Formal and Informal Learning Compared

Colley, Hodkinson and Malcolm set out a detailed comparison of formal and informal learning, feature by feature. The comparison is useful for seeing what people mean when they call learning “formal” or “informal,” even though most real learning turns out to mix the two.

Who Holds the Control

In formal learning there is an authority figure. A teacher is in charge, decides what happens, and the learner has to meet requirements someone else has set. In informal learning there is usually no set teacher at all. Learning comes through friends, relatives, colleagues, and strangers, and the learner decides what to keep and what to ignore.

The control difference sets up most of the others. Once you decide who is in charge, you have largely decided how the setting, the schedule, and the assessment will work.

Flashcard

In this comparison, who directs formal learning and who directs informal learning?

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Answer

Formal learning is teacher directed; informal learning is learner directed.

In formal settings an authority figure decides the content and pace. In informal settings the individual chooses what to pick up and what to leave.

Setting, Structure, and Time

Formal learning is built on educational premises, meaning it moves in a set order: letters before words, words before sentences. Weak foundations make the later steps harder. It is planned and structured, run to a fixed and limited time frame, and taught mainly by transmission, where the teacher tells and the learner takes in.

Informal learning works the other way. It runs on non-educational premises, so a person can pick things up in any order without needing the basics first. It is organic and evolving, open-ended in time, and negotiated rather than transmitted: how and when to learn is worked out between the people involved.

The time difference has real weight. A fixed school year forces a set amount of content into a set number of months, while open-ended informal learning lets a person take as long as the skill actually needs.

Flashcard

How do formal and informal learning differ on time?

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Answer

Formal learning runs to a fixed, limited time frame; informal learning is open-ended.

A school year sets how long there is to cover the content. Informal learning has no deadline, so a learner can take the time a skill genuinely needs.

Knowledge, Proof, and Status

Formal learning deals in propositional knowledge: content that someone has decided should be taught. It uses summative assessment and accreditation, so the year ends in an exam and a certificate, diploma, or degree. Its outcomes are measured, and it carries high status, often tied to cost. It results in something you can show.

Informal learning deals in practical and process knowledge: how and why you use something, learned by doing. There is no assessment, no fear of failure, and its outcomes are hard to measure because no objectives were set at the start. It carries low status and leaves no paper proof, which can make it hard to demonstrate at an interview.

The status gap follows from the proof gap. Because informal learning leaves nothing to show, employers and institutions often value the credential over the actual skill, whatever the person can really do.

Flashcard

Why is informal learning hard to measure, in this comparison?

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Answer

No objectives are set at the start.

Formal learning states outcomes in advance and then checks them. Informal learning has no stated objective, so there is nothing fixed to measure the result against.

Whose Interests It Serves, and How Far It Travels

The comparison also has a political edge. Formal learning tends to reflect the interests of dominant groups, who decide what gets taught, and it is open by published criteria such as a merit list, which can shut out those who lack the basics. Informal learning is where people left out by that system often turn, driven by a wish to catch up and be empowered. It can preserve inequity, since only those who struggle hard reach it, and it tends to serve resistance to the status quo rather than its preservation.

The two also differ in reach. Formal learning is meant to transfer across many contexts: you can discuss, debate, and apply it in different settings. Informal learning is usually context-specific, tied to the exact thing you learned, whether that is driving or a particular tool. Formal learning is also explicit, learning is its stated purpose, while informal learning is often of secondary significance, happening while you pursue something else.

Because real situations rarely sit cleanly at one pole, it helps to read these features as attributes that mix in every learning situation rather than as two sealed categories.

Flashcard

How do formal and informal learning differ in how widely they transfer?

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Answer

Formal learning is meant to apply across many contexts; informal learning is usually context-specific.

Formal learning can be discussed and reused in different settings. Informal learning is often tied to the exact skill and situation in which it was picked up.