What is informal learning anyways?
As Livingstone (1999: 51) points out, informal learning can be defined as "any
activity involving the pursuit of understanding, knowledge or skill which occurs outside
the curricula of educational institutions, or the courses or workshops offered by
educational or social agencies." Put it in other words, the category of informal learning
includes all learning that occurs outside the curriculum of formal and non-formal
educational institutions and programs. If we define informal learning as something that
takes place outside formal education and non-formal education, a few words about these
two concepts are needed.
Formal education refers to the institutional ladder that goes from preschool to
graduate studies. This system has the following features:
a) it is highly institutionalized;
b) it includes a period called ‘basic education‘ (which varies from country to
country, and usually ranges from 6 to 12 years) which is compulsory, implements a
prescribed curriculum --approved by the state-- with explicit goals and evaluation
mechanisms, hires certified teachers, and institutional activities are highly regulated by
the state.
c) it is propaedeutic in nature (in the sense that each level prepares learners for the
next one, and that to enter into a certain level it is a prerequisite to satisfactorily complete
the previous level)
d) it is a hierarchical system, usually with ministries of education at the top and
students at the bottom
e) at the end of each level and grade, graduates are granted a diploma or
certificate that allows them to be accepted into the next grade or level, or into the formal
labour market.
Under this conceptualization, adult basic education programs that follow the
prescribed curriculum and employ certified teachers can also be understood as part of
formal education, although some people prefer to call them ‘paraformal‘ (in the sense that
they are in between the realm of the formal and the non-formal systems).
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Non-formal education refers to all organized educational programs that take place
outside the formal school system, and are usually short-term and voluntary. This includes
a wide variety of programs such as tennis courses, second language programs, driving
lessons, cooking classes, yoga classes, rehabilitation programs, painting courses, training
programs, workshops, etc. As in formal education, there are teachers (instructors,
facilitators) and a curriculum with various degrees of rigidity or flexibility. Unlike formal
education, these programs do not normally demand prerequisites in terms of previous
schooling. However, sometimes a diploma certifying competence or attendance is
granted. Non-formal education is usually directed to adults, but children and adolescents
may also participate in this sector (for instance, children going to Sunday school; boy-
scouts and girl-scouts programs, second language courses, music lessons during the
weekend, etc.).
Informal learning, then, takes place outside the curricula provided by formal and
non-formal educational institutions and programs. In the concept of ‘informal learning‘ it
is important to note that we are deliberately using the word ‘learning‘ and not ‘education‘,
because in the processes of informal learning there are not educational institutions,
institutionally authorized instructors or prescribed curricula. It is also pertinent to note
that we are saying ‘outside the curricula of educational institutions‘ and not ‘outside
educational institutions‘, because informal learning can also take place inside formal and
non-formal educational institutions. In that case, however, the learnings occur
independently (and sometimes against) the intended goals of the explicit curriculum.
Historically, the learning acquired through informal means has not been
recognized by formal educational institutions and by the workplace, although the recent
emergence of systems of evaluations and accreditation like PLAR may change this.
Interestingly, if non-formal education is defined as a residual category (anything
that is not formal education), informal learning becomes a residual category of a residual
category (anything that it is neither formal nor non-formal). However, it is in this sphere,
so disregarded and so under-researched, where most of the significant learnings that we
apply to our everyday lives are learned.
Still, as an analytical category, if we use the concept of informal learning without
distinguishing its internal forms, we may easily fall into conceptual confusion. The
concept of informal learning is useful but still is too broad, as it encompasses different
types of learnings which are usually conflated.
This leads to a question: is it possible to develop a taxonomy of informal
learning?
I suggest that by using two main categories (intentionality and consciousness), it
is possible to develop a taxonomy which identifies three forms (or types) of informal
learning: self-directed learning, incidental learning and socialization (Table 1).
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Table 1: Three forms of informal learning
Form
Intentionality
Awareness
(at the time of learning experience)
Self-directed
Incidental
Socialization
yes
no
no
yes
yes
no
The three forms of informal learning
What follows is a brief conceptualization of each one of the three forms of
informal learning, and five examples to illustrate each form. To show a variety of
situations, the first example refers to a child, the second to a formal school environment,
the third about historical/social issues, the fourth about the acquisition of a particular
skill, and the fifth about local politics.
1. Self-directed learning
Self-directed learning refers to ‘learning projects‘ undertaken by individuals (alone
or as part of a group) without the assistance of an ‘educator‘ (teacher, instructor,
facilitator), but it can include the presence of a ‘resource person‘ who does not regard
herself or himself as an educator. It is both intentional and conscious. It is intentional
because the individual has the purpose of learning something even before the learning
process begins, and it is conscious, in the sense that the individual is aware that she or he
has learned something.
Examples:
a) A toddler decides that she wants to start putting her socks on by herself, and
after many attempts finally succeeds.
b) A group of high school students enrolled in a conservative school and living
under a military regime organize themselves in a clandestine study group to learn about
political economy, and meet regularly to discuss readings.
c) A person wants to learn more about a historical event, and to do so reads books
and archival documents, watches movies and videos, goes to museums and talks to
people who participated or witnessed those events.
d) A group of friends wants to make a special dish for dinner, and then looks for a
recipe in a cookbook or on the internet, and calls the grandmother of one of them to
clarify a doubt.
e) A group of neighbours wants to get their street paved, and then set out to learn
collectively the different steps that they must take to influence municipal decision-
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making, reading documents, talking with councillors, meeting with leaders of other
neighbourhoods, etc.
2. Incidental learning
Incidental learning refers to learning experiences that occur when the learner did
not have any previous intention of learning something out of that experience, but after the
experience she or he becomes aware that some learning has taken place. Thus, it is
unintentional but conscious.
Examples:
a) A toddler touches a hot iron and immediately learns that it is not wise to do it
again.
b) A teacher coming from a traditional teacher training program starts working in
a progressive school and after enough exposure to this environment begins to challenge
some of the initial assumptions about teaching, learning and the curriculum.
c) A person is watching the news and there is a documentary about the unfair
treatment that an ethnic group received during a particular period, a historical fact that the
viewer was unaware of before.
d) A group of friends are at a party and a child is choking. One of the parents
applies first aids and the child stops choking. Members of the group ask some questions
about the procedure and the physiological reasons behind it. They become immediately
aware that they learned something new that they could apply if required.
e) A group of neighbours participate in local democracy, and through this process
they learn about municipal politics; although they didn‘t join the process with a learning
objective in mind, they realize that they have gained new skills and knowledge that allow
them to participate more effectively in democratic deliberation and decision-making.
3. Socialization
Socialization (also referred to as tacit learning) refers to the internalization of
values, attitudes, behaviors, skills, etc. that occur during everyday life. Not only we have
no a priori intention of acquiring them, but we are not aware that we learned something.
Examples:
a) A toddler learns to speak a first language, or a child acquires eating habits (e.g.
not to eat insects), without being aware that those were learning processes in which
imitation played an important role.
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b) An elementary school teacher has different expectations of male and female
students, and treats them differently, and neither the teacher nor the students are aware of
the impact of the hidden curriculum in gender role socialization.
c) A person lives in a racist (or classist, sexist, homophobic, etc.) environment
and has both a negative perception about people of colour and discriminatory attitudes,
and assumes that perception as part of objective reality, not as a process of learned
socialization.
d) A group of friends meet regularly to play a particular sport or game, and after
many years become particularly skilful, without noticing that it was a long learning
process.
e) Residents attend regular neighbourhood meetings in which the professional
politician listens to demands and promises favors in exchange for votes; after many years
of these practices, the culture of clientelism is rooted in both politicians and residents, but
it is so ingrained in everyday practice that people assume that such is the only natural
way to do politics.
It is pertinent to note that although learning through socialization is usually an
unconscious process, we can become aware of that learning later on through a process of
retrospective recognition, which could be internal and/or external. For instance, by being
exposed to a different social environment, a person can be prompted to recognize that she
or he has certain prejudices and biases that were the product of primary socialization.
Likewise, some people may not be aware that they have learned something in a particular
experience until they have a conversation with a person who asks questions about their
learnings, eliciting retrospective recognition (by the way, this was the case in my
research).
Final remarks: Ten points on the three forms of informal learning
1. In summary, this mapping of informal learning identifies three main types of
learning, using intentionality and awareness as the criteria to distinguish among them. In
this map,self-directed learning is at one extreme of the spectrum of informal learning,
socialization is at the other extreme, and incidental learning is somewhere in between.
2. Following the typology of Table 1, it could be argued that a fourth form of
learning (a learning that is intentional but not conscious) may exist. However, I have
difficulties conceptualizing it. So far, any example of intentional learning that I can think
of, is also conscious.
3. Many of the informal learnings can occur individually or in a group situation.
4. Informal learning can take place in any space, such as the workplace, the
family, a religious institution, the community and the like; like formal and non-formal
learning, informal learning can occur at any age, from birth to death.
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5. Learners can use a variety of sources for their learning, including books,
newspapers, TV, the internet, museums, schools, universities, friends, relatives, their own
experience, etc.
6. The awareness that an unintentional and unconscious learning experience took
place (through socialization) could occur immediately after the learning experience or
many years after it, and the process of retrospective recognition can be internally
generated or externally led.
7. Informal learning, as any other type of learning, can be additive or
transformative. Additive learning refers to the addition of knowledge, the improvement
of skills and the development of values that expand and strengthen existing knowledge,
skills and values. In other words, we continue operating within the same paradigm.
Transformative learning refers to learning experiences that lead us to challenge our
assumptions and values, and to radically change our existing prior knowledge and
approaches.
8. Informal learning can complement and reinforce the learnings acquired in
formal and non-formal education, but it can also contradict it. For instance, one can learn
in school curriculum that the capitalist system is a great contribution to humanity, and
learn through informal ways that such system is detrimental to humanity. Likewise, one
can be socialized by the surrounding community into a bigot, and learn virtues of
tolerance in the public school. Moreover, one can go to a school and be aware that
through the formal curriculum she or he is learning A (e.g. math), without being aware
that through the hidden curriculum she or he is learning B (e.g. homophobia).
9. In the same vein, the learnings acquired through any one of the three types of
informal learning can reinforce or contradict the learnings acquired through the other
two. Moreover, contradictory learning experiences may occur even within one of the
three forms. For instance, a person can become a religious person through primary
socialization and an agnostic through secondary socialization, and vice-versa.
10. This mapping of informal learning does not explain everything that goes on in
informal learning. It simply asks whether there is an intention to learn and whether the
learner is aware that some learning has taken place. It does not ask the type of intention,
in the sense of the knowledge interests (e.g. technical, hermeneutic, emancipatory)
pointed out by Habermas; it does not ask if the purpose of the learning is individual
advancement or collective wellbeing, and it does not ask the implications of those
learnings for social control and social change. However, I submit that this taxonomy does
not preclude these types of analysis. In terms of awareness of the learning process, this
taxonomy does not deal with issues such as subliminal learning, hypnosis and the like.
That is another area to explore in the future.
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Final remarks
I hope this ‘mapping‘ and these examples help in the conceptualization of the
different areas of the wide field of informal education. In any case, three questions
remain:
a) What is missing in this mapping?
b) What are the research and policy implications of it?
c) How does it help to examine the existing and preferred relations between
informal learning and the two other educational subsystems?
References
Hotta Dover, Kimeiko (2000, August/September). Self-directed learning. Learning
Curves, p. 7.
Livingstone, D. (1999). Exploring the icebergs of adult learning: Findings of the first
Canadian survey of informal learning practices. CJSAE 13 (2), 49-72.
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The Research Network on New Approaches to Lifelong Learning
Centre for the Study of Education and Work
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto (OISE/UT)
252 Bloor Street W, #12-256, Toronto, ON, M5S 1V6, Canada
Tel (416) 923-6641 ext. 2392, Fax (416) 926-4751
E-mail:
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