EDUCATION

Education has taken place in most communities since earliest times as each generation has sought to pass on cultural and social values, traditions, morality, religion, knowledge and skills to the next generation. The passing on of culture is also known as enculturation, and the learning of social values and behaviours is socialization. The history of the curricula of such education reflects human history itself, the history of knowledge, beliefs, skills and cultures of humanity.

In pre-literate societies, education was achieved orally and through observation and imitation. The young learned informally from their parents, extended family and kin. At later stages of their lives, they received instruction of a more structured and formal nature, imparted by people not necessarily related, in the context of initiation, religion or ritual.

As the customs and knowledge of ancient civilizations became more complex, many skills would have been learned from an experienced person on the job, in animal husbandry, agriculture, fishing, preparation and preservation of food, construction, stone work, metal work, boat building, the making of weapons and defenses, the military skills, and many other occupations.

Schools, collegesand universities have not been the only methods of formal education and training. Many professions have additional training requirements, and in Europe, from the middle Ages until recent times, the skills of a trade were not generally learnt in a classroom, but rather by serving an apprenticeship.