Nine Nudges
Written by Paul Askew, National Project Manager for the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy’s two year programme to Champion Continuing Professional Development, which is funded by the Union Learning Fund. Paul’s background is in the public, regulatory and non-profit sectors, developing and delivering strategy, change and performance programmes.
The headline findings of his year’s Adult Participation in Learning Survey from NIACE show a relatively stable level of overall participation in learning over the last 14 years. Participation has varied between 46%, a high in 2001, to 38% in 2004, 2008, 2012 and now 2013. Over those same 14 years there’s continued to be a significant investment in adult learning and this is why NIACE has been actively seeking “new actions and initiates…if the scale and patterns of participation are to change”, including a super workshop I attended last year. Reflecting on these latest findings, here are my nine nudges, which collectively, might help lever longer term and sustainable increases in adult learning.
1. Mainstream a self-sustaining approach to learning
This is about creating a mindset of self-motivated, self-directed, self-sustaining approach to learning. It might be a personal paradigm shift, but once we help people into that space, then they help themselves and potentially others, leading to less need for intervention. It’s about reinforcing that personal ownership for personal development. Give a person a fish and they eat for a day, support them to learn to fish and they eat for life. They can maybe even help others learn to fish.
2. Be purpose driven
The ‘why’ can be our underlying motivation for anything, whether conscious not, so it’s important to be clear about it. In learning, it’s about ‘being the best I can be’ for whatever’s most important to me, my job, my career, my family, my children, my contribution to the greater good. Helping clarify that purpose can give meaning, direction and context for specific and then continued learning.
3. Promote a continuous process of personal or professional development
Develop the idea of lifelong learning as a more dynamic way of thinking. Mainstreaming a simple and continuous personal or professional development cycle (CPD), along the lines of thoughtful reflection on needs, planning some learning to meet those needs, doing that learning and then considering how that learning has provided benefit. And then continuing that cycle from an ever-stronger base of learning achievements and awareness.
4. The ‘so what?’ test
It can be easy to see the input (time, money, energy), the process of study and learning and the output of skills or knowledge. But the real value lies in the difference it all makes – the outcome. What is now different? What is the impact? What is the benefit?
5. Appeal to both the head and the heart
Top-down evidence would seem to indicate that learning leads to better effectiveness and / or better efficiency. This appeals to the logical head. Then there’s also the emotional demonstration of the power of learning to specifically transform lives and circumstances.
6. Evangelise the power of learning
Having the head and heart cases for learning goes some way, it’s the convincing dissemination that’s top down, bottom up and sideways. It’s also about doing all of that in different ways: one-to-one, one to many, many to many and even many to one. This includes an individualised approach and thinking of and engaging employers as comprising individual CEOs, leaders and managers.
7. Learning is in our head and heart, not a classroom
Moving the apparent commonplace perception that learning is by default in a classroom, to learning being something we do in our head, wherever and however. This is strengthened with the emphasis on those informal learning opportunities.
8. Learners understanding learning styles
Individuals can have preferred styles of learning (visual, audio, hands-on, etc) and it’s important to for them to understand how that preference can enable them to choose ways of learning that are more likely to be enjoyable, effective and sustainable.
9. Realise that everything can be learning
Informal opportunities can have great value as learning in their own right and as a stepping stone to more formal learning. Encouraging an even more pro-active way to seek personal or work experience, activities and challenges can provide relevant and accessible ways to learn and grow. Even clouds have silver linings.
I liked the idea of ‘nudges’ that Paul Askew uses to list what he wants to see developed, in order to encourage more participation in adult learning. It’s the content of these nudges that bothers me. Take for instance ‘learning styles’. I find the critique of learning styles that Frank Coffield and others (like Susan Greenfield) have published fairly convincing. It seems extraordinary that the concept of learning styles (the idea that everyone has a preferred style)is still so prevalent in FE – when what we actualy do is to use different styles for different occasions and in different contexts. In spite of a lot of good research that shows there is little truth in it we keep being told that learning styles are critically important. Perhaps what Paul meant to say was that in order to widen and deepen participation we should help people to learn in a context and a way that suits them best.
Hi Paul
I really like your Nine Nudges. I think number 9 is the one that most people forget about. Thanks for the reminder!
Thanks Peter. Yes, you’re right, I guess those learning styles are really just a proxy for the wider contextual factors that can be key enablers for learning. For me that’s also indicative of the very multidimensional nature of sustainable participation, whether it’s those nine nudes or the challenges and opportunities within each of those.
Thanks Angela. It was last but by no means least of course. Thought it would be good to round off with this key one.