Non-Formal Education. I barely knew the term. But I’m hugely interested in every form of alternative education so I absolutely had to follow the training course ‘The Power of Non-Formal Eduction’. A well known training course that dives into the basics and explores the ground principles of Non-Formal Education. A course to rethink your values for the professionals and to build new connections for the newbees like me. And gosh, we did dive deep.

We started off with some simple icebreaker activities, we thought. But every activity, setting and explanation was well planned. We did an exercise to put ourselves in minorities shoes. We laughed about learning and making mistakes. Activities, talk sessions and some theory alternated smoothly and we connected over the in-between tea. The fellow training course participants were one by one inspiring and unique. My new friends all participated in my even broader view on the world. And our little trip into the city centre of Vienna was a once-in-a-lifetime too : ).

The training forced us to determine how we feel, see and conclude. And that all with a smile, because the trainers were professionals in clowning and storytelling. What are our values and behaviours and how to change them? It almost sounds poetic, now that I break down the course. But the real poetry for me started in the valuable self-assessment time, where I could discuss and break down different aspects of the day.

In this training course a lot of learning points were a breakthrough for me. There was this one particular moment where it really clicked. We saw the Greatest Speech Ever by Charlie Chaplin. He quoted ‘You, the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful’. This was the moment I realised that every time youngsters are given the power to form, mold, create and organise they will end up free and beautiful. Everytime that people can choose how to, they will make the best out of it.

Now that I look back, the course was about Non-Formal education indeed. Not about how to set up activities, make everybody feel heard or how to lead a group. No, it was about guiding. It was not about setting rules, it was about letting free. But also about how hard that can be. For us as group leaders, but also just for us as participant, as people. I still have one whole month to go through all their resources, tools and materials. I feel like I’ll learn just as much by looking back and reflect as I learned during this week.

This article was written by our participant, Cécile Vastenburg, about her experience during the training course ‘The power of Non-formal Education’ in Vienna, Austria.