The European Commission's Three Types of Learning
The European Commission’s Three Types of Learning
Three definitions (EC 2001)
- Formal: given by an education or training institution, structured, ends in a certificate. Planned by the learner.
- Non-formal: structured, but outside an institution and usually with no certificate. Still planned by the learner.
- Informal: comes from daily life at work, family, or leisure. Not structured, usually no certificate, often unplanned.
The three markers of structure
Objectives, learning time, and learning support.
The frame
All three sit inside the EU’s lifelong-learning policy: learning does not stop when school does.
In 2001 the European Commission set out three definitions of learning so member states could describe it in the same terms. The three labels, formal, non-formal, and informal, are now used across many countries to sort where and how people learn.
Three Markers That Sort Every Type
Two questions decide which type a piece of learning belongs to: does an institution provide it, and is it structured? Structure here means three things. Clear objectives set what the learner should gain. Planned learning time decides how long each part gets. And learning support covers textbooks, worksheets, lab materials, or a coach, well beyond a single book.
| Type | Where it happens | Structured? | Certificate? | Planned by learner? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Formal | an education or training institution | Yes | Usually yes | Yes |
| Non-formal | outside an institution | Yes | Usually no | Yes |
| Informal | daily life: work, family, leisure | No | Usually no | Usually no |
The same three markers, objectives, time, and support, are worth naming on their own, because two of the three types share them.
Objectives, learning time, and learning support.
Objectives set what the learner should gain, learning time plans how long each part gets, and learning support covers textbooks, worksheets, materials, or a coach, far more than a single book.
Formal Learning
Formal learning is provided by an education or training institution: a school, college, university, or a vocational or on-the-job program. It is built around objectives, time, and support, and it ends in a certificate, diploma, or degree that records what the learner reached. It is also intentional, meaning the learner arrives knowing why they are there and what they want to leave with.
An institution, a set structure, and a certificate.
The learning is delivered by a school, college, or training body, built around objectives, time, and support, and ends in a diploma or degree. It is intentional on the learner’s part.
Take away the certificate and the institution, keep the structure, and you have the second type.
Non-Formal Learning
Non-formal learning keeps the structure but drops the institution. It happens on a sports ground, in a drama club, or in a music society. There are still objectives, planned time, and support, since a coach needs a bat, a ball, and a plan, but no formal certificate marks the end. Like formal learning, it is intentional: the learner chooses to be there for a reason.
The missing certificate, plus the fact that no institution runs it, is what keeps this apart from formal learning.
Informal Learning
Informal learning comes from daily life: work, family, and leisure. A child learns to speak and behave at home before any teacher guides them, by watching, listening, and copying. A new worker picks up how an office runs without a manual. This learning has no objectives, no set time, and no support built for it, and it usually leads to no certificate. It may be intentional, but in most cases it is incidental, so people often do not notice they are learning at all.
It happens without a plan, so the learner often does not notice it.
Informal learning comes from everyday work, family, and leisure. It has no objectives, set time, or support, so people usually pick things up without deciding to learn them.
The three definitions were not written in isolation. They belong to a wider policy idea.
One Lifelong-Learning Frame
The European Commission tied these definitions to its lifelong-learning policy. The point is that learning is continuous: formal schooling ends, but non-formal and informal learning carry on across a whole life. A system that wants education to reach everyone leans on all three, because two are structured and one is not, yet real learning happens through each.
Seen this way, the labels are less about ranking learning and more about noticing that it happens in many places at once.
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