Title: Section 1: Overview of Open Schooling
Course: Introduction to Open Schooling > Section: Overview of Open Schooling

The need for open schooling, its advantages, target learners, and models of provision.

Learning Journey

There are five sections in this course, and each explores a specific aspect of open schooling principles and practices. Let's now begin with section 1. Overview of Open Schooling (Up next) Curriculum Issues for Open Schooling (Upcoming) Teaching and Learning Approaches for Open Schooling (Upcoming) Funding and Policy Issues for Open Schooling (Upcoming) Regional Variations in Open Schooling Practices (Upcoming) 1 2 3 4 5

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Open Schooling: The Need and Advantages

Here are some advantages of open schooling:
Removes barriers to access and success in school Is open to anyone, regardless of their age, gender, location, socioeconomic or cultural situation, disability, etc. Increases the quality of education and learning gains Makes use of open, distance and/or e-learning methods

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Open Schooling: The Need and Advantages (Continued)

According to The World Bank, the gross enrolment ratio at the secondary level is only about 76 per cent in 2021. According to OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), on average, 14.3 per cent of young men and 17.2 per cent of young women were not in employment, education or training in 2020.
Let's now learn about, what is the scale of need?

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Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic

Open schooling has traditionally addressed the needs of children and youth who have been unable to access, or who have dropped out of, the traditional school system. In the wake of a pandemic situation as well, open schooling has come to the rescue in providing alternative solutions for learning when access to the traditional institutional system was not available.

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Response to the Covid-19 Pandemic (Continued)

Find out more about the impact and response to the Covid-19 pandemic situation. The closure of school campuses due to Covid-19 created an increased demand for self‑study learning resources and guidelines for teachers on how to support learning continuity at a distance or online. Countries that already had established open schools (for example, the National Institute of Open Schooling, in India; the Namibia College of Open Learning; the Open School BC, in Canada; and Te Kura, in New Zealand) were able to leverage these existing resources in support of strategies for disrupted campus‑based provision.

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Refocus Open Schooling on Out-of-School Children and Youth

What's the real danger? We now need to refocus our target audience. There is a very real danger that the focus on campus-based learners will result in a lack of attention being paid to learners who have never been able to access campus-based provision, or who have not fared well in the campus-based system. Then, what's the solution? Therefore, it is important to reiterate that the primary targets of open schooling are out-of-school children and youth and to recognise that, globally, these tend to be children and youth from the poorest sections of society, often located in rural areas, often girls and often also disabled. We cannot continue to fail these children, and open schooling can help.

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Two Approaches to Open Schooling

Here are the two main approaches to open schooling: Select each approach to learn more.
- Follows the same curriculum as mainstream schooling
- Is most appropriate for school-going age children who are not in school
- Develops and uses learning resources that can also be used to support day scholars

- Offers equivalent qualifications or experiences but follows a different curriculum
- Is appropriate for learners of all ages experiencing various life challenges
- Provides more technical or vocational options than regular schools

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The Open Schooling Theory of Change

A theory of change assumes that to achieve desired impacts, we first need to achieve interim outcomes and related outputs. These, in turn, require certain activities and certain inputs. A theory of change, however, is not limited to just education but can ultimately have broader implications for a whole society.

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The Open Schooling Theory of Change: Example​

To give more learners access to schooling (impact), we need to start by developing training courses in open, distance and e-learning (ODeL, input) and organising training workshops for teachers (activity). The more teachers are trained in ODeL methods (output), the more they can use ODeL to support out-of-school youths (outcome) and make the desired impact.

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Key Components of Any Open Schooling Model

Institutional and Learning Models There are many institutional and learning models available for open schooling today. Some of the institutional models employed in the Commonwealth include the following: Select each model to find out more about it.
Example include:
- The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), India

Examples include:
- The Bangladesh Open University
- Botswana Open University open schooling centres

- Flexible, Open and Distance Education (FODE), Papua New Guinea (PNG)
- The Directorate of Distance Education (DODE), Zambia
- Open School BC, Canada

- The Namibia College of Open Learning (NAMCOL)
- The Malawi College of Distance Education (MCDE)
- The Zambia College of Distance Education (ZACODE)

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Key Components of Any Open Schooling Model (Continued)

Institutional and Learning Models
Learning models similarly vary among open schools and include the following:
Select each learning model to learn about it.
Access is provided to self-study content, materials, and learners choose whether, when and how they want to be assessed. This model assumes independent learners and may be the only option for migrant learners. This has traditionally been the most common model. Self-study materials are complemented by some face-to-face contact at a school or adult education centre after hours.
As more teachers and learners gain access to devices and the Internet, blended learning is becoming more widely used in open schooling. Learners do some of their studies online but still have some face-to-face contact at a support centre.
This is still uncommon in open schooling, but because of the recent Covid-19 pandemic, the shift to online has been accelerated.
Widely used by National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), MOOC's can be a way to provide a structured engagement for a large numbers of learners simultaneously. However, learners need access to devices and the Internet and require the necessary Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills.
The Heutagogy/Self-Directed Learner Model The Centre-Based Provision Model The Blended Provision Model The Fully Online Model The Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) Model

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Core Elements of Open Schooling Provision 1

The three core elements of open schooling content provision include text, multimedia and assessment. We need some content to get the learning started. Much content will continue to be text‑based, but we can also develop audio or video versions of the text to assist learners who have a visual or aural impairment.

Figure 1. A venn diagram showing intersections among text, multimedia and assessment. Multimedia includes audio, video, animation, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), etc. Assessment includes self, peer, and tutor assessment.

Select each tab to learn more about forms of content delivery. Video can be used very effectively to illustrate systems, processes and places that would be difficult to experience or visit in person. Video can be broadcasted but also backed up online for access on demand. Audio podcasts may be used to support teachers and learners who are otherwise unable to access digital content or via media broadcast. Audio can be broadcast or backed up online for access on demand. There should be an explicit link with the assessment strategy, emphasising assessment for and as learning. In open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) provision, formative feedback on assessment is critical for turning access into success.

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Core Elements of Open Schooling Provision 2

Supportive Policy Framework
In open schooling, the content package is only one of three key integrated aspects of provision, the others being peer and institutional support.
- Although some learners will be able to work through well‑scaffolded learning resources independently, most will require support from peers and/or tutors in the process.
- Practice in open schooling needs to be guided by appropriate policy and vice versa.
- The policy framework needs to be strongly focused on ensuring the quality and sustainability of the learning experience and on the support mechanisms needed to make this possible for the diverse learners and teachers involved.

Figure 2. A venn diagram showing intersections among content (for example, text, multimedia, assessment), peer support (for example, face-to-face, online, via social media), and institutional support (administrative, financial, academic through diverse media).

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Implications for Future Provision

What are the implications for future provision? Let’s take a look!
Face-to-face schooling is still (and likely will remain) at the heart of any schooling system, especially for younger and special needs learners.
Hybrid (face‑to‑face + distance + online + broadcasting) and blended (face‑to‑face + online) schooling could conceivably become the norm for older learners.
Open schooling, using open, distance and e-learning (ODeL) approaches, should be made available for the millions of students without access to physical schools.

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Implications for Future Provision (Continued)

According to United Nation Children's Fund (UNICEF), 129 million girls are out of school. Open schooling can help. Watch the video to learn more.
Select Play to watch the video.
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Why is open schooling good for girls? Video Transcript.
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Video Attribution: Commonwealth of Learning under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 Licence (international)

Girls are most at risk

Related links

- Watch video

Downloads

- video1 openschooling for girls transcript.pdf

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