Many of the choices and adaptations that a facilitator makes depend on the make-up of the group, the age of the children, the skills of the facilitator and the context in which they live and work. One important consideration is whether the setting for human rights education is formal, non-formal or informal.

Formal education refers to the structured education system that runs from primary to tertiary education, and may also include specialised programmes for technical and professional training. The main providers are schools and a range of higher education institutions. The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child make it compulsory to provide primary education – at least – for all children.

Non-formal education refers to any deliberate, voluntary and planned programme of personal and social education that aims to convey and practise values, and develop a wide range of skills and competences, outside the formal education curriculum. Non-formal education for children might include out-of-school activities, extra-curricular activities in schools, summer camps and leisure centre activities. Non-formal education uses a participatory approach to learning.

Informal education refers to the lifelong process whereby people acquire attitudes, values, skills and knowledge from the educational influences and resources in their own environment and from daily experience (e.g. family, neighbours, library, mass media, work, play). Informal education is not
organised according to a planned programme.

Formal, non-formal and informal education are complementary and mutually reinforcing elements in a lifelong learning process. The activities in Compasito have been designed to be flexible enough for use in all such contexts: in the school, in children’s organisations, in youth clubs, in summer camps, in
social work settings and even in the family.