John Denham, the Secretary of State for Innovation, Universities and Skills, announced a new consultation on the 15th of January to help shape the vision  and identify the most appropriate support that the government can give to informal adult learning.

Whilst this consultation is looking at supporting the wider needs of all learners in society, we know that there is an increasing shift amongst businesses to recognise the role that informal learning has for workforce development.

The 70/20/10 formula is gaining ground amongst employers who need to equip their workers to be agile and effective in fast paced working environments. In this model, learning programmes reflect that 70% of learning & development takes place on the job with  real-life experiences, tasks, and problem solving, 20% comes from drawing on knowledge and getting feedback and from observing and working with role models.  And 10% of learning and development comes from formal training. A number of employers are starting to think through how they can apply this formula to their business and technology is helping to pave the way as this type of model cannot be delivered efficiently and effectively by classroom alone.(see our interview with Charles Jennings at Reuters)

The Towards Maturity research last year included over 1000 learners and we found that , outside of formal learning provision, learners were developing skills needed for their jobs informally:

• Over 90% searched the web and used conversations to build work related skills
• Over 80% used online references and books
• Over 60% used electronic help and job aids

The web was the most frequently used and deemed the most useful.

In addition 79% of the 200 organisations who participated, agreed that they will place greater emphasis on supporting informal learning within the organisation over the next 3 years.

The new consultation is welcomed and provides an opportunity for organisations interested in skill development to get involved and help shape the future.

For further information, please go to http://www.adultlearningconsultation.org.uk/.

This article was originally created by the Work based e-learning project at e-skills UK and is reproduced with kind permission.

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