4.5 Knowledge about barriers associated with informal learning

While the research team did not find any research on barriers to informal learning activities, it seems reasonable to assume that some exist.

Potential lines of inquiry:

• Both quantitative surveys and qualitative interviews with adult learners to identify the types of barriers they experience when engaging in informal learning.
• A comparative study of the barriers associated with formal and informal learning activities.

4.6 Knowledge about the economic benefits of informal learning

This knowledge gap seems to be a logical companion to the gap about barriers to informal learning activities.

Potential lines of inquiry:

• A study of the economic costs and benefits of informal learning for the learner.
• A study of the economic costs and benefits of informal learning for society.

4.7 Knowledge about changes in barriers over transition periods

Barriers are rarely described in terms of how they change over time and in response to the transitions a learner must go through to enter and complete a learning activity. The concepts proposed by Schlossberg (1984) could be used as a starting point in such a study.

Potential lines of inquiry:

• A series of case studies of the barriers experienced by individual learners as they enter and proceed through a learning activity.

4.8 Knowledge about the role of personal identity as a learner

Positive self-esteem is an essential contributor to learner attitudes toward participation in learning opportunities in adulthood. More than 30 years ago, Howard McClusky (1970) proposed a component of self he described as “self-seen-as-learner.” Gorard and Selwyn (2005) propose a similar concept and state that persons without a positive identity of self-as-learner are unlikely to participate in learning activities when they reach adulthood. We know very little about this component of self- concept, how it develops in childhood and adolescence, how it affects participation in adult learning opportunities, and how it can be modified in adulthood.

Potential lines of inquiry:

• A study of learners' conceptions of self-as-learner and how these concepts influence participation or non-participation in adult learning opportunities.
• A study of how learners' conceptions of self-as-learner develop in childhood and adolescence.