Informal education

{{short description|education that can occur outside traditional lectures or school-based learning systems. The term includes customized learning based on individual student interests within a regular classroom curriculum, but is not limited to that setting. It may occur through conversation, exploration, and the expansion of experience.Sometimes there is a clear link to a broader educational plan. The goal is to provide learners with tools that help them progress toward more complex material. It can refer to various forms of alternative education, such as unschooling or homeschooling, autodidacticism (self-teaching), and youth work.

Informal education can include both accidental and purposeful ways of acquiring new information. It can be discussion-based and focuses on bridging the gaps between traditional classroom settings and life outside of the classroom.