Thoughts about the formal versus informal educator distinction

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I'm thinking again about the distinction between formal versus informal education.

This is potentially problematic.

I'm uncomfortable with distinguishing between formal versus informal based on the the qualifications of the educator. Why can't someone with a Phd be involved with "non-formal" education. Similarly - why should someone with relevant life experience in a particular content area who does not hold a degree not participate in formal education settings?

I think that we should use a generic description for educator without the formal versus informal sub-classification.

We can make the educator description encompassing - for example:

"An individual who is responsible for designing and / or delivering educational materials to learners. Educators work in a wide range of contexts including for example Universities, Polytechnics, Schools, Corporate training institutions, NGO's, sport clubs, community groups etc."

I'm sure you can improve on my example above - but don't like the current distinction between formal & informal.

Mackiwg (talk)06:04, 18 October 2007