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"learning"

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Information and communications technologies (ICT) are central to the lifelong learning policy in the UK. Considerable public expenditure continues to be applied to the creation of on-line learning and on-line learner information services. These are seen as having a major role in stimulating learning in the small business sector which has traditionally proved reluctant to engage in structured programmes of employee development. While policy has resulted in significant spending on new infrastructure, insufficient attention is being paid to the ways in which those in the workplace learn and learn about learning. The effective development of learning in small businesses is dependent on the radical changes associated with ICT being matched by equally radical changes in the way that work-based learning is conceptualised and organised. This chapter suggests that the development of ICT-supported work-based learning will result in significant changes in learning relationships and in the sources from which learners seek support. In particular, this chapter explores the potential for new learning relationships to be recognised and taken fully into account in planning and implementing work-based learning programmes. While positive for learners and the businesses in which they work, the changes in roles and relationships which the adoption of this perspective will involve will challenge and potentially marginalise traditional players in the learning market. © 2004 Brill. All rights reserved.

The relatively recent recognition by social scientists that the workplace is a major site for learning is stimulating researchers from different disciplinary backgrounds to investigate the nature of this learning within the context of changing workplace conditions. As Stern and Sommerlad (1999:1) argue, workplace learning is not a new concept, but ‘it has acquired visibility and saliency’ because ‘it sits at the juncture of new thinking concerning the nature of learning about new forms of knowledge, about the transformation of the nature of work and about the modern enterprise in a globalized economy’. The concept of the ‘learning organization’ has been one attempt to capitalize on this new awareness of the latent potential of workplace learning, and empirical studies are providing evidence that training is now more likely to be carried out in the workplace itself rather than in an off-the-job setting (see Raper et al, 1997). © Individual contributors, 2002.

In the current UK policy context, work-based learning and lifelong learning are seen as closely related. Despite the rather broader rhetoric of the introduction to the learning Age White Paper (DfEE, 1998), both are primarily seen as necessary parts of the government’s strategy to increase employability and economic competitiveness. They are central to the concerns of the new learning and Skills Council. More generally, increasing awareness of the significance of informal learning (Coffield, 2000) as part of lifelong learning has resulted in more attention being paid to learning in work. © Individual contributors, 2002.

As the staying-on rate has rocketed, the proportion of 16 and 17year olds undertaking training in the workplace, whether government funded or not, has fallen steadily. If there is now to be a major expansion of apprenticeships, what is to be the driving force behind such a reversal of recent trends? (Berkeley, 2000:10) In many cases, particularly in vocational education and industrial training, we have seen old programmes relaunched under a change of name, but without substantial changes in the patterns of resourcing or incentives for the various participants. (Oates, 2000:20). This chapter aims to do two things. First, it examines the current policy options for securing a healthy, vibrant future for work-based training in England. The main focus is on initial vocational education and training for young entrants to the labour force (those in the 16 to 24 age group). There are many equally, perhaps more, important issues concerning adult learning in the workplace and how this can best be supported, but to do any justice to these would require another chapter. However, we suggest that there may be considerable merit in trying to link policy on initial VET to wider policy options for adult training and, crucially, for reflection on the role of employers in providing training, both for young entrants and adult workers. In geographical terms, the main focus is upon England, though much of the analysis can, in broad terms, be applied throughout the UK. © Individual contributors, 2002.

What are the concepts and theories behind current debates about education? This comprehensive introduction to philosophy of education discusses issues that are of current public interest and debate. It locates education at the heart of questions concerned with culture, ethics, politics, economics and shows how key educational issues have to be approached in a contextual way. Written in a clear and accessible manner with current issues in mind the book covers: the curriculum teaching and learning educational research assessment moral, personal and civic education autonomy and multicultural issues in a liberal society education and work privatisation and markets This book will be particularly useful to students on Education Studies courses, to those preparing for a career in teaching, to students of politics and to serving teachers undertaking further study in education. © 2004 Christopher Winch and John Gingell. All rights reserved.

The economics of education is dedicated to seeking the most efficient use of scarce resources by studying the consequences of their mobilisation, allocation, and utilisation in the production of education. One convenient way to understand the scope of this field is to see the production of education as a process consisting of input, process, output and outcome components. In this conceptualisation, scarce inputs (such as teachers' and students' time, school facilities and instructional materials) are mobilised, allocated and transformed through a process (encompassing organisation, evaluation, instructional technology, etc.) to yield output (such as student learning) which is subsequently utilised to generate desired outcome (economic outcome such as higher earnings and more employment opportunities). © 2000 Routledge.

The part played by tacit skills and knowledge in work performance is well recognized but not well understood. These implicit or hidden dimensions of knowledge and skill are key elements of ‘mastery’, which experienced workers draw upon in everyday activities and continuously expand in tackling new or unexpected situations. This chapter argues that it is important to understand better how individuals harness and use tacit forms of key competences as they move between roles and settings. What part does the recognition of tacit forms of key competences play in the development of occupational and learning biographies? Does the recognition of tacit forms of key competences increase or decrease inequalities? What are the implications when considered in the contexts of ‘technocratic’ and ‘democratic’ versions of the learning society?. © Individual contributors, 2002.