Informal Learning—Managing the Training Function

Chapter . Lifelong Learning

“Continuous learning” is not just a corporate buzzword—it is a characteristic of life itself. If we define learning as growth in our repertoire of knowledge, skills, and attitudes, it is no exaggeration to say that we learn more or less continuously from cradle to grave.

We begin learning before we ever embark on formal schooling. During elementary and secondary school and college years we learn outside of school, and after we graduate we continue to learn and grow. Learning is no respecter of bricks and mortar, or even of teachers, textbooks, and curricula. Those things may help, or learning may take place in spite of them, but in either case learning goes on. Informal learning may in fact account for a far greater ...