Alternative pathways in education

Standard main stream education starts from Nursery School through primary, secondary, High school and university. This route is not suitable for all people; other people opt for other routes in situated learning like home schooling, apprenticeship, autodidacts or other Alternative pathways in education. Both routes produce professionals and skilled workers. However, Professionals from the Standard main stream education, their learning is documented on report cards and certificates. Unfortunately Professionals from the situated learning their learning is not documented and has no Recognition.

In the absence of recognized qualifications, a large proportion of people face severe disadvantages in getting decent jobs, migrating to other regions and accessing further education, even though they might have the necessary knowledge and skills. The Alternative path ways in education can help these individuals acquire a formal qualification that matches their knowledge and skills, and thereby contribute to improving their employability, mobility, lifelong learning, social inclusion and self-esteem. This increase prospects for inclusion in the labour market is a win-win situation for all as employers are likewise able to access proof of skilled personnel and better match them with suitable jobs, while also increasing productivity. And governments are further able to have better assurances of increased competitiveness and economic growth. 

The "Alternative Pathways in Education 4.4" is a German Alumni Knowledge Transfer Project, supported by GIZ and the DAAD Alumni Association, and implemented at the East African Polytechnic College Kyambogo. This initiative focuses on alternative educational pathways that occur outside traditional lecture-based or school-based learning systems. It includes various forms of situated learning and lifelong learning processes where marginalized individuals from the informal and non-formal sectors acquire and accumulate knowledge, skills, attitudes, and insights through daily experiences—whether at home, work, play, or from life itself.

These alternative pathways provide opportunities for individuals to gain professional skills in areas such as social, civic, aesthetic, cultural, spiritual, political, recreational, physical, industrial arts, and sciences. Unlike traditional classroom-based education, these methods are rooted in non-formal and informal learning environments, offering a different route to education and professional development outside the formal schooling system

UNIQUENESS & FEASIBILITY

• Learning is not separated from the world of action but exists in robust, complex, social environments made up of actors, actions, and situations.
• Learning is grounded in the actions of everyday situations.
• Knowledge is acquired situationally and transfers only to similar situations.
• Learning is the result of a social process encompassing ways of thinking, perceiving, problem solving, and interacting.
• Learning encompasses both declarative and procedural knowledge.

IMPLEMENTATION PLAN

Learning is planned through the following actions of everyday situations, which represent alternative pathways in education:

1. Workshops, Kitchens, Greenhouses, and Gardens used as classrooms.
2. Roles such as Activist, Lobbyist, Seconder, Advocate, Volunteers, or Campaigners.
3. Stand-up Role Playing in real-world settings, including most military training (though much of which takes a behaviorist approach).
4. Roles like Legislator, Member of Parliament, Senator, Councilor, Messenger, or Diplomat.
5. Mentorship, Coaching, Training, Guiding, Counseling, or Facilitating roles, including Craftsman, Trader, Investor, Marketer, or Entrepreneur, as well as Author, Publisher, Editor, and Writer.
6. Product Design and Development, Innovation and Creativity, and Autodidactic and Self-Made learning approaches.
7. Field Trips, including Archaeological Digs and Participant-Observer Studies in alien cultures.
8. Roles involving Commanding, Leading, Managing, Heading, Demonstrating, or Supervising.
9. On-the-Job Training, including Apprenticeship and Cooperative Education.
10. Roles such as Priest, Pastor, Rabbi, Presbyter, or Reverend, involving Religion and Culture.
11. Roles in Caring, such as Nannying, Parenting, and Nurturing.
12. Sports Practice, Music Practice, and Art, as well as operating equipment, machines, or instruments.
13. Tour and Travel, including Transporting, Preserving, Conserving, Restoration, and Curating.
14. Roles like Eldership, Arbitration, Jury Duty, Refereeing, Umpiring, Reconciliation, or Adjudication.
15. Trial and Error, including Experimenting, Investigating, Research, and Development.
16. Observing, Watching, Imitating, Copying, Peer-to-Peer Learning, Associating, Cooperating, Theater, Listening, and Networking.

All of these activities are examples of situated learning—the exact actions in real settings that reflect the practice of learning through alternative informal and non-formal education found in the informal and non-formal sectors.