INTRODUCTION: PERSPECTIVES ON WORK AND LEARNING IN THE INFORMATION AGE

The conditions of work and learning now appear to be changing quickly in Canadian society. A basic assumption underlying much of the recent public discussion about work and learning is that because new jobs are rapidly requiring greater knowledge and skill, a lifelong learning culture must be created in order for Canada and Canadians to succeed in an increasingly information-based world. Virtually every recent public policy statement begins with this assumption. Consider the following examples:

Information technology is changing our world. It is reshaping our economy and affecting the life and work of almost every Canadian....If Canadians are to embrace and welcome change, they must create a society that places learning at its very heart, and nourishes them in their personal and working lives. (Information Highway Advisory Council, 1995, pp. vii, 57).
Canada’s workplaces are changing with unnerving rapidity, and since the world of work casts a long shadow on the rest of life, many Canadians are anxious about the future....As long as Canada maintains its investments in educating the new generation of workers and enhancing the skills of older workers, the long-term outlook for the productive potential of the Canadian economy is very positive. (Advisory Committee on the Changing Workplace, 1997, pp. 5-6)

Technology is altering every aspect of our lives. Knowledge and creativity are now the driving force in a new economy....Because of the changing nature of the world economy, the prospects for a high quality of life in any country will depend—as never before—on having a population that is adaptable, resilient and ready to learn throughout life. (Speech from the Throne to Open the Second Session of the Thirty-Sixth Parliament of Canada, 2000, pp. 1,4).

This report critically assesses the assumption of the pervasiveness of a “knowledge-based economy” and the urgency of promoting increased learning efforts, through providing a broad empirical profile of the current work and learning activities of the Canadian adult population and of their interrelations. The Introduction presents the expansive conceptions of work and learning which informed the collection of evidence, as well as summarizing the basic data sources, theoretical perspective and research questions that have guided the analysis. The rapid diffusion of computers which justifiably provides the basis for characterizing the current period as the “information age” is then briefly documented. An outline of the following chapters is also provided.
Three Spheres of Work and Learning

Contemporary thinking and research about work and learning generally suffer from narrow conceptions of both phenomena. In economically advanced societies, there are at least three distinguishable spheres of work (paid employment, housework and community volunteer work) and three spheres of learning (initial formal schooling, further adult or non-formal education and informal learning).

Work” is commonly regarded as synonymous with “earning a living” through paid (or more rarely unpaid) employment in the production, distribution and exchange of goods and services commodities. The current report will also focus on paid employment statuses, but will at least briefly examine other important forms of work. Most of us must do some household work and many need to contribute to community labours in order to reproduce ourselves and society. Both housework and community volunteer work are typically unpaid and underappreciated, but they remain essential for our survival and quality of life (see Waring, 1988). Furthermore, the relations between paid work, housework and community work may represent major dimensions of future economic change. Men and women are continuing to renegotiate household divisions of labour, while more and more aspects of housework and community work are being transformed into new forms of paid employment.

“Learning,” in the most generic sense, involves the acquisition of understanding, knowledge or skill anytime and anywhere. Learning occurs throughout our lives. The sites of learning make up a continuum ranging from spontaneous responses to everyday life to highly organized participation in formal education programs. Three forms of intentional learning are now commonly identified by researchers: formal schooling, non-formal education and informal learning.1 The dominant tendency in contemporary thought has been to equate learning with formal education, the provision of learning opportunities in settings organized by institutional authorities and led by teachers approved by these authorities. Education has frequently been identified with continuous enrolment in formal schooling from early childhood to tertiary levels (see Illich, 1971). In addition, adult or non-formal education includes a diverse array of further education courses and workshops in many institutionally organized settings, from schools to workplaces and community centres. Such continuing education is the most evident site of lifelong learning for adults past the initial cycle of schooling. But we also continually engage in informal learning activities to acquire understanding, knowledge or skill outside of the curricula of institutions providing educational programs, courses or workshops. Informal learning, which we undertake individually or collectively on our own without externally imposed criteria or the presence of an institutionally authorized instructor, is much more widespread among adults than either initial school attendance or further adult education.2 As Allen Tough (1978) has observed, informal learning is the submerged part of the iceberg of adult learning activities. It is at least arguable that, for most adults, informal learning represents our most important form of learning for coping with our changing environment. No account of “lifelong learning” can be complete without considering peoples’ intentional informal learning activities as well as their initial formal schooling and further adult or non-formal education through the life course.

In short, both work and learning are more extensive and complex phenomena than discussions of employment and education usually imply.

A narrow focus on relations between paid employment and organized education ignores significant interrelations between these and other dimensions of work and learning. It is increasingly recognized that early informal childhood socialization is highly influential in determining success in formal schooling. There is far less appreciation of the fact that continued informal learning is vitally important for success in paid workplaces. Recent studies have confirmed that most job-related learning is done informally (see Betcherman et al, 1997; Center for Workforce Development, 1998). Through a combination of initial schooling, further non-formal education and informal learning, the vast majority of workers manage to become at least adequately qualified for their current jobs. Yet the dominant discourse about a pressing need for creation of "learning organizations" ignores these realities of interaction between organized education, informal learning and job performance, and presumes that the central challenge for improved enterprise performance is for workers to become more active and motivated learners. Furthermore, many valuable transfers of knowledge and skill between these three basic spheres of learning and among the three spheres of work are similarly unrecognized or discouraged by actual workplace organization (see Livingstone, 1999a).