Designating 'Learning Days' Sends the Wrong Message

Designating 'Learning Days' Sends the Wrong Message

April 6, 2010

While it has not been announced with a great fanfare of publicity there is, nonetheless, a strong rumour that National Learning at Work Day 2010 in the U.K. will take place on May 20 as part of Adult Learners' Week. Apparently, the day is about workplaces making a commitment to learning and skills by holding events and activities for their employees.

Held each May, and now in its 19th year, Adult Learners' Week aims to celebrate learning and learners in all their diversity, recognizing the achievements of individuals, groups, families, and projects through national and regional awards. Adult Learners' Week is celebrated in more than 50 countries across the world and is coordinated by its founding association, the National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE).

Designating a day, or even a week, as special to adult learning or learning at work gives the distinct impression to those who aren't "learning professionals" that learning can—or, worse still, should—only take place at that time.

Yet all of us need to learn something new every day to not only develop our knowledge, skills, and expertise, but also stop us from becoming bored and depressed with our function in life.

We don't need an "Adult Learners' Week" and a "National Learning at Work Day" because learning at work or anywhere is not something that we turn on and off. Rather, it's something we should be doing all the time.

Moreover, having these events or recognized days completely sends the wrong message to the CEOs, FDs, and other business worthies. These are the people whom the corporate learning world needs to convince that learning‐both in the formal and informal sense‐needs to be part and parcel of everyday business life, not something "special" that is an added cost in terms of time and money for workers and their managers who are already under pressure to be ever more productive, doing more with less.

About the Author
For more than 20 years, Bob Little has specialized in writing about, and commentating on, corporate learning—especially e-learning—and technology-related subjects. His work has been published in the U.K., Europe, the U.S., and Australia. Contact Bob at [email protected].