Peer to Peer education

Training and education in Europe is changing. Higher education no longer the exclusive domain of universities. Vocational training and traditional schools are comparable using credit systems. Finally the value of experience can be formally recognized, and now comes peer-to-peer training at university level in Post-Quake Haiti.

Photo by opensourceway Flickr CC

Peer-to-peer

P2P is more than Limewire, Kazaa, Napster and all the other classic sharing tools. Peer-to-peer can bring communication, learning and positive change in society and industry. Indeed, some researchers say that 80% of what you learn about your job is from peers.

During the first Gulf War I read about a military project with drones sending images from the battlefield, the picture shown on a screen with a chat room open on the side. A simple and today common idea but with life-changing impact - for the first time soldiers in the field could exchange ideas with CIA analysts and higher officers in real-time - the chain of command was broken down with the potential for faster and more realistic decisions making. I wish for the day when this becomes the norm in industry, it would be the age of Open Management.

Study circles in Sweden

Training and schooling levels in Sweden have always been very high, one often forgotten component is peer-to-peer training.

At the beginning of the last century, around 1912, the workers movement in Sweden had a great interest in training. The demand was so high that there was not enough teachers for everyone, the solution was peer-to-peer. First teachers trained each other in new subjects, since it was between equals, the format became very informal and based on natural curiosity. Then laymen were trained by teachers to lead groups in their search for knowledge, later laymen trained laymen to facilitate groups - the movement was born.

Today about a third of the Swedish population is at any one time involved in some kind of training effort.

Formal, non-formal and informal training

Schools and Universities give formal training, companies give non-formal training and all that you learn from colleagues, friends and family is informal training.

The great injustice is that when you go to an interview, only formal training seems to count. Still the wast majority of what you know is from non-formal and especially informal training. Due to Europe's ambition of free circulation of people within the union, this is about to change, all Europeans will within a couple of years have a "training passport" with credits for all types of learning. A very ambitious project which is moving ahead slowly but surely. England, Italy and Ireland have had National Qualification Frameworks for some years now, Malta is new to the club and Portugal launched its efforts on November 17, 2010.

Peer-to-peer universities

A very interesting development is the University of the People and its effort in Post Quake Haiti. Curt Hopkins tells the story at Read Write Web, at the end of the article Mr Hopkins cite Shai Reshef:

"In my 20 years working in the education arena, coupled with extensive world travel, I noticed there was one issue that unites countries, cities and states around the globe--the need for improved and accessible education. I had previously run several online educational companies and realized the tools to make this possible were readily available--dropping technology costs, the Internet, computers and open education resources--they just needed to be utilized in a new way."

My conclusion

I think that with the combination of the European efforts to develop a system for formally recognizing learning, whatever its source, together with on-line training combined with peer-to-peer facilitation in the Swedish 100 year-long tradition, great things can be done. All levels of education, be it vocational, basic or higher, can be brought to everyone, everywhere!

One last question, why is University studies called higher education and seen as more important? It can't be done without the other, more fundamental levels, in place... do we need a change of values? What do you think, any opinions?