Networked professional learning: Relating the formal and the informal

Abstract

The increasing complexity of the workplace environment requires teachers and professionals in general to tap into their social networks, inside and outside circles of direct colleagues and collaborators, for finding appropriate knowledge and expertise. This collective process of sharing and constructing knowledge can be considered 'networked learning'. The processes involved are informal and largely invisible to the official framework of the organisation. Consequently, a large amount of learning that takes place is unrecognised and the dynamics, impacts and benefits of such networked learning are often overlooked by organisations. This situation brings about tensions between formal and informal processes, which in turn raise issues concerning adequate professional development, professional autonomy and management. It also leads to questions about facilitating the creation and exchange of knowledge and expertise within the existing social networks. Taking an interdisciplinary approach, we explore a number of educational and organisational studies. Our key questions are: what are the formal and informal mechanisms underlying networked professional learning, related to professional development, autonomy and management? How can networked learning be positioned in the most optimal way? Currently, a clear academic understanding of how to optimally align and make use of networked learning is lacking. The goal of our exploratory review is to describe mechanisms that influence the alignment of informal and formal learning of teachers within their workplace: schools. We work towards a theoretical and practical integration of the different chosen fields by means of a framework of mechanisms related to networked learning.