Teaching modalities: what are the differences

Have you already heard about teaching modalities?

Well, since you haven’t heard about it yet, let’s explain it to you. And to begin the explanation we need to go back a bit in the history of education.

Education has gone through many changes throughout history. From those Greek schools that gathered around a philosopher to listen to his ideas on a subject, to the current model of a teacher speaking in a classroom to a group of students, passing through distance classes on different subjects.

To begin, you must understand that there are laws that define what are the recognized teaching modalities in each country. To know these laws, you have to understand a little about the history of each country or region. But the important thing is to know that each modality offers opportunities for you to offer your product, solutions or knowledge.

In fact, distance education (EAD) is gaining more and more ground in the educational field and is expected to be responsible for a high percentage of students in the near future, according to . Some educational institutes in fact, to facilitate this process, have started with a .

The different teaching modalities

To meet all the demands of the population of different countries and guarantee access to quality education for all, each government has had to create, according to their own contexts, different teaching modalities.

Normally we have two levels of education: the basic and the. The basic one considers the age of the student and refers to children who start in kindergarten or nurseries, then go to schools for primary education and then to secondary or high school to prepare for the next step.

This is an age where adolescents or young people normally already have access to the Internet and begin to look for other sources of information besides the traditional one and the one they find at school.

Higher education, on the other hand, is a more specific type of educational proposal according to the career chosen by each student. In fact, it is possible to find shorter university proposals, such as technical and professional courses and longer careers. Some of them are part of the .

In this post we will talk about the different teaching modalities, namely, Special Education, Professional and Technological Education, Education for Youth and Adults, Indigenous Education and Distance Education.

We will tell you how each one acts in favor of the population and how they interact with the use of the Internet, both for students and for the

Special education

Special Education exists to meet the demand of students with disabilities or special mental conditions.

It is normally applied in any type of educational institution that must meet technical demands related to material, technology and pedagogy. Even so, it is more common to find their own educational centers for this type of education.

This type of education is divided into three categories:

• the dependent who is oriented to students interned in hospitals or clinics due to their state of disability, which prevents them from taking care of themselves or frequenting environments without special guidance;
• the category of those who need some type of support deals with learners who have some type of need, but are fully capable of socializing without help;
• and the category of those who can be integrated into the school routine deals with students who have the ability to adapt and a vocabulary that facilitates socialization. These are students who live with some disease already in adult life.

Special education still faces some types of difficulties with the inclusion of the student in the school environment and social life.

That is why it is seen in a different way from inclusive education, which is capable of readjusting the person to the same condition as a student without disabilities.

Another great challenge that this type of education faces is pedagogical practice. There are still obstacles to the necessary changes so that the school has adaptations in its structures and functioning. Training for teachers is needed, aimed at this type of care, for example.

And one way to do it is to offer materials and distance training, where professionals in the area and people with some experience in this type of education can share their experiences and enrich the models that have been successful and those that have not.

Professional and Technological Education

This teaching modality is the one that focuses on the qualification of labor and allows the student to develop knowledge about a certain profession.

It is generally offered by technical schools that allow the student to have not only the qualification in a profession, but also behavioral and intellectual training to face the job market.

Therefore, this type of education is oriented not only to the technical training of the student, but also to train him to compete in the labor market, work and live in a group, based mainly on the pillars of knowing how to be, knowing how to live together, knowing how to do and knowing how to know.

Youth and Adult Education

This type of education is intended for young adults who did not continue their studies at the school age defined for children and adolescents, either in primary or secondary education.

In many countries, this type of option is offered on a mandatory basis and in alliance with traditional educational centers. In fact, the different systems often stipulate that this type of education must be guaranteed, free of charge, to this more adult public. as a modality of education considering their interests, life and work conditions.

Precisely to meet the needs and contexts of this type of student, education for young people and adults is one of the modalities that applies distance learning the most, allowing those interested to access the content when and where it is best for them, in the most varied .

In addition to allowing the person to resume their studies, education for young people and adults already meets their demand with less training time than regular education.

The student must meet some criteria to be entitled to this type of education, but this depends on each country. In the end, students finish their studies fully capable of entering higher education under the same conditions as a regular student.

To do so, they must devote themselves to studies that are normally offered in six-month modules, equivalent to one level of primary education or one year of secondary education.

indigenous education

As the name says, this type of education is aimed at the indigenous population. Existing in many of the Hispanic countries. Indigenous Education must respect the culture, conditions and language of each community it serves.

In this modality, to preserve each tradition and culture, it is necessary to produce bilingual didactic material (certain indigenous language and Spanish) and to provide multicultural professionalization to the teacher.

Another important challenge of the modality is the infrastructure. Normally, indigenous settlements are located far from urban centers and with difficult access, so indigenous schools do not have space such as a classroom, and there is a need to improvise classes in community houses or places provided by people from the community.

There is a certain priority in training indigenous professionals who can apply specific education for this population. Universities are encouraged, through government projects, to invest in the training of indigenous teachers.

Didactic material for the education of indigenous people must satisfy the demand of each ethnic group, which means another great challenge.

This material should be produced by the population itself, to ensure that it is consistent with the culture, history and tradition of each community.

Long distance education

This is one of the modalities that is growing the most throughout our territory. It differs from the traditional one in several aspects, due to the distance between student and teacher and the way in which the person accesses the educational content.

The great intermediary of this modality is the Internet, which already has several media and platforms capable of guaranteeing technical qualifications and even postgraduate degrees for those registered.

Before we had as many possibilities as those that the Internet currently offers, this teaching modality worked with other devices that were not necessarily virtual:

• correspondence;
• CD-ROMs with video classes;
• TV and radio.

Each educational institution has its own, with its own teaching plan. Another great differential is the teacher who is increasingly prepared for this type of convergence in the educational system.

The great advantage of EaD is the approximation between students and courses only offered in distant places from the interested party.

Distance learning also makes timetables more flexible, making it accessible to anyone who has difficulty organizing their agenda.

EaD is available on a large scale in higher education courses, but it is possible to find versions of technical courses, specialization courses and other categories, allowing the student to obtain a certificate that is often recognized by official bodies and many companies.

To qualify, the institution needs to meet the education standards of each country.

It is also possible to find face-to-face courses that already have modules with distance classes, mixing or substituting on-site classes.

Although the course is 100% remote, the student can have moments of interaction with professors and course colleagues, either in face-to-face activities or in a virtual environment.

The important thing is to bring the population closer to education

In view of all these teaching modalities, it is clear that the idea is to guarantee that the entire population has access to quality education, regardless of their age, social status and ethnicity.

And to have that guarantee, many institutions and entrepreneurs use the advantages of the various technological devices that we currently have, such as the Internet. What gave rise to the .

That is why Distance Education is almost always on the agenda. It is necessary to understand that Distance Learning can be a great tool to overcome our social, geographical and cultural barriers.

If you want to better understand this modality, read our post where.