Uploaded on behal;f of the Centre for

1. Work-Related Informal
Learning in Canada:
Implications for
Research & Practice
Christine Wihak, Thompson Rivers University -- Open Learning, Principal
Researcher
Alex Stephens, Coordinator Work & Learning Knowledge Centre
(WLKC)
Gail Hall, CAPLA Coordinator www.recognitionforlearning.ca

2. A contract completed for:
Canadian Council on Learning’s
Work and Learning Knowledge
Centre (WLKC)
by
The Canadian Association for Prior
Learning Assessment (CAPLA)

3. The WLKC perspective
Why this work?

4. Research Method
 Synthesis research -- not original research
 Defined “work” as paid employment
 Had Advisory Committee with representation
from key Stakeholders
 Literature Search
 Searched literature published after 2000
 Limited search terms to “informal learning” and
“work” (and French equivalents) when searching
academic databases and web
 Also searched individual issues of journals listed
on Work & Learning Network website
(http://www.wln.ualberta.ca/resourcesJ.htm)

5. Stakeholder Consultation
 Conducted to get stakeholder response to
findings from literature review
 Not intended to be statistically valid survey
 Five main Stakeholder groups
 Industry / Business
 Labour Unions
 Groups/Professional Associations (occupational groups,
professional associations, certification bodies)
 Facilitators (training companies and organizations, PLAR
practitioners, career/employment counsellors, immigrant
serving agencies, etc.)
 Researchers

6. Stakeholder Consultation
 Questionnaire reviewed, approved by Advisory
Committee
 E-mail invitation to respond to on-line survey sent to
over 100 contacts identified through CAPLA network,
WLKC network, Advisory Committee members
 Received 58 completed questionnaires
 Responses from all key Stakeholder groups
 Only 3 responses from Labour out of 17 contacts
 Completed 9 telephone interviews with contacts who
provided follow-up information

7. Work-Related
Informal Learning
 Major purpose of research was to try to
find consensus on working definition
 Asked Stakeholders what terms they
use for “informal learning”

8. Informal Work-Related
Learning
 Stakeholder terms
Action learning Observation
Experiential learning On-the-job training (OJT)
Hands-on learning Partnering
Incidental learning Peer learning
Independent study Professional development
Industry training Project learning
Job shadowing Reflection
Lifelong learning Researching
Mentoring Self-directed learning
Non-formal learning Service learning

9. Definition of Work-Related
Informal Learning
 Usual trilogy of adult education and learning
 Formal
 Non-formal
 Informal
 Informal learning often defined by what it is
not
 Looked in literature for academic definitions
of “informal learning”

10. Continuum of Learning
 Researchers in England attempted to find consensus in
academic literature on definition of “informal learning”
(Colley, Hodkinson, & Malcolm, 2003a; 2003a, b).
 Reviewed 10 major theoretical definitions, including
Eraut’s, Livingstone’s
 Found no one definition that would have be credible
across all sectors
 Instead suggested, “The challenge is not to combine
formal and informal learning, but to recognize that they are
always combined, and to then understand the implications
of their particular balance in any learning situation” (Colley et
al., 2003b, p. 8).
 Proposed practical tool to analyze where a particular
learning situation fit on formality-informality continuum

11. Continuum of Learning
 Process – how the learning process is controlled, supported
and assessed.
 Location and Setting – whether the environment is designed
for learning, production or some other purpose such as
socializing (e.g. water cooler).
 Purpose – whether learning is a primary or secondary focus of
activity and whether the purpose is controlled by the learner or
an external authority.
 Content – whether the learning outcomes are highly specified
and involve abstract knowledge and advanced technical skill or
whether the learning outcome is development of an everyday,
practical skill.

12. Response to
Continuum Approach
 Favourable response in literature from
academics such as Livingstone, Sawchuk
 Used effectively in Canadian study of labour
education (Gairey et al., 2006)
 Most Stakeholders thought it would be useful
or very useful
 Some concern about how to convey to non-
academic Stakeholders
 Participants in CAPLA conference found
Continuum approach easy to use to analyze
learning of typical PLAR candidate

13. Additional Aspect of
Informal Learning?
 Consciousness -- possible fifth aspect of learning
 Idea of “tacit learning” suggested decades ago
by Polanyi: “We know more than we can say”
 Vast majority of human cognition is unconscious
 Experts have more difficulty articulating
knowledge than those with medium experience
 Implications for how to support, assess informal
learning

14. Participation in Informal Learning
 Canadian surveys of participation in work-related
informal learning:
 Survey of Self-Employment (Delage, 2002)
 National Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey (Rubenson, Desjardin, &
Yoon, 2007)
 WALL (Work & Lifelong Learning) survey (Livingstone & Scholtz, 2006)
 Estimates of participation ranged from 33% in past
month to 93% in past year
 Gender, age not strongly related to participation
 Possible indication that participation rate related to
education level, occupational status
 Higher levels associated with more involvement in informal
learning, use of more different strategies for informal learning

15. Case Study Research
 Case study research reviewed in terms of major
occupational groups used in WALL survey
 Shows informal work-related learning can be rich and
varied
 e.g. “work arounds” created by social service workers
(Boutilier, 2008)
 Commonalities in reasons for learning, approaches to
learning across occupational groups
 “Resistive” and/or “secretive” learning found in some,
but not all, workplaces with industrial and/or unionized
workers
 Workplace labour relations and/or researchers’ framework
may influence findings

16. Other Features of WLKC
report
 Typology of informal learning based on Eraut
(2004)
 How do people learn?
 What do they learn?
 What factors affect the quality of learning?
 Personal characteristics of learners
 Workplace learning environments
 Relationship between informal learning and
other learning in the workplace
 Supportive practices

17. Knowledge and Information
Gaps
 Development of a shared vocabulary for
informal learning
 Greater recognition of the inter-related nature
of all workplace learning
 Better measurement of how people are
learning informally at work, how much they
are learning, and how useful their learning is
 More information on effective informal
learning strategies for specific types of
workers

18. Knowledge and Information
Gaps
 More information on how learners’ personal
characteristics affect informal work-related learning
 More information on the relationship between work
environments and informal learning
 Tools for assessing informal learning and work
environments
 Addressing the question of how informal learning
affects work satisfaction, worker retention,
performance and productivity
 Policy options for Canada that would facilitate the
development of actual policy or policy framework

19. Knowledge Exchange
Activities?
 Recent research (Carliner et al., 2008)
suggesting that workplace practitioners
make little use of scholarly literature.
 How can findings from academic
research best be shared with
Stakeholders?
 Employers, training community, unions

20. Final Report to come
(Nov/08):
Watch for it on:
www.RecognitionForLearning.ca (RFL)
CAPLA’s pan-Canadian repository and
knowledge exchange for PLA, and
www.wlkc-csamt.ca
Work and Learning Knowledge Centre

21. For further information contact:
Alex Stephens, WLKC Coordinator
613 241-3222, ext/poste 4244
a.stephens@wlkc-csamt.ca
Gail Hall, Project Coordinator for CAPLA
204 475-7064
gailhall@mts.net or gail.hall@recognitionforlearning.ca
Christine Wihak, TRU, Principal Project Researcher
250-852-6448
cwihak@tru.ca