A large proportion of the education and training activities for managers observed by Bélanger et al. (2004), unlike those for production employees, are the result of individual initiatives. Generally, these courses focus on personnel management, marketing, leadership and communications. Support for individual professional development occasionally takes the form of time off and more often of reimbursement of the course fees.
The continuing education and training of professional staff and highly qualified employees differ from those of production employees much as they do from the education and training of management. Consequently, we will briefly describe the features of this group of employees for whom training is essential, given the need for constantly changing and exacting knowledge and skills that characterize their professional activities and, more broadly, for continuing professional development.
Bélanger et al. (2004) observe that the continuing education of professionals and highly specialized staff and analysts is usually delivered outside the organization by external regulatory agencies, specialized institutions or consulting firms. The company provides financial support. Courses relating to in-house technical training or production planning are planned and organized by the department responsible for quality. Demand for seminars, conferences and training leading to certification is initially expressed almost exclusively by individuals. The immediate superior will also regularly suggest upgrades to reflect the frequent changes in regulations. ALT provided by mentors is very important when qualified personnel are hired. However, most continuing professional development activities for specialized staff take the form of self-learning assisted by documentation services or informal meetings.
Structured in-house ALT activities form only part of the overall reality of learning. Beneath this visible tip of the iceberg (Livingstone, 2003), there lies a whole range of informal learning and group and individual self-directed learning. To what extent do firms recognize this reality and take it into account? What are its characteristics and specific features in light of the different objectives and contents of learning? How are these informal activities supported? Finally, how are structured ALT and these informal methods of professional development interwoven in the various businesses?
It should be pointed out (see Table 4.1) that in the total adult population, the participation rate in informal job-related learning is quite high in Quebec (45%) and in Canada more generally (48%). Moreover, for the employed population, informal learning alone has a participation rate of 34% and alone accounts for one-half of job-related training by type of training in Quebec and the rest of Canada (Table 4.2).