Low-qualified adults have experienced a greater rise in unemployment than any other group in Europe. What particular barriers are they facing in (re-)entering the labour market? How can VET be used in active labour market policies to help overcome these barriers? How can training programmes be designed to address the particular needs of this…

Quinn presents a radical new perspective on the interrelationships between education and culture. Rather than viewing education in isolation from major cultural debates, she demonstrates how culture shapes education and education shapes culture. Cultural perspectives and rich empirical data from a wide range of research with learners in…

Design research systematically creates or improves processes, products, and programs through an iterative progression connecting practice and theory (Reinking, 2008; van den Akker, 2006). Developing a new instructional systems design (ISD) processes through design research is necessary when new technologies emerge that challenge existing practices…

Evidence that medical error can cause harm to patients has raised the attention of the health care community towards patient safety and influenced how and what medical students learn about it. Patient safety is best taught when students are participating in clinical practice where they actually encounter patients at risk. This type of learning is…

The key message of NIACE's 2011 survey of adult participation in learning is that recession is bad for lifelong learning for anyone over the age of 25. The survey highlights the central importance of workplaces as sites of adult learning--and the challenges posed to a learning society when opportunities to learn reduce. It shows that the gap…

When Toni Pearce ran for National Union of Students (NUS) Vice-President for Further Education she put adults at the heart of her manifesto, pledging to champion the cause of learners "studying in the workplace, as distance learners or re-skilling later in life" and to make the NUS more accessible to them. It's a promise which, now in…

Building on theoretical frameworks like the Job Demands Control model and Action Theory we tested whether the relationship between workload and employees' experiences of opportunities for workplace learning is of an inverted u-shaped nature and whether autonomy moderates this relationship. We predicted that--at moderate levels of…

The concept of tacit knowledge encompasses all of the intricacy of the different experiences that people acquire over time, and which they utilize and bring to bear in carrying out tasks effectively, reacting to unforeseen circumstances, or innovating. The intuitive nature of tacit knowledge, its particular context, and the difficulty of…

Corporate Learning and Development must align learning goals with the needs of the business it serves. In times of rapid change and limitless information, it becomes unreasonable to expect a Learning and Development group to design for and deliver all the learning its workforce needs. In response, corporate learning leaders are exploring if and…

Operating a financial investment company in an unstable economy is not easy. But the right training at Vanguard ensures satisfied customers. The company made an investment of its own in learning and development that paid off big in 2009. The learning offerings, both innovative and efficient, keep its workers updated on strategies that bring…

Labor market economists argue that it is difficult to fit occupations into a few skill categories, but most will agree that there are at least three. In this schema, high-skill occupations are those in the professional/technical and managerial categories. Low-skill occupations are in the traditional, in-person service and agricultural categories.…

This article is written in response to a recent report on a review of teacher education in Scotland undertaken by Graham Donaldson (2011). In particular it questions the recommendation that engaging teachers in professional enquiry and research-informed teaching is the way forward for developing the professional capabilities required of "21st…

Although e-learning has improved in quality, reach and learning impact over the past decade, it can be argued that it has not yet lived up to its potential to transform workplace learning. In the drive to increase effectiveness, interest has grown in blended learning, an instructional strategy that combines the use of web-technologies with more…

This article looks at how the application of the concept of a "learning organisation" can be used at a specific organisation in South Africa to change the work performance of its employees. We do this by exploring different theories, models and definitions of organisational learning, learning organisation, organisational knowledge and…

Many researchers have examined the effect of formal mentoring on job satisfaction and organizational commitment. However, there has been little or no focus on an employee's intent to participate in a formal mentoring program based upon an employee's perceived organizational support, and/or affective reaction (job satisfaction and…