Management and informal learning

The thesis prepared by López-Crespo, entitled "The directive role for the promotion of informal learning of teachers in educational centers", has been directed by Dr. Joaquín Gairín. The thesis, which opts for the mention of International Doctorate, was read at the Faculty of Educational Sciences of the UAB before the tribunal formed by Serafín Antúnez (UB), acting as President, Carmen Armengol (UAB), acting as secretary and Miguel Jerónimo (IPL), acting as a member.

The learning that teachers build informally in their workplace should be seen as one more form of professional learning. Recognizing the value of this learning for professional and organizational improvement is a first condition for its consideration.

Both teachers and managers must commit and bet to build and promote informal learning in their respective centers, if we consider that this modality is, according to authors (Callahan, Watkins and Marsick, 2000; Cross, 2007), more than 60% of everything that we learn. Beyond raising awareness about informal learning, teachers must know the possibilities to generate this learning in their jobs and managers need to know what actions and strategies they must develop to facilitate and promote this learning in their centers.

The general objective of this thesis is to analyze the role of the manager for the promotion of informal learning of teachers in educational centers and focuses on the Autonomous Community of Catalonia. At first, it is about knowing how teachers and managers learn informally in their jobs, identifying the conditions that favor or hinder the generation of these learning. In a second moment, investigate how managers act to facilitate and promote this learning in their schools.

In this regard, a study has been carried out in educational centers in Catalonia (primary, primary and secondary and secondary stages) under the interpretive paradigm and adopting a mixed methodological approach. Specifically, the mixed sequential design with the qualitative approach as predominant (when-WHAT) has been selected and the connection approach has been adopted when integrating quantitative and qualitative data. The results, although they are not generalizable for all contexts, represent a first approximation to the object of study and allow us to extract trends about it.

The review of the literature, the results obtained from the study and the conclusions derived have made it possible to propose a management strategy model to integrate informal learning by teachers in educational centers.