Instruction, Training, Teaching, and Education

 

Instruction, Training, Teaching, and Education

Author: Santosh Kumar Biswa, Sr. Teacher, Damphu CS, Tsirang, Bhutan

 

Instructional Design caters to the needs of the learners by providing them with effective knowledge and skills (Montes, 2013, October 12) through the creation of a learning foundation as a practical classroom tool. While practicing instructional design, the four magical terms such as instruction, training, teaching, and education become significant. Although, these terms are used interchangeably while discussing classroom learning, technically, they follow different processes.  In this discussion, I will be basically defining those terms independently as per my pedagogical approach. 

Mostly, we use teaching and instruction interchangeably and view them as similar. Subsequently, training and education are also used interchangeably as we always think that training is a part of education. Simultaneously, instruction, training, and teaching are used interchangeably with education thinking that all those three come under education. But in my pedagogical approach, I view them as different terms with their own unique underlying meanings and purposes, and I understand them differently.

What do these terms mean to me?

Instruction: To me, instruction means the process of transferring knowledge by engaging students in the classroom with content in which the teacher guides the students on what to do and what not to do to meet the intended goal. In this case, instructions are confined.

Training: I believe that training means imparting skills for the development of students through instructions and practice. It enables students to enhance their knowledge, process, and skill in doing certain things.

Teaching: Teaching to me is an interpersonal influence that a mature person has on the less mature one in shaping their behavior. The one who teaches attains their learner’s needs through certain guidance and help based on their knowledge and experience.

Education: I believe that education is the process in which we facilitate learning to somebody and make them realize what they have learned. During the process, learners acquire knowledge, processes, and skills that enable them to value life.

In many ways, we find that teaching and training are considered similar because in both cases there is imparting of knowledge during the educational process where the understanding of the different levels of learning takes place (Wither, 2022). But in reality, teaching is more theoretical and abstract than training because training involves practical aspects of learning. While glancing through the lens of the implementation perspective, teaching provides information about the content to extract knowledge, whereas training develops abilities and skills among the learners (MacRae, 2017).

On the other hand, people often get confused with the terms instruction and teaching whereby they consider them similar. Although both of them are mutually exclusive, we typically find them going together in the educational process. We know that instruction is more of instructing someone to do something step-by-step for skill development. In other words, it is more of an elaboration on how something is done. Whereas, teaching focuses more on the overall development of the learners with the use of critical and creative thinking to form the new knowledge followed by the feedback system. More than telling how something is done, it explains in detail how something is done.

Owing to the definition of education and training, they are related in terms of learning skills, but they aren’t the same by any means (Brody, 2019). It is because education focuses on the broader knowledge and skills in terms of acquisition that requires comparing, contrasting, reasoning, and providing judgment, not like training that sticks to specific skills and knowledge. Training focuses on performance and productivity, whereas education focuses on advancing the career path (Brody, 2019).

In a nutshell, I believe that education is the product of instruction, teaching, and training where students are prepared to get a general understanding of life blended with knowledge, skills, and values, to lead a better life and advance their career ladder.

 

References

Brody, M. (2019). What is the Difference Between Training and Education? https://becht.com/becht-blog/entry/what-is-the-difference-between-training-and-education/

MacRae, I. (2017). Teaching is Different from Training: How to Use Both Effectively. https://trainingindustry.com/articles/workforce-development/teaching-is-different-from-training-how-to-use-both-effectively/#:~:text=Teaching%20is%20more%20theoretical%20and,is%20intended%20to%20develop%20abilities.

Montes, B. (2013, October 12). Instructional design-unit 1: An introduction [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC1SeMVuICM (10:00)

Wither, C. (2022). Difference between Teaching and Training. http://www.differencebetween.net/miscellaneous/difference-between-teaching-and-training/