Non-formal education (NFE) has the potential to provide diverse learning opportunities for personal and professional development. Proponents of NFE conclude that it creatively and flexibly responds to ever-changing socio-economic challenges. In practice, these contributions are highly dependent upon the viability of NFE and the context in which it is delivered. This research studied US and Scottish national community education programs, designed for vulnerable and disadvantaged youth, in order to examine NFE. As a comparative case study, the research developed a model of NFE from the literature reviewed. This model was applied to explain and analyze governance, the use of social and human capital theories as well as other important concepts related to each program. Interviews (with policy leaders, community level program administrators and young people) as well as national and local documents informed the analysis. The top-down construct of community education programs demonstrated that policy influenced implementation within communities. Community level administrators could also plan programs, however, within the limits of policy. Both case studies were primarily similar in their norms and goals but also had interesting differences at national and local levels. The findings showed how history, western ideologies and youth narratives have a pervasive impact on programs. The case studies revealed contributions of NFE to lifelong learning, seen through the lens of social and human capital. Furthermore, a critical discussion was interwoven throughout the thesis and revealed challenges and tensions at all levels of the model. NFE is a complex and variable concept, and it continues to struggle for legitimacy and recognition within the wider education narrative. However, NFE’s relationship with government policy, its use within communities and the experienced outcomes for youth are testament that it is integral and influential within the narrative. Further NFE research and practices should be encouraged in order to understand its role and impact. There is an emphasis made here to expand the research on NFE because socio-economic inequality, concerns about youth transition and the importance of learning beyond the formal educational sector are universal and consistent issues.

This case study is conducted on teachers working in Non-Formal Education centers (NFE's), for the Non-Governmental Organization Seva Mandir, in the Udaipur district in Rajasthan, India. The setting for the study is remote rural villages around the small city Udaipur, with one million inhabitants. The purpose of this case study is to investigate what impact the capacity building course that Seva Mandir offers the teachers, the NFE certification course, have had on the teacher’s lives. The aim is to get a picture of the overall impact of the course on a professional level and on the individual NFE teachers’ personal life. The case study was conducted on a sample of eleven out of 50 NFE teachers working for Seva Mandir in the Jhadol block. The empirical data was collected through qualitative interviews conducted in the NFE schools. The NFE centers that are run by Seva Mandir are a complement to malfunctioning government schools in areas where most of the children are first generation learners. The schools aim to keep children from working or starting to work, through giving them an educational base. The teachers have no previous teachers training and are having an average prior education of 8th to 10th class. The general findings of the study are that a majority of the teachers felt an increase in self-confidence after participating in the course. They generally had more concrete and ambitious future plans after the course than before it, and they were highly dominated of plans for further education for themselves and their children. It was also found that the teachers felt major changes in their teaching approach after the course. They had learnt new teaching strategies and seemed to have changed their attitude against the children. The teachers used activities like games, songs and stories in their teaching as well as taking help of the local surroundings when teaching.

This dissertation examines localization of Open Educational Resources (OER) in Himalayan community technology centers of Nepal. Specifically, I examine strategies and practices that local knowledge-workers utilize in order to localize educational content for the disparate needs, interests, and ability-levels of learners in rural villages. This study draws on insights from non-formal education (NFE) stakeholders in Nepal, including government, UN, international and national NGOs, local knowledge-workers, and learners from different villages. I specifically focus on a sample of seven technology centers to better understand how localization is defined, designed, and executed at a ground level. I illuminate obstacles knowledge-workers face while localizing content and strategies to overcome such barriers. I conclude by offering key principles to support theory development related to OER localization. This study is anchored in hermeneutic inquiry and is augmented by interpretive phenomenological analysis and quasi-ethnographic research methods. This qualitative study employed interviews, focus group discussions, observations, and artifact reviews to identify patterns of localization practices and themes related to localization of critical content in Himalayan community technology centers of Nepal. This dissertation provides valuable evidence not only why localization matters (a statement that has been hypothesized for the past decade); but also provides proof of how localization is executed and concrete ways that localization could be improved in order for OER to reap efficacious learning gains for more rural people in developing countries and in other rural communities across the globe. The full text of this dissertation may be downloaded for free from http://etd.byu.edu/

Philosophiae Doctor - PhD / By the mid 1980s the Nationalist Party had sought to salvage almost four decades of apartheid policies that were based on white supremacy. In this regard it engaged in dual strategies of repression and reform. The state's strategies were challenged by organisations and movements within civil society. In this regard a number of community-based organisation mushroomed both nationally and regionally. These organisations were co-ordinated by adult political activists most of whom were perceived to lack the necessary skills to manage organisation more effectively. In this conjuncture, the Adult Education Departments at five South African universities developed certificate-level programmes to address this gap. This study focuses on three such programmes, the Community Adult Education Programme, based at the University of Cape Town, the Certificate for Educators of Adults at the University of the Western Cape, and the Community Adult Educators Training Course based at the University of Natal- Pietermaritzburg. This study investigates the social and political conditions that gave rise to the three certificate programmes. It also investigates the relationship between the external social and political conditions and the internal curriculum practices of the certificates. In this process it analyses the nature of the relationship and identifies shifts in the programmes and the curriculum practices between 1986 and 1996. The study uses a qualitative approach and draws on elements of critical theory and social constructionism to understand the data gleaned from interviews and documents. This study argues that all three certificate programmes have directly been tied into the social political context in South Africa between 1986 and 1996. In this decade the study argues, there are three distinct political periods, namely repression/reform, negotiations and fragile democracy. It argues that distinct features from each period have shaped the certificates in different ways. Along with the national political conditions as manifest at the level of the state, the private sector and civil society there are local and institutional dynamics that contribute to the different forms assumed by these certificates. The study further argues that the external social - political conditions from each period have demarcated and fixed the boundaries for the certificates as a social practice. In this process the curriculum practices for each period permitted certain words and practices in preference to others. Consequently, it argues that the external and internal social and political dimensions together construct the certificates as a discourse. This study is based on a belief that the role of a certificate practitioner is to creatively locate the day to day practices within different theoretical frameworks in order to advance studies into sites of adult education practices. This study represents a step in such a direction.