Learning is often associated with classrooms and training, yet much of what people learn happens elsewhere: through reading professional material, working with colleagues, exchanging ideas, and tackling everyday challenges. This is informal learning: learner-driven, accessible, unstructured, and rarely formally recognised. Even so, it accounts for a large share of how we build knowledge and skills. In a rapidly changing world of work, informal learning helps people adapt, improve performance, and strengthen their earning potential.
Drawing on the latest OECD publication on informal learning, Rethinking Informal Learning Recommendations for Advancing Measurement and Shared Understanding, the OECD Centre for Skills hosted a webinar exploring the role of informal learning in today’s rapidly evolving societies and labour markets. The webinar forms part of a broader project on informal learning, supported by the Governments of Belgium (Flanders), Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Attended by nearly 140 online participants, the webinar included an OECD presentation and a panel discussion featuring four panellists from diverse professional backgrounds. Together, they offered complementary perspectives on the value informal learning for individuals, workplaces, and society more broadly.
Key takeaways are:
- Informal learning is key to building a resilient and adaptable labour market, but it is often overlooked in data and policy making. Of the 15 countries that responded to a survey conducted for this project, only half have adopted a definition of informal learning either in legislation or national policy. Clearer definitions and stronger measurement tools are needed to ensure its value is properly recognised.
- Informal learning is rapidly evolving, driven by AI tools, digital collaboration, social media, and skills-based hiring, creating new opportunities for self-directed, flexible, and accessible learning that complements formal education.
- The rise of digitalisation has heightened the need for continuous learning, but workers face challenges such as limited time, unstructured learning opportunities, and uneven digital skills – for instance, just 33% of adults with low educational attainment have at least basic digital skills, compared with 80% of adults with high educational attainment in the EU.
- Workplaces need intentional design, including task variety and problem-solving opportunities. This will create learning organisations where learning is embedded in daily routines. Mentoring and intergenerational knowledge transfer further support skill development.
- Informal learning is particularly important for workers with limited access to formal education and training, but it should not justify reduced investment in formal and non-formal education and training. Recognising informally acquired competencies helps motivate workers.
