IMPROVING THE SYNERGY BETWEEN FORMAL, INFORMAL AND NONFORMAL EDUCATION IN INFORMATION SERVICE IN ACADEMIC INSTITUTION IN RIVERS STATE

Abstract

The study examines synergy between formal, informal and non-formal education in Information Science in higher institutions in Rivers State. Three objective and three research questions were formulated to guide the study. The population of the study was (60) staff from three institutionsof higher learning in Rivers State which are University of Port Harcourt, Ken Saro-Wiwa Polytechnic Bori and Federal College of Education (Technical), Omoku. Correlational research design was adopted for the study. Census sampling technique was use for the study, in which the entire population was used as the sample size since the population was not large enough. The instrument for data collection was a self-structured questionnaire titled “Synergy between Formal, Informal and Non-Formal Education (SFINE)”. The instrument was validated by experts who affirm its validity. The reliability of the instrument was established through test re-test. Mean and standard deviation were used to answer the research questions. The findings revealedthat: thereis a strong positive relationship between formal, informal and Non-formal education, it is also revealed that low positive relationship exist between library services and formal and informal education., The study also reveal that job opportunities and enhance intelligence were some of the benefits of formal, informal and non-formal education. Based on the findings, the study recommended amongst others that; There should be an inclusion of informal education in to the curriculum of formal education as this will help in synergizing the relationship between formal and informal education. Libraries should be encouraged to provide information resources covering the three forms of education, institutions of higher learning should be well planned to marrythe three forms of education as this will improve the synergy of the three forms of educations.