Q: When training employees in essential skills, some companies build in both ‘formal’ and ‘informal’ learning. What’s the difference?

A: Erin Mills, Senior Research Analyst, Monitoring and Reporting for the Canadian Council on Learning, answers: In our 2007 State of Learning Report, the Canadian Council on Learning characterizes formal learning as “activities occurring within a structured, laddered context and leading to a recognized credential” and informal learning as “loosely-structured, self-paced and self-directed” activity. Increasingly, workplaces are considering the importance of both types of activities. While formal activities like classroom instruction are often for attaining specific courses or credentials, informal learning involves activities such as working with teams and one-on-one communications right on the job, which help hone skills transferable to many job situations, and build the worker’s confidence.

Formal and informal learning have their place at work

Placing workers in formal, classroom-based training, either in the workplace or off-site, can be a catalyst to more informal learning on the shop floor. That’s a key finding in a study of manufacturing, automotive and fisheries companies in Western, Central and Atlantic Canada, as well as companies in the United Kingdom. Conducted by Ottawa-based Partnerships in Learning, and funded by the former National Literacy Secretariat, The Value of Formal and Informal Training for Workers with Low Literacy: Exploring Experiences in Canada and the United Kingdom was released in January. A common theme on both sides of the Atlantic is that exposure to formal training communicates the value of learning, encourages workers to participate in informal learning and instills confidence—all to the benefit of employee and the company.

The study covered seven companies, 54 employees and 18 instructors in Canada, and four workplaces, 42 employees and six supervisors in the U.K.. and includes case studies that present the workers’ experiences in detailed, personal terms. As a Boeing Winnipeg employee, Dianne, reflects on her experience:

You forget about education when you are working all these years, and then I realized I learn new things everyday. After all these years, I’m still learning.

The Canadian Council on Learning characterizes formal learning as “activities occurring within a structured, laddered context and leading to a recognized credential” and informal learning as “loosely-structured, self-paced and self-directed” activity. Even self-directed, the latter often involves interaction with fellow workers, either one-to-one or in group situations.

A transition occurs in employees. While the motivation for attending formal training may be to attain credentials or career advancement, the value of informal training is more about realizing that learning can continue in various ways and strengthen the individual. Such attitudinal change can benefit the work process, the report says. “What fuelled this desire to learn without the structures of the formal program was a viewpoint that the day-to-day work requirements could be done differently or better through self-initiated or team-initiated learning.”