What We Concluded

The advantages of engaging in professional development extend beyond the individuals who participate in the learning event. Practitioners are inspired by learning something new and mobilize the knowledge and skills they acquire to the benefit of their colleagues and the learners in the programs where they work. Learners sustain motivation in an environment that models lifelong learning by all the people who work and learn there and fosters a culture of curiosity, exploration and experimentation.

We saw a deep commitment to lifelong learning and professional development. Ontario LBS practitioners value self-managed and self-organized access to just-in-time learning in order to solve problems, refresh skills and knowledge or complete a task. They also value learning about new concepts and practices – learning that extends and enhances their practice in deeper ways. For this type of learning, they need time to reflect on what they are learning and experiment with the new ideas. Part of that process of reflection and experimentation includes opportunities to discuss with colleagues and peers what they are learning and how it is changing their ideas about practice.

The practitioners who participated in this project did most of their professional learning at work. They reported that this works well for just-in-time learning but it is difficult to find the time and space for reflection and experimentation in a busy workplace. Even when time has been allotted for learning, if that learning happens in the workplace people often dip out to answer emails and phone calls because they are concerned about tasks building up while they are away from their desks. Once the learning event is over, there is not often time built in for the necessary reflective practice process.

Program coordinators expressed concerns about the ways that workplace learning and professional development add to the workload and create an unsustainable work/life balance if not managed properly. They see many staff learning on lunch breaks and on unpaid time. One person reported that she can learn at home on paid time which means that she could learn in a place away from the distractions of work without increasing her workload. Most people viewed this as a promising practice but noted that it does not solve the problem of work building up for some staff.

The other barrier to professional development is funds for fees, travel and replacement staff. In most programs the budget for learning is small and this means that practitioners are not able to consistently participate in the learning events that would benefit them and the program. Program coordinators expressed concern that they were not able to offer opportunities for professional growth; managers are concerned that they are not able to stay aware of industry trends for planning and leadership or keep current with funder and legal requirements; and instructors are concerned that they are not able to explore new ideas about adult education and implementing adult learning principles.

The LBS practitioners who participated in this project told us that professional learning in LBS is most effective when:

• Practitioners have access to a wide variety of learning opportunities for educators who want to change what they are doing; meet the evolving needs of learners, tutors and staff; or connect to a broader education and not-for-profit network in Canada and globally.
• Practitioners have access to expertise from people working in the broader adult education and not-for-profit fields as well as within the Ontario LBS community of practice.
• Practitioners make their own decisions about what and how to learn and how to mobilize new knowledge and skills.
• Professional learning opportunities accommodate and advance the diverse ways people want to access and express learning.
• Learning about concepts and ideas includes time for reflection, discussion and experimentation.
• Learning opportunities include time for synchronous networking and ad hoc conversations where people can make connections and learn from each other.
• Practitioners engaged in independent workplace learning have access to peer-facilitated learning circles where they can connect to people taking the same courses for knowledge translation and exchange.

We conclude that there are six ways to strengthen professional learning in LBS.

1. Support practitioners in developing and sustaining personal learning networks that include colleagues from Ontario as well as practitioners in other jurisdictions.
2. Create ways for practitioners to share resources for just-in-time learning. Each practitioner curates their own list of resources and evaluates each item for currency, accuracy and authority and we need to find better ways to share this knowledge so that the work is not being replicated in each program.
3. Create learning pathways for people new to the field. People new to the field, those who came to literacy from another field and those who support new staff all expressed concern about the challenge of finding places to learn about adult literacy in general and the specifics of the Ontario LBS program.
4. Create learning pathways for those taking on coordination, management and other leadership roles. People are looking for clear guidelines and up-to-date training about what they need to know to remain compliant with funder requirements, legislation pertaining to not-for-profits and financial governance as well as more the more general leadership skills they need to support staff, boards and volunteers.
5. Make sure that programs have funding to pay for both training and staff time to participate in training where participants have time to learn, reflect, experiment and evaluate in order to apply new knowledge and skills to their practice. This may include paying for time at work to learn and to pay replacement staff so that people can take time away from their daily tasks to learn without returning to an increased workload.
6. Create a system-wide, asset-building professional development plan that puts practitioners at the centre of decision-making, accommodates the diverse needs and goals of those working in the field, and acknowledges that learning takes time for the event and for the experimentation, reflection and evaluation essential to mobilizing knowledge and changing practice. Programs face similar issues when implementing a professional development plan. While effective partnerships exist, in most cases, each organization is working on this issue alone. A system-wide approach should provide consistent, coherent and sustainable access to essential learning for the LBS workplace and professional growth opportunities that are self-managed and self-organized.

We started by exploring what role LinkedIn Learning and self-directed, algorithm-based e-learning platforms could play in LBS professional development. The project participants reported that LinkedIn Learning was an effective, engaging and accessible way to enrich their professional knowledge.

Our exploration of a particular platform led us to a wider look at how LBS practitioners engage in professional learning, what makes it effective, and what they would like to see in the future. AlphaPlus hopes that this report will provide a guide to strengthening professional learning so that LBS practitioners can meet their own learning and career goals, enhance their practice, and contribute to the advancement of the adult literacy field.