Education Beyond the Classroom: Reframing Learning in Uncertain Times
Authors: Lyngdoh, D.
| Open Access |
“Education Beyond the Classroom: Reframing Learning in Uncertain Times”, critically explores how global disruptions like pandemics, climate change, and technological shifts demand a fundamental rethinking of education. Traditional classroom-bound, standardized models are increasingly inadequate. Instead, learning must become adaptive, relational, and lifelong. The chapter emphasizes “education beyond the classroom” as a dynamic process occurring in informal and non-formal settings online communities, maker spaces, indigenous systems, and community hubs.
Drawing from theories like critical pedagogy (Freire), experiential learning (Kolb), and sociocultural theory (Vygotsky), it promotes learner-centered, context-sensitive, and justice-oriented education. The chapter highlights tensions such as digital inequity, credential recognition, and the neoliberal framing of lifelong learning. It calls for inclusive, hybrid “learning ecosystems” where schools, communities, and digital platforms interact fluidly.
The NalandaWay Foundation’s art-based learning program is featured as an illustrative case, showing how community-driven education can address emotional and cognitive needs in crises. Ultimately, the chapter argues for a paradigm shift in education toward co-creation, plural epistemologies, and ethical learning positioning education not just as preparation for the future, but as a means to shape it collectively. It urges educators, policymakers, and society to reconceive learning as a transformative, socially embedded practice fit for uncertain times.
Cite this chapter:
Lyngdoh, D. (2025). Education beyond the classroom: Reframing learning in uncertain times. In Reframing futures: Concepts and challenges in a rapidly changing world (pp. 130–145). Indian Institute of Industrial and Social Research.
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