INFORMAL LEARNING IN "PERFORMATIVE " TIMES: INSIGHTS FROM EMPIRICAL RESEARCH ON CANADIAN TEACHERS' WORK AND LEARNING

This paper makes two contributions. First, it develops a typology of "informal learning" that illuminates the different discourses of the hidden, yet important (as well as problematic), orientations to informal learning. This typology is then used to deepen analyses of teachers' workplace "informal learning" derived from a 10-year empirical study on Canadian teachers' work and learning. Three main themes are identified: the difficulty of differentiating informal and formal learning at the empirical level; the limitations of the research methods used to illuminate more tacit levels of learning; and the challenges to collaborative learning under the continued institutional rigidity of schooling. Additionally, under present conditions of work intensification, a significant portion of teachers' informal learning is reactive rather than deliberative. The paper suggests that although it may be seductive for some teachers, or even necessary for teachers without secure positions, to take up the subject position of "empowered lifelong learner", this move cannot be assumed to represent increased autonomy.