Combining formal, non-formal and informal learning for workforce skill development

Conclusions

Apart from adopting mandated learning combinations especially required for regulated programs (including apprenticeships and traineeships), businesses and individuals will make their own decisions about learning. Businesses will make them according to their business needs, while individuals will do so according to their particular work or life stages, their willingness to commit to learning, and formal requirements (by their managers) to undertake training.

Bearing in mind that casual workers represent a substantial and alternative source of skills, it is important that organisations increase investment in learning for these groups. It is also important to provide opportunities for formal and non-formal learning of workers with lower levels of prior training. This may also require such groups to acquire basic skills for learning (including language, literacy and numeracy skills, and skills in using information and communications technology). Such basic skills training or learning support will also need to be a priority for those involved in self-paced training provision for mature-age workers who may require extra assistance in completing gap training for accelerated apprenticeship programs.

Background

This project is about how formal, non-formal and informal learning can be combined to deliver workforce skills. It also looks at how such combinations are used and recognised by industry, employers, training providers and individuals. It is a Commonwealth–State Skills Shortage Initiative funded through the Strategic National Initiatives component of the 2005–08 Commonwealth–State Agreement for Skilling Australia’s Workforce.

Introduction

There is nothing new about using different forms of learning to develop required skills and knowledge both for novice and experienced learners in workplaces and training institutions. What is different today is the increasing need to renew approaches to workforce skills development to address current skill shortages in an environment of workforce ageing, declining cohorts of youth, and increased competition for workers with the right skills. As well, advances in technology and science and government demands for regulatory compliance (Department of Education, Science and Training 2006) have also increased at a rapid pace. These developments have meant, and will continue to mean, that companies must look for more effective ways to engage all existing workers in learning, and to look for alternative sources of skills. Innovative ways for recognising (and utilising) existing skills of older workers to keep them in the workforce will also be required. As organisations restructure and reduce staff to remain economically competitive, there are increased requirements for managers and supervisors to assume responsibilities that were once dealt with by organisation-wide functions—such as budgeting, scheduling, occupational health and safety, and staff and customer grievances (Martin & Healy 2008).

Current traditional trade skill shortages in Australia heighten the need to accelerate the completion of formal apprenticeship programs which, historically, have been based on a combination of formal off-the-job and on-the-job learning and informal and non-formal workplace learning (National Centre for Vocational Education Research 2006). These programs generally use recognition of prior learning (RPL) processes to recognise the skills and experience of mature-age workers with relevant industry skills. In addition, there is a need to deepen initial training for those industries such as mining, electro-technology and energy utilities which require higher level initial skills (Department of Education, Science and Training 2006). Providers of formal learning (including VET institutions) will also need to provide training that is sensitive to the needs of marginalised workers. Richardson & Teese (2008) note that the Australian workforce is becoming increasingly feminised as the pool of 25 to 49-year-old males is declining and as more women are being required to enter or re-enter the workforce.

In developing workforce skills, companies have applied a variety of work-based learning approaches to complement and supplement learning from initial formal studies. These include learning on the job, short in-house training sessions, short courses from external providers, job rotation, job redesign (including multi-skilling and cross-skilling), and coaching and mentoring programs. The application of new technologies to speed up or diversify the production of goods and services to meet the needs of different consumer markets has also improved the accessibility of information and knowledge used in learning and job/work completion.

Formal, non-formal and informal learning defined

To begin with it is important to understand exactly what we mean by formal, non-formal and informal learning. We start by clarifying each of these different forms.

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  Formal learning refers to learning in courses or programs leading to nationally and internationally recognised qualifications.
  
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  Non-formal learning refers to learning in structured programs for developing skills and knowledge required by workplaces, communities and individuals. These do not lead to nationally or internationally accredited formal qualifications.
  
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  Informal learning refers to learning that is acquired through everyday work and life.
  

In this regard our distinctions are compatible with the definitions adopted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in its review of the Role of qualifications in promoting life-long learning (OECD 2005).⁴ In addition, information and communication technologies (internet, email, chat-rooms and discussion forums), and topic-specific software applications can be applied to all these forms of learning. Self-directed learning is also possible across the three forms of learning.

Supplementing work with access to formal, informal and non-formal learning

Most of the learning that individuals do once they leave school is of the informal (on-the-job training) and non-formal variety. Nevertheless some workers continue to engage in formal learning leading to job-relevant formal qualifications, or qualifications that are not related to their job.

Fuller & Unwin (2004) are of the view that enabling workers to engage in all these forms of education provides an ‘expansive’ rather than a ‘restrictive’ form of workforce skill development. An expansive approach they say leads to an ‘enrichment’ of the workers’ ‘learning territory’. This expansion then is of benefit to individuals because they acquire the social skills and formal qualifications which will make them more competitive in the labour market.

Formal training leading to formal qualifications

Formal learning, as its name implies, has a highly structured set of learning arrangements. That is, it is characterised by defined aims and objectives and a recognisable and espoused written curriculum structure. It is focused on delivering qualifications that are accredited by state, national and international education and training authorities (or their equivalents) and industry bodies. This type of learning is also associated with identifiable and recognisable educational sectors; that is, primary and secondary schooling, VET (including industry training), higher education, and adult and community education. Depending on the parent sector, formal training and learning programs are established to deliver a body of general, technical, vocational, or professional skills and knowledge. Successful learning (affirmed by successful performance in tests of knowledge and/or practical skill) may also lead to formal academic or industry qualifications, licences, or accreditations (or their equivalents). These outcomes may be used to help holders obtain a job, perform a job⁵, change jobs, or acquire a promotion. They can be used to help holders start or progress a business venture or enter further formal studies to acquire further qualifications.

A range of delivery options

Formal learning comprises a variety of diverse approaches and can be used with large groups, small groups and individuals. For example, it includes cases where instructors are in physical proximity to students and use lock-step methods of training⁶ in addition to cases where instructors guide or facilitate students through self-paced learning materials. It also includes instructors using a combination or a blend of these two approaches. When college mentors or instructors visit workplaces and sit down with individuals to work through self-paced learning modules, this can also come under face-to-face training. Formal training also refers to on-the-job training which is required for the completion of an apprenticeship or traineeship.

Face-to-face approaches may also include students working through programs using electronic technologies in a computer classroom with instructors present for the provision of advice and assistance. Also included is video-conferencing where instructors in one location deliver a training program to a group of individuals who are gathered in a video-conferencing classroom in another location or in multiple locations.

Distance education leading to formal qualifications is also an example of formal training. Here students may be provided with learning materials in hard copy or electronic form. These materials may also be based on the traditional lock-step methods of training. However, here the student works through the materials individually and instructors make themselves available to provide feedback and assistance as required. In the past, interaction between distance education instructors and students often happened via telephone or mail. Increased access to electronic equipment, both by teachers and students, and advances in technology, mean that teachers may communicate with students via email, bulletin boards and discussion forums and may do so in synchronous or asynchronous time⁷ (Misko et al. 2004).

Increasingly, and especially in the VET sector, some individuals may undertake and complete formal training (in short courses which, for others, are also used as components of qualifications) only for the knowledge and skill they are able to acquire from these courses. They may choose not to acquire a qualification.

Training to meet compliance and contractual obligations

Formal programs are also implemented to satisfy legislative requirements (for example, occupational health and safety laws, financial services regulations, and mandatory reporting of a variety of social issues related to minors⁸) and contractual obligations. Formal accredited training required for compliance with legislation and contractual obligations is the most preferred type of formal training in small- and medium-sized firms. Mawer & Jackson (2005) found that unless workers were required to have formal qualifications and licences for compliance reasons, companies did not much care if workers did or did not have any formal qualifications. These attitudes were also shared by employees. What was often more important was the experience individuals brought to the job, their skills at working with others, their willingness to put in a good day’s work and the types of references they brought with them from other employers.

Education and training leading to formal qualifications, accreditations, and licences is generally delivered externally by nationally or industry-accredited providers. However, companies who are registered to deliver their own qualifications (enterprise registered training organisations in the VET sector) may deliver this training on their own premises. In some programs (for example, apprenticeships and traineeships already discussed) such formal training can also happen at the workplace. Some companies in the study by Mawer & Jackson (2005) preferred that compliance training for required licences be delivered on-site. However, they were agreeable to specialised technical and theory-based training being delivered externally.

Responsibility for training costs

Typically employees who would like to acquire a formal qualification that may not be related to their particular occupations will undertake this training outside work hours. They will often be expected to pay for their own training. However, Fuller & Unwin (2004) provide an example of companies who also meet the costs of training in non-related fields. Those who can show that a desired formal qualification is relevant in some way to the work of the organisation may be given time to attend classes during work hours. Some companies may pay for the cost of the training up-front; others may reimburse the employee once they have completed and passed the particular course.

In the main, accreditations and licences required for the performance of licensed jobs, or the operation of specialised machinery and equipment, or delivery of specific training services, are paid for by the organisation and generally undertaken in work time. Although the main aim of this training is to make sure that the company has access to the required skills and knowledge for more effective operation and legislative compliance, this training also helps to prepare the individual for his or her job. Often accreditations and licences will travel with the individual. This means that in addition to providing organisations with a medium for transferring required skills and knowledge, the individual has also added to his or her toolkit of skills and licences. Such acquisitions will hold the individual in good stead should she or he wish to move into alternative employment.

Richardson (2004) found that a great deal of skill enhancement is provided by on-the-job learning, and that employers paid a considerably greater proportion towards workforce skill development than is usually estimated.