ADULT EDUCATION QUARTERLY / February 2000Lohman / ENVIRONMENTAL INHIBITORS O LEARNING ENVIRONMENTAL INHIBITORS TO INFORMAL LEARNING IN THE WORKPLACE: A CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC SCHOOL TEACHERS

The purpose of this study was to examine environmental inhibitors to informal learning in the workplace. Twenty-two experienced teachers were interviewed and numerous site visits were made to each school where these teachers worked to develop a greater understanding of the ways in which aspects of their work environment inhibited them from engaging in informal learning. Four environmental inhibitors emerged from an analysis of the data: lack of time for learning, lack of proximity to learning resources, lack of meaningful rewards for learning, and limited decision-making power in school management. Implications of these findings for theory, research, and the facilitation of informal learning in the workplace are discussed. The nature of professional work has changed dramatically in recent years. It involves far greater pressures, more complex and ill-structured problems, and greater uncertainty than ever before (McLagan, 1999). A group of professionals for whom these defining aspects of work especially apply are public school teachers. During the past 20 years in America, the scope and intensity of teachers ’ jobs have rapidly increased (Hargreaves, 1992). Presently, teachers are required to teach more content and subjects to classes containing greater numbers of students wit