.971 9 39.13 6.618
mean?
7. What is the other
name of Instructional 17 73.91 12.5 8 34.78 5.882
material?
8. Which method has the
same steps like 18 78.26 13.235 6 26.09 4.412
Inquiry method?
9. How many steps are
21 91.3 15.441 11 47.83 8.088
there in a lesson plan?
10. What is the basic
purpose of team 14 60.87 10.294 13 56.52 9.559
teaching?
Total 89 387 65.441 47 204.3 34.56

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Research Journal of Education AWKUM Volume No. II Issue No. II (December, 2018).

Table 3 Distribution of Respondent Teachers Related to Philosophy of Education

A B C D E F G
11. From which language
the term philosophy 22 73.33 11.458 19 63.33 9.896
has been derived?
12. What is the aim of
education according 26 86.67 13.542 16 53.33 8.333
to idealism?
13. What is
23 76.67 11.979 13 43.33 6.771
Epistemology?
14. What is ontology? 26 86.67 13.542 17 56.67 8.854
15. What is the emphasis
19 63.33 9.8958 11 36.67 5.729
of logic?
Total 116 386.7 60.417 76 253.3 39.58

Table 4: Distribution of Respondent Teachers Related to Educational Psychology

A B C D E F G
16. Educational 29 96.67 13.679 22 73.33 10.38
psychology is the
branch of psychology?
17. What does the term 28 93.33 13.208 13 43.33 6.132
personality mean?
18. What did Ivan Pavlov 26 86.67 12.264 11 36.67 5.189
present?
19. Who was Piaget? 23 76.67 10.849 10 33.33 4.717
20. Intelligent Quotient 30 100 14.151 20 66.67 9.434
(I.Q) =?
Total 136 453.3 64.151 76 253.3 35.85
Table 5: Distribution of Respondent Teachers Related to English Grammar

A B C D E F G
21. What is occasionally? 25 83.33 12.755 11 36.67 5.612
22. What is the
superlative degree of 23 76.67 11.735 19 63.33 9.694
bad?
23. Change the following
into passive voice. I 26 86.67 13.265 23 76.67 11.73
am eating an apple.
24. Change the following
into interrogative. 17 56.67 8.6735 16 53.33 8.163
(He went.)
25. Change the following
to indirect narration.
19 63.33 9.6939 17 56.67 8.673
He said, “I will work
hard”.
Total 110 366.7 56.122 86 286.7 43.88

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DISCUSSION
Teacher education is the knowledge, skill and ability that is related and critical for
teachers. In addition, teacher education seeks to reshape the attitudes, remodels the habits and
constitutes the personality of teachers as they inhabit an important position in the education
system of any civilization. The accomplishment of the teaching system depends on
competencies of its teachers (The Commission on National Education, 1959). Our result
show that formal teachers are more competent than non-formal teacher which goes to
Education policy (1972) who give in striation that all teachers would have to undergo at least
one in-service training course during every 5 years. The Government of Pakistan, (1973)
reported that importance will be given to the qualitative improvement rather than quantitative
development of teacher training institutions. This study tried to compare subject knowledge
of B.Ed graduates of formal and non-formal system of teacher education. Our results show
that non-formal B.Ed program does not measure student teacher competencies and thus lacks
in producing quality teachers. Consequently, the graduates produced by the non-formal
system have little subject knowledge. Our results are also agree with Munshi and Jumani
(2008) who conducted a study on “Effectiveness of Distance Teacher Education in Pakistan”
and found that the non-formal graduates had little knowledge of their professional subjects.
Teachers form the base of students and should be effective and competent, to lay a strong
foundation. As teachers are key player in this system, therefore, it is highly required to
develop their quality and standards through pre-service and in-service teacher education
programs. Students go through enormously if the teacher is untrained and has insufficient
information. According to National Professional Standards for teachers in Pakistan (2009),
the teachers must have a deep knowledge of subject, pedagogy, person diversity and
evaluation procedure, child and adult psychology which agree with our result that the formal
teacher have a lot of knowledge.

CONCLUSIONS
From the analysis of data, it is clear that formal education program comparatively
better than non formal. Students in the formal system master the content in better way
because of their well organized and face to face teacher-students interaction. If we observe
the five tables, the formal students answered more in percentage and their overall
performance in the understanding of the content of the B.Ed program is much better than
those who got their degree through non formal. On the basis of these conclusions and analysis,
the non formal program can be improved and the gab can be minimized.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The following recommendations are made to increase the effectiveness of teacher
education programs:
 Effective teaching requires teachers to have command over their professional subject
as well as sufficient knowledge of other subjects also.
 Both the educational program should encourage the cooperative learning and
computer courses so that students can get maximum benefits from online videos.
 The graduates should see website of different digital library in order to get
Membership.
 Elementary and secondary education department of KPK may organize special
courses for the development of their staff in different capacity and teaching content
courses.

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