SURVEY OF INFORMAL LEARNING

This is a survey about learning, no matter how or where it happens. In other words, learning not only in the classroom, but in the community, at home and at work, learning in groups or on your own. The information from this survey will help to form a greater understanding of learning, and the development of policies to better meet current learning needs. The survey is voluntary, but your participation is important if the results are to be accurate. Your answers are strictly confidential. The survey takes approximately 15-20 minutes.

The National Research Network for New Approaches to Lifelong Learning

Network Leader Dr. David W. Livingstone

www.nall.ca

SECTION 1:

PAID EMPLOYMENT WORK INFORMATION

We would like to start with some questions about your employment.
1. / Have you had any type of paid employment in the last year? / mYes
mNo GO TO Question 9
2. / Are you currently working for pay? / mYes
mNo GO TO Question 9
3. / How many hours do you work for pay in a normal week? / ______
4. / Are you self-employed in your own business or are you an employee for a company, organization, or another institution? / m Self-employed
m Employee
5. / How many jobs are you currently working at? / ______
6. / Is your job permanent or temporary? / m Permanent GO TO Question 8
m Temporary
7. / Are you working on a temporary basis by your own choice? / mYes
mNo
8. / Given the choice, would you like to work more, less, or the same number of hours you now work? / m More
m Less
m Same
9. / Are you currently LOOKING for paid work? / mYes
mNo
mTemporarily not working
GO TO Question 11
10. / Have you ever worked for pay on a regular basis for at least a few months? / mYes
mNo
11. / Are you not working because you can't find paid employment, you're taking care of family, you're retired, a student, or are you temporarily not working because of accident, leave or lay off? / r Caring for family
r Retired
r Student
r Accident leave
r Lay off
12. / For how many years have you been retired? / ______
13. / Do you expect to look for work in the next twelve months? / mYes
mNo
SECTION 2:
EMPLOYMENT RELATED INFORMAL LEARNING
Everybody does some INFORMAL LEARNING OUTSIDE of formal classes or organized programs. You may spend a little time or a lot of time on it. It includes anything you do to gain knowledge, skill or understanding from learning about your health or hobbies, to household tasks or paid work, or anything else that interests you.
Please begin to think about ANY INFORMAL LEARNING you have done during the last year outside of formal or organized courses.
First, let's talk about any informal learning activities OUTSIDE OF COURSES that have some connection with your CURRENT or POSSIBLE FUTURE PAID EMPLOYMENT. This could have been any learning you did on your own or in groups with co-workers, that is, any INFORMAL learning you consider to be RELATED TO YOUR EMPLOYMENT.
Yes / No
1. / First, what about keeping up with new general knowledge in your occupation during the last year? / m / m
2 / Informal learning of new job tasks? / m / m
3. / Learning about computers? / m / m
4. / Learning other new technologies or equipment? / m / m
5. / Supervisory or management skills? / m / m
6. / Teamwork, problem solving, communications skills? / m / m
7. / Employee rights and benefits? / m / m
8. / Have you learned anything informally about occupational health and safety, in the last year? / m / m
9. / Literacy and numeric skills? / m / m
10. / Learning another language? / m / m
11. / Is there any other informal learning outside of formal or organized courses that you have done in the last year that is related to your employment? / m / m

SECTION 2: EMPLOYMENT RELATED INFORMAL LEARNING … CONTINUED

12. / 12. Please tell us briefly about this informal learning. / ______
13. / 13. Thinking about all the informal learning you have been doing in the last year that is related to your employment; about how many hours, did this amount to in a typical week? [Just give us your best guess in hours spent.] / ______
14. / 14. Do you do most of this employment-related informal learning on your own, with others, or both about equally? / m On my own
m With others
m Both about equally
15.. / 15. What is the most important knowledge, skill, or understanding related to your current or future paid employment that you gained in the last year through informal learning? / ______

SECTION 3

COMMUNITY-RELATED INFORMAL LEARNING
Please think about INFORMAL learning activities outside of formal classes, paid work, or schooling, that you have done in the last year that are not directly related to employment. We would like to ask about ANY learning activities related to participating in community activities. Our first interest is about ANY learning activities related to participating in community activities.

1. About how many hours a week, if any, are you usually involved in any community activities, including civic or political organizations, service clubs, fraternal, cultural, educational, or hobby organizations, sports or recreational teams, religious, neighborhood or school associations, or other community groups. [Just give us your best guess for a typical week] ______

Please think about ANY INFORMAL learning in the last year that was related to your community organization activities. We're interested here in any knowledge, skills, or understandings that you gained that had to do with any community activities. Did you learn anything by yourself or with others about any of the following?

Yes / No
1. / What about fund-raising, in the last year did you learn anything about this while doing community activities? / m / m
2. / What about organizational or managerial skills? / m / m
3. / Increased knowledge about social issues? / m / m
4. / Communication skills? / m / m
5. / Interpersonal skills? / m / m
6. / What about other technical skills? / m / m
7. / Are there any other skills or knowledge that you gained in the past year as a result of doing community activities?
______/ m / m
8. / Please describe these skills or knowledge. ______

9. Thinking about all the informal learning you did in the last year that is related to all your community activities, about how many hours did this amount to in a typical week? Just give us your best guess. ______

10. What is the MOST important knowledge, skill, or understanding related to your community activities that you gained in the last year through informal learning?

______

SECTION 4:
HOUSEHOLD- RELATED INFORMAL LEARNING
Now we want to talk about learning activities related to household work. We're interested here in any knowledge, skills or understanding that you may have gained.
Household work includes cooking, cleaning, home maintenance and repair, yardwork, shopping, child or elder care, renovations, home budgeting, and all other household tasks.

About how many hours a week do you spend on household work? ______

Think of any learning you have done on your own or with others in relation to housework and all other household tasks in the last year. Please tell us if you have learned anything about the following.
Yes / No
1. / First, what about home maintenance, is there anything you learned about home maintenance in the last year? / m / m
2. / What about home cooking? / m / m
3. / What about cleaning? / m / m
4. / Child or elder care? / m / m
5. / Shopping for groceries, clothes, and so on? / m / m
6. / Home renovations and gardening? / m / m
7. / Home budgeting? / m / m
8. / Are there any other household tasks or housework type of activities that you have learned something about in the last year? / m / m
9. / What were they? ______

10. Thinking about all the informal learning you did in the last year that is related to all your how many hours did this amount to in a typical week?

[Just give us your best guess.] ______

11. What is the most important knowledge, skill or understanding you gained in the last year through your household tasks, housework or related activities?

______

SECTION 5
OTHER, NON-EMPLOYMENT RELATED INFORMAL LEARNING
Here is another list of things that people learn outside of formal classes. Again, this could be anything you have learned by asking other people, reading, listening, practicing, watching television or other methods of learning. It could be either learning on your own, with someone helping you, or something you have learned with family, friends, neighbors or other people you know. For each activity, please let us know if you learned ANYTHING similar, outside of a formal class, in the last year.
Yes / No
1. / First, what about sports or recreation, have you learned anything about this in the last year? / m / m
2. / What about practical skills? / m / m
3. / Cultural traditions or customs? / m / m
4. / What about leisure or hobby skills? / m / m
5. / Social skills and personal development? / m / m
6. / Health and well being? / m / m
7. / Finances? / m / m
8. / Learning about computers or computing skills? / m / m
9. / Language skills? / m / m
10. / Science and technology? / m / m
11. / Intimate relationships? / m / m
12. / Religion or spirituality? / m / m
13. / Environmental issues? / m / m
14. / Pet care and related issues? / m / m
15. / Public and political issues? / m / m
16. / Have you learned any other things outside of formal classes in the last year that were not related to employment, community activities or housework? / m / m

SECTION 5:NON-EMPLOYMENT RELATED INFORMAL LEARNING … CONTINUED

17. / Please tell us about this learning? / ______
18. / Thinking about all the informal learning you did in the last year that was NOT related to employment, community activities or housework, about how many hours did this amount to in a typical week? [Just give us your best guess.] / ______
19. / Thinking about your informal learning NOT related to employment, community activities or housework, what is the most important knowledge, skill or understanding you gained in the last year? / ______
20. / What language do you use for most of your learning activities outside of formal courses? / ______
21. / 21. When you are trying to learn something outside of a formal course or training program, how do you USUALLY work out what you need to learn and how to go about it: on your own, with a professional or expert, with an individual friend, or with a group of friends? / m on my own
m with a professional
m with an individual friend
m with a group of friends

SECTION 6

SCHOOLING AND GENERAL LEARNING

Now some questions about your schooling and general learning.
1. / First, what is the highest level of schooling you have obtained? / m Did not go to school
m Elementary school only
m Some high school
m Completed high school
m High school equivalency
m Some community college / CEGEP
m Certificate/diploma commercial college / CEGEP
m Some university
m Completed undergraduate degree
m Some professional studies
m Completed professional degree
m Some graduate university
m Completed graduate degree
2. / In which language can you express yourself MOST easily? / ______
3. / Do you have a second language? / ______
4. / Would you say your reading skills in [language] are excellent, good, moderate, or poor? / m Excellent
m Good
m Moderate
m Poor
5. / Do you speak any other languages well enough to hold a conversation? / m Yes
m No
6. / What OTHER languages do you speak well enough to hold a conversation? (3 languages) / ______
______
______
7. / What is your second additional language? / ______
8. / Your third additional language? / ______
9. / Would you say your READING skills in these languages are excellent, good, moderate, or poor? / m Excellent
m Good
m Moderate
m Poor

SECTION 6: SCHOOLING AND GENERAL LEARNING … CONTINUED

10. / In general, would you say your math skills or ability to work with numbers are excellent, good, moderate, or poor? /
m Excellent
m Good
m Moderate
m Poor
11. / How would you generally rate your practical skills in things you do around the house? Would you say they are excellent, good, moderate, or poor? /
m Excellent
m Good
m Moderate
m Poor
12. / How often do you take time to read books, would you say you read books: daily, a few times a week, about once a week, a few times a month, about once a month, several times a year, or never? / m Daily
m A few times a week
m About once a week
m A few times a month
m About once a month
m Several times a year
m Never
13. / Do you buy or subscribe to any daily newspapers, magazines, or newsletters? / m Yes
m No
14. / On average, how much time do you spend each day watching TV or videos, would you say less than 1 hour per day, 1 to 2 hours per day, more than 2 hours but less than five, or more than 5 hours per day? / m Less than 1 hour per day
m 1 to 2 hours per day
m More than 2 hours but less than 5
m More than 5 hours per day
15. / How often do you follow news and current affairs through the radio, newspaper, TV or other media sources would you say daily, several times a week, several times a month, rarely or never? / m Daily
m Several times a week
m Several times a month
m Rarely
m Never
16. / When you want to learn about something, do you generally: One, prefer to learn by taking a course or class; or, Two, prefer to learn by yourself or with others in your own way? / m Take a course or class
m By myself or with others in my own way
SECTION 7:
CURRENT EDUCATION, FORMAL COURSES AND OTHER EDUCATION
Now we are going to talk about specific sorts of FORMALLY organized education. By formally organized, we mean any course that has a specific purpose, and was held either at a scheduled time with an instructor or group leader or by correspondence or distance education for paid employment or any other purposes.
1. / In the last year have you taken any kind of formal organized courses, workshops or lessons no matter how long or short? / m Yes
m No
2. / Are you currently a full-time or part-time student at an educational institution leading to a diploma, degree, certificate or license? / m Yes
m No
3. / What type of diploma, degree, certificate or license is this? / ______
4. / Other than courses towards a diploma, degree, certificate or license, have you taken any other formal courses in the last year, no matter how long or short, or who offered it, on any subject? / m Yes
m No
5. / What type of courses were they? / m Job or career upgrading
m Computer training
m English as a second language
m Basic reading, writing and number skills
m French as a second language
m Toward elementary or hs diploma
m Courses toward a community college or university certificate/diploma/degree
6. / Were any of these courses required or recommended by an employer or other work-related organization? / m Yes
m No
7. / Thinking about all the courses you did in the last year, about how many hours did this amount to in a typical week, counting time in class, and doing homework and course assignments / ______
8. / Are you planning to take any formally organized courses in the next few years? / m Yes
m No
9. / How certain are you that you will take any organized courses, would you say you are very certain, somewhat certain, or not at all certain? /
m Very certain
m Somewhat certain
m Not at all certain

SECTION 7: CURRENT EDUCATION, FORMAL COURSES … … CONTINUED