Modern Approaches to the Definition of «Informal Education»

The article is dedicated to the problems of defining the term «informal education» in Russian and foreign literature, different views of scientists on the informal aspect of education, and classifies approaches to determining the place and results of this type of education in the education system. The authors single out problem fields of informal education: low motivation of students, insufficient volume of methodological instructions and a feeling of uncertainty when using the acquired knowledge. The authors present a comparative analysis of self-training and informal education, which allows making a conclusion about the interdependence of these concepts in a nestling doll-type structure: self-training - self-education - non-formal education - informal education. The goal of the article is to systematize the approaches to the definition of informal education, to clarify it with the authors point of view; to analyze the place and value of informal education in higher education.