Non-formal learning, implicit learning and tacit knowledge in professional work

This article reports on research carried out under the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC's) Learning Society Programme. The program comprised 14 projects involving research into the learning society and the ways in which it can contribute to the development of knowledge and skills for employment and in other areas of adult life. In this comprehensive theoretical description of informal learning, the author presents an innovative set of definitions of the main terms under consideration, a typology of non-formal learning, a detailed analysis of tacit knowledge (of people and contexts and of tacit knowledge in practice), and a critique of interpretations of situated learning. The author argues that the term 'non-formal learning' rather than informal learning should be adopted in contrast with formal learning. A new framework and language for the investigation of non-formal learning is described which provided other researchers within the ESRC Learning Society Programme with a common basis for their investigations and a tool for coordination of research within the program.