What do we mean by education?
We live in an age where the word “education” is thrown around with abandon, often misrepresenting what’s happening in our classrooms, boardrooms, and development programmes. When schools proudly proclaim they “educate,” what they are really doing – particularly up to A-level – is indoctrination. This isn’t a criticism; it’s an observation that helps us understand the different aspects of education, from simple instruction, to self-discovery of knowledge and understanding.
Characterising the educational spectrum
“Education is the deliberate, systematic, and sustained effort to transmit, evoke, or acquire knowledge, attitudes, values, skills, or sensibilities.”
– UNESCO, International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED)
The traditional view of education as a monolithic concept has obscured a crucial truth: there are distinct maturity levels in how we acquire knowledge and develop capabilities. Drawing from extensive research in sales development and learning psychology, we can identify three fundamental stages: indoctrination, training, and learning. Each serves a vital purpose, but understanding their distinct roles and their limitations is essential for anyone serious about personal or organisational development and growth.
I am always ready to learn, although I do not always like being taught.”
– Winston Churchill
Level 1: Indoctrination – the necessary foundation
In our school years, when a teacher has students memorise multiplication tables, learn historical dates, or follow prescribed methods for solving equations, that’s indoctrination. And despite the negative connotations the term has acquired, this foundational stage of education is absolutely essential.
Indoctrination provides the basic building blocks for knowledge and establishes common understanding. In schools, this means core knowledge, fundamental skills, and accepted methodologies. In organisations, it includes product knowledge, core processes and cultural norms.
The key insight from modern learning research is that indoctrination should be efficiently delivered and quickly moved beyond. As Lawrence Wayne O’Connor notes in his work on sales development: “With all the tools and technology we have, I can build a custom GPT [AI] in a few days that you can ask questions to and that will give you that information.”
Indoctrination is characterised by:
- Low degrees of freedom: Limited room for interpretation or deviation
- Minimal empowerment: Following prescribed methods without necessarily understanding why
- Short-term focus: Immediate compliance and knowledge retention
- External direction: Learning objectives set entirely by others
- Repetition: This fights the forgetfulness that comes from being told
Level 2: Training – building practical capabilities
Training represents the bridge between foundational knowledge and practical application. Unlike indoctrination, training focuses on developing skills that can be adapted to different situations. It’s here that we begin to see the emergence of judgment, decision-making, and contextual application.
In educational settings, this might involve laboratory work where students apply scientific principles to solve novel problems, or essay writing where they must construct arguments using learned frameworks. In professional contexts, training might involve IT systems mastery, processes and procedures, organisational structures and “how things get done”.
The critical insight about effective training is that it must be contextual and immediately applicable. Training that sits as an isolated event, divorced from real challenges and current needs, is quickly forgotten. As O’Connor discovered in his consulting work: “I would get great reviews from the students, and leadership would appreciate it. Then I’d follow up three months later and they’d say, ‘Yeah, you know, we kind of don’t use that as much.”
Effective training is characterised by:
- Moderate degrees of freedom: Room for adaptation within defined parameters
- Increased empowerment: Understanding not just what to do, but when and how to apply it
- Medium-term impact: Skills that improve performance over months and years
- Guided application: Learning objectives that balance structure with flexibility
Level 3: Learning – the ultimate educational form
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.”
– Benjamin Franklin
Learning, true learning, is what we do for ourselves. It’s the highest form of educational maturity because it combines self-direction, critical thinking, and continuous adaptation. This is where education transforms from something done to us into something we actively pursue and create for ourselves.
Learning in a business context could encompass financial acumen, advanced strategic thinking, ethical decision-making, adaptive behaviours, and most importantly, the ability to continuously acquire new knowledge and skills independently. It’s characterised by the development of what researchers call a “growth mindset”: the understanding that capabilities can be developed through dedication and hard work.
The learning stage recognises that the most complex challenges, whether in academics, business or life, require approaches that can’t be prescribed in advance. As O’Connor observes about high-performing individuals: “Those people with a great growth mindset tend to be top performers, as they go beyond what the company gives them and actually swim around in everything else that’s available.”
Learning is characterised by:
- High degrees of freedom: Significant autonomy in choosing what, when, and how to learn
- Maximum empowerment: Taking responsibility for one’s own development trajectory
- Long-term sustainable success: Capabilities that compound over time
- Self-direction: Intrinsically motivated pursuit of knowledge and skill
Creating a learning culture
Perhaps the most profound insight from learning research is that individual factors including knowledge, skills, and motivation, contribute only about 25% to performance. The remaining 75% comes from environmental factors: actionable feedback, clear guidance, and contextual information availability.
This research fundamentally challenges how we think about education at all levels. While we focus intensively on what individuals know and can do, the environment surrounding them has three times more impact on their actual performance and continued development.
Creating environments that foster the highest levels of learning requires:
Psychological safety: People must feel safe to experiment, fail, and ask questions without fear of retribution or judgment. Amy Edmondson’s research shows that high learning cultures combine high performance standards with high psychological safety.
Consistent learning habits: Rather than relying on intensive educational events, learning cultures emphasise daily practices that compound over time. As O’Connor notes: “It’s those tiny habits that day to day… it’s just doing really basic things consistently well, over and over and over again.” So, for example, ask every person to book a weekly “learning hour” in their calendars for their self-directed learning.
Access to information and expertise: Learning environments provide easy access to information when needed, in the format needed, without requiring learners to interrupt their primary activities.
Recognition of learning behaviours: High-performing learning cultures actively recognise and reward growth mindset behaviours, experimentation, and knowledge sharing, not just results. Continual learning is the only way to sustain excellent performance in today’s constantly changing workplace.
The path forward
The distinction between indoctrination, training, and learning isn’t just academic; it’s practical. When we conflate these different approaches under the broad term “education,” we miss opportunities to optimise each stage and create clear pathways for progression.
The highest performing individuals and organisations understand this spectrum intuitively. They efficiently handle necessary indoctrination, contextualise their training, and invest heavily in creating environments where learning thrives. They recognise that while knowledge and skills matter, the ability to continuously learn and adapt matters more.
The question isn’t whether to choose between indoctrination, training, and learning, it’s how to optimise each stage and create clear progression pathways. The future belongs to those who can move quickly through indoctrination, make training immediately applicable, and create environments where learning becomes as natural and necessary as breathing.
In such environments, educational success becomes not just possible, but inevitable. And that’s when education truly fulfils its highest purpose: not just filling minds with information, but creating minds capable of continuous growth, adaptation, and contribution to the world around them. Only then will people have the equipment to contribute fully to their personal success and that of their employer.
“Learning is like rowing upstream: to not learn is to drop back.”
– Anonymous
The insights in this article draw from extensive research in sales development, learning psychology, and organisational behaviour, including work by Lawrence Wayne O’Connor, Amy Edmondson, and the Institute of Sales Professionals’ Managing Director, Guy Lloyd.