VOCATIONALaei.pitt.edu/44880/1/19-2000.pdf · 2013-10-14 · CEDEFOP VOCATIONAL TRAINING NO 19...

V O C A T I O N A L

T R A I N I N GE u r o p e a n J o u r n a l

No 19January - April2000/IISSN 0378-5068

PolicydevelopmentPage 3

ResearcharticlesPage 6/16/29/38/48

CEDEFOP

VOCATIONAL TRAINING NO 19 EUROPEAN JOURNAL

Editorial committee:

Chairman:Jordi Planas Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain

Steve Bainbridge (Editor), CEDEFOP, GreeceSergio Bruno Facoltà di Scienze Economiche, ItalyUlrich Hillenkamp European Training Foundation, ItalyTadeusz Kozek Task Force for Training and Human Resources, PolandHilary Steedman London School of Economics and Political Science,

Centre for Economic Performance, United KingdomManfred Tessaring CEDEFOP, GreeceMartin Mulder University of Twente, The NetherlandsÉric Fries Guggenheim CEDEFOP, GreeceLise Skanting Dansk Arbejdsgiverforening, DenmarkEric Verdier Laboratoire LEST/CNRS, France

Editorial Secretariat:

Steve Bainbridge CEDEFOP, GreeceGisela Schürings European Training Foundation, ItalyErika Ekström Institutet För Arbetsmarknadspolitisk Utvärdering

(IFAU), SwedenJean-François Giret CEREQ, France

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Technical production, coordination:Bernd Möhlmann

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Printed in Italy, 2000

This publication appears three times ayear in Spanish, German, English andFrench

The opinions expressed by the authors do not necessarily reflect theposition of CEDEFOP. The European Vocational Training Journal givesprotagonists the opportunity to present analyses and various, at times,contradictory points of view. The Journal wishes to contribute to criticaldebate on the future of vocational training at a European level.

CEDEFOP assists the EuropeanCommission in encouraging, atCommunity level, the promotionand development of vocationaleducation and training, throughexchanges of information and thecomparison of experience on is-sues of common interest to theMember States.

CEDEFOP is a link between re-search, policy and practice byhelping policy-makers and practi-tioners, at all levels in the Euro-pean Union, to have a clearer un-derstanding of developments invocational education and trainingand so help them draw conclu-sions for future action. It stimu-lates scientists and researchers toidentify trends and future ques-tions.

CEDEFOP’s Management Boardhas agreed a set of medium-termpriorities for the period 2000-2003. They outline four themesthat provide the focus ofCEDEFOP’s activities:

❏ promoting competences andlifelong learning;❏ facilitating new ways of learn-ing for a changing society;❏ supporting employment andcompetitiveness;❏ improving European under-standing and transparency.


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Table of contents

Policy development

Policies and perspectives: an interview with CommissionerViviane Reding ..........................................................................................................3Viviane Reding, Commissioner for Education and Culture, sets out her plans forthe future of vocational education and training.

Research articles

Making older adults more employable –can it be done? ..........................................................................................................6Dominique Kiekens, Paulette ‘De ConinckThe “employability” of older adults is becoming a major topic of interest, sincethe population is ageing and fewer young people are coming through into theworkforce. The solution must be sought through future changes in staff policy.

Moving ages and edgesA lifecycle perspective on ageing and flexibilisation ...................................... 16Ruud J. A. MuffelsIn a flexible and demanding economy, a different response by welfare states andfirms to ageing is needed, resulting in a more balanced distribution of work,education and leisure over the lifecycle.

The workplace of the future: implications for vocational training .............. 29Richard CurtainAn analysis of Australian and US data seeks to identify the likely characteristicsof the workplace of the future and consider some of the implications forvocational training.

Knowledge dynamics, communities of practice:emerging perspectives on training ..................................................................... 38Massimo TomassiniAlongside the traditional training paradigm based on teaching and mostlyreferring to formal qualification needs a new learning-based paradigm is takingshape, referring to real competence needs.

Types of vocational training and their use ........................................................ 48Miguel Aurelio Alonso GarcíaThis article deals with the various types of vocational training - regulated,occupational, continuing and work-based - in Spain.

Reading

Reading selection .................................................................................................. 57


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Policies and perspec-tives: an interview withCommissionerViviane Reding

Introduction

Viviane Reding is from Luxembourg. Herprofessional career began as a journaliston the Luxemburger Wort in 1978 andfrom 1986 to 1998 she was president ofthe Luxembourg Union of Journalists. Inher political career she was elected Mem-ber of the Luxembourg Parliament in 1979and of the European Parliament in 1989,representing the Parti Chrétien-Social. MsReding was appointed Commissioner forEducation and Culture in 1999.

Congratulations on your appointmentas Commissioner for Education andCulture. Within the new structure ofthe European Commission, responsi-bility for European Community voca-tional training policy now lies withyou and the Directorate-General forEducation and Culture. What do yousee as the role of your Directorate-General and where does vocationaltraining fit in?

The creation of this new Directorate-Gen-eral is the result of a clearly stated aim,namely to add ”soul” to a European Un-ion which has sometimes seemed to lackit. This is why the new Commission de-cided to combine areas directly affectingEuropean citizens: education, training,youth issues, sport, culture and audio-visual media.

The ”Education and Culture” Directoratetherefore has a solid base, and a clearpriority: to energise all these sectors on aEuropean level. Different as they may be,with individual features, they are all ca-pable of creating jobs – in some caseseven clusters of jobs. It will be clear why

Community vocational training policy isreceiving my full attention.

Vocational training, however, nolonger features either in your title asCommissioner or in the name of yourDirectorate-General. How importantis vocational training in the contextof European policies generally?

As you know, Agenda 2000 places Com-munity policies intended to increase theknowledge and skills of our human re-sources on central stage, with an eye tothe further development of the EuropeanUnion. That is why the previous Commis-sion was already making these policies akey priority.

It is also important to remember that thenew Preamble to the Treaty of Amster-dam underlines the signatories’ determi-nation ”to promote the development ofthe highest possible level of knowledgefor their peoples through a wide accessto education and its continuous updating”.

It is clear today that prosperity and eco-nomic development, general wellbeingand personal fulfilment are linked toknowledge: to its production by meansof research and its dissemination througheducation and training. Thus, educationand training policies are of decisive im-portance for a successful European Un-ion.

The European Union is currently facingnot only the challenge of enlargement butalso the major tasks of achieving growthand social cohesion and of solving thefundamental problem of unemployment.To meet these challenges the Union will

VivianeRedingEuropeanCommissionerfor Educationand Culture

On the occasion of the in-auguration of CEDEFOP’snew building on 22 Novem-ber 1999, Viviane Redingsets out her plans for thefuture of vocational educa-tion and training.


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have to act in a purposeful, concertedway.

What are your plans and prioritiesfor vocational training policy at Eu-ropean level?

Our primary objective must be to con-struct a European educational and culturalspace in which all citizens of the Unionare actively involved. Within this space,individuals of all ages will be able to ful-fil their potential thanks to the high-qual-ity educational and training resources theyhave access to and the range of formaland informal learning experiences opento them; young people will be able to playan active part in society; and citizens willprepare for tomorrow’s Europe. In short,this will be a space that helps create a”citizens’ Europe”.

In your view, what needs to be doneto create a European educational andcultural space such as you describe?

I believe that it is very important to cre-ate and consolidate a well-organisedframework of political co-operation withthe Member States. It is true that Commu-nity action programmes in the fields ofeducation and training are there to sup-port and supplement actions undertakenby Member States; but it is also true thatfull use has not yet been made of thepossibilities offered by Article 150 of theTreaty for the implementation of a Com-munity vocational training policy. It istherefore essential, if these policies areto be successful, to strengthen dialogueand co-operation with the Member States,particularly in order to find solutions toissues of mutual interest and to directCommunity action. Three key questionsare already at the heart of this dialogue.

The first of these is the role of educationand training in employment policies and,more specifically, European employmentstrategy. In this area, the vocational edu-cation and training aspect of National Em-ployment Programmes needs to be ana-lysed and indicators of the participationof individuals in lifelong education andtraining need to be developed. It is alsoimportant to analyse the incentives whichMember States employ to promote life-long training policies. Such incentivesinclude the recognition of skills acquired

in the workplace, agreements between thesocial partners linking training and workorganisation, or similar agreements link-ing training with the reorganisation ofworking time.

The second issue is that of the quality ofeducation and training at all levels. As ineducation generally, the concept of ”qual-ity” in the field of vocational training isinterpreted in a number of ways, mainlybecause it is applied to different settings,such as public and private training bod-ies or companies.

The third issue is the promotion of mo-bility, including recognition of qualifica-tions. Thanks to the Leonardo da Vinciprogramme, some 150 000 citizens havealready benefited from transnational mo-bility. This allows people to acquire ex-tra work experience or training in a vari-ety of social, occupational and culturalsettings and thus contributes significantlyto integrating young people into the la-bour market.

Other very important questions relate tothe recognition of time spent on acquir-ing training and/or work experiencewithin such mobility projects. The immi-nent implementation of European alter-nance training courses and the EuropeanTraining Pass could make a very usefulcontribution here.

To deal with these issues, as with others,dialogue with the Member States requiresnot just a reshaping of policy proceduresand debates but also the implementationof a scientific and technical system whichwill identify and tackle national problems;collect and make use of information andexperience gained in each Member State;find examples of good practice and makethem widely known.

Community policies for vocational edu-cation and training must respond to avariety of needs and pressures, and it istrue that these are sometimes difficult toreconcile. This means that we must makemore effective use of all instruments foraction, co-operation and dialogue, espe-cially with the social partners.

In working towards the goal of lifelongtraining we must encourage dialogue withall players in vocational training. This

”I believe that it is very im-portant to create and con-solidate a well-organisedframework of political co-operation with the MemberStates. It is true that Com-munity action programmesin the fields of educationand training are there tosupport and supplementactions undertaken byMember States; but it is alsotrue that full use has not yetbeen made of the possibili-ties offered by Article 150 ofthe Treaty for the imple-mentation of a Communityvocational training policy.”


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European-level dialogue must be intensi-fied in order to ensure the necessary co-operation between the state, authoritiesat various levels, firms, social partners andtraining bodies.

The year 2000 sees the launch of thesecond phase of the Leonardo daVinci programme. How do you thinkit can contribute to achieving the pri-orities you have outlined?

I must emphasise just how important theLeonardo da Vinci programme is, aboveand beyond these policy priorities. Thesecond phase begins on 1 January 2000and ends in 2006. Its mission remainsunchanged: to create a European train-ing space in order to meet the challengesof growth and competitiveness, and tocreate transnational and ”multi-player”partnerships favouring the developmentof skills and competences, thus offeringcitizens greater chances of integration and

reintegration into working life. The pro-gramme creates considerable opportuni-ties for innovation which must be fullyused in the future. We must ensure moreefficient management of the programmebut also increase its medium-term impact,mainly by getting the most out of projectresults and letting all interested partiesknow about them.

We must make sure that countries whichare candidates for accession to the EUparticipate successfully in the Leonardoda Vinci programme, which is genuinelypan-European in nature. The opening upof the Leonardo da Vinci programme tocandidate countries has already alloweda large-scale exchange of experience, thusimproving the quality of training thesecountries offer. Obviously this processmust continue and be strengthened by thenew generation of education and train-ing programmes.

Commissioner Reding, thank you.

”In working towards thegoal of lifelong training wemust encourage dialoguewith all players in voca-tional training. This Euro-pean-level dialogue must beintensified to ensure thenecessary co-operation be-tween the state, authoritiesat various levels, compa-nies, social partners andtraining bodies.”


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Making older adultsmore employable –can it be done?

extent to which workers can be employedat physical locations other than theirpresent ones), quantitative employability(the willingness of workers to work vari-able hours), functional mobility (the abil-ity of workers to perform multiple taskswithin one functional area), qualitativeemployability (the ability of workers tooperate in a range of different functionalareas), willingness to undergo training(the extent to which workers are preparedand motivated to undergo training) andmotivation for change (the extent to whichworkers are motivated to bring aboutchange and help to maintain the dynamicof their own organisation).

There is a perception that as people getolder they can no longer “keep up”, thatthey are no longer able to be as flexibleas they need to be and above all that theycannot learn new skills. It goes withoutsaying that the ability to learn (new skills)is an absolute sine qua non if one is toremain in employment or return to em-ployment. The figures show that the pro-portion of people in the higher age cat-egories has fallen drastically over the lastfew decades.

In 1994 the rate of employment for thepopulation as a whole in the EuropeanUnion was 55%, but for those in the 50-64 age group it was only 50% (comparedwith 81.7% for the age group 25-46) (Dearbeidsmarkt in Vlaanderen, 1996). Ac-cording to Eurostat figures, Belgium (in1995) had the lowest level of male em-ployment for the age group 50 - 64. After

Dominique KiekensUniversity of Antwerp (UIA) -

Department of Social Law

PauletteDe Coninck

University of Antwerp (UIA) -Department of Social Law

Introduction

The era of “flexibility”, in which workersmust to be able to adapt and learn if theyare not to be forced out of the world ofwork, has prompted the question ofwhether older adults are able to respondpositively to these increasing demands forversatility and flexibility. Recently, thenotion of “employability” has often beenconsidered in conjunction with this needfor versatility.

The “employability”of older adults 1

”Employability” was a constant theme inwritings on human resource managementand in European policy-making circles inthe second half of the 1990s. Employabil-ity means ”employee adaptability”, a per-son’s ability to react to changes in tasksand responsibilities at work and in theworking environment. The concept wasdevised as a new way of measuring secu-rity of employment (“employability forlife” rather than “a job for life”) in rela-tion to job instability and uncertainty ofemployment. “Employability” and flexibil-ity are thus related concepts.

Sometimes employability is viewed interms of six forms of employability, butsometimes the term is used solely in rela-tion to training. The six forms of employ-ability are usually considered to be asfollows: geographical employability (the

There is growing interest inincreasing the ”employabil-ity” of older adults, sincethe population is ageingand there are fewer youngpeople coming throughinto the workforce. This ar-ticle analyses the percep-tion that as people get olderthey can no longer “keepup” and cannot learn newskills. It describes whichskills deteriorate and whichskills improve as people getolder, and which factorsplay a part in the ageingprocess. Prospects for thefuture are also considered,as is personnel policygeared to career develop-ment, and mentorships.

1) For the purposes of this article theterms “older adults” and “older work-ers” are interchangeable. It has gradu-ally become the convention to talkabout “older workers”. As we, in thecontext of training, also considertraining for people who are unem-ployed, we frequently use the term“older adults”.


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Belgium come France, Luxembourg andthe Netherlands (see table 1). In Belgiumand the Netherlands, the last five yearshave seen a very marked growth in inter-est in the employability of older adults.

Table 1So what are the reasons for this fall-off inemployment? Does the perception of olderadults as slow or inflexible square withthe reality? In this article we attempt toprovide answers to these questions, look-ing particularly at the learning abilities ofolder adults and their willingness toundergo training.

We draw on two types of material. Firstlywe refer to research findings from a vari-ety of disciplines. We summarise a reviewof the literature on the learning capacityof older adults 2. But we look at morethan just learning capacity alone. Studiesyielding pointers to other factors whichaffect the employability of older adultsare also reported. Our second source isthe results of a 1997 research projectwhich the authors of this article conductedfor the IISA3 in a number of companies inthe Antwerp metalworking industry (DeConinck & Kiekens, 1997). The purposeof that project was to study how olderworkers in different occupational environ-ments achieved a given level of ”employ-ability”. Lastly, we examine the policytrends which have emerged in recentyears.

The employability of older adults is de-scribed, with increasing urgency, as oneof the major issues which the labour mar-ket will face over the next few decades.We thus look too at the related social is-sues, and we are talking here of issues“plural”, because a growth in concern forthe employability of older adults naturallyraises a number of social questions aswell.

Different dimensionsin consideringthe employabilityof older adults

Why make older people more employ-able? Why is this an issue? The answer isnot easy, and there are several dimensionsto it.

To start with, the population is gettingolder. The average age is rising becausefewer younger people are coming throughinto the labour market. As a result, thereare more older than younger people avail-able for work. But firms prefer to take onyounger people. Their expectation is thatyounger people will be more flexible andmore ready to learn than older people.They do not see older adults as worthemploying, and consequently these adultsare forced out of the world of work ear-lier. Given the ageing of the populationand the dearth of young people enteringthe workforce, this situation is not ten-able in the longer term. The reasons areas follows.

More older people are retiring and moreare retiring early, which means that thecost of social security is rising. Social se-curity costs, depending on the schemeconcerned, are funded largely by theworking population. Since the workingpopulation is getting smaller, the purseout of which social security is funded isgetting smaller too. This purse shrinksanyway when there is an ageing popula-tion but it will do so all the faster if earlyretirement is introduced on a large scale.

Forcing workers out of the labour marketearlier may ultimately lead to the social

2) A first version of this literature re-view was presented by DominiqueKiekens on 25 May 1998 to an aca-demic seminar at the University ofAntwerp, held as part of the ADAPTproject “AGE”.

3) Inter Universitair Instituut voor deStudie van de Arbeid (InteruniversityInstitute of Employment Studies),working in Flanders.

“There is a perception thatas people get older they canno longer ‘keep up’, thatthey are no longer able tobe as flexible as they needto be and that they cannotlearn new skills.. (…) anabsolute sine qua non (…)to remain in employment orreturn to employment.”

Table 1

Percentage of men and women aged 50-64 in employ-ment in the EU Member States in 1995

Men Women TotalBelgium 51.2 22.3 36.5Denmark 77.3 53.3 65.2Germany 67.3 43.8 55.5Greece 69.2 28.8 48.2Spain 65.8 24.7 44.3France 54.1 40.2 47.0Ireland 72.6 26.3 49.6Italy 56.5 21.1 38.3Luxembourg 54.6 19.5 37.0Netherlands 58.4 29.5 44.0Portugal 70.4 42.9 55.9United Kingdom 71.5 51.6 61.4

Source: Eurostat (1996)


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exclusion of a particular section of thepopulation. The more the system of earlyretirement becomes the institutionalisednorm, the less older people will be ex-pected to play an active role in societyand the more they themselves will believethat they are no longer any use to theworld of work.

As the population ages and people takeearly retirement, the proportion of thepool of labour available to employersalso declines. At the same time the spe-cific skills these older workers possessare lost to the labour market. Despite theperceptions people have of older work-ers, this population group has a lot ofskills are of great benefit to the labourmarket.

Which skills improve and which skillsdeteriorate as people get older?

From our study of the employability ofolder metalworkers we know that olderworkers say themselves that their physi-cal capacities in particular decline withage but that their social and mental skillsimprove.

Physical capacities include body strength,tolerance of physical stress loads, visualacuity, hearing, general health and speedof recovery. Body strength declines gradu-ally with age whilst tolerance of physicalstress loads, for example, falls sharplybetween the ages of 31-35 and less sharplybetween the ages of 41-50. General healthtoo dips at age 31-35 and age 46-50; dur-ing other periods of ageing it declines lesssteeply . Thus it is not really possible tospeak of a real cut-off point in the pat-tern of physical capacity. But physicalcapacity may decline faster in some agegroups than in others.

Social and mental skills include mentalresilience, the ability to see things in per-spective, to think before acting, creativ-ity, responsibility, company loyalty andinterpersonal skills. With the exception ofcompany loyalty, all these skills increasewith age. Those which increase the mostare thinking before acting, responsibilityand interpersonal skills. It also emergesfrom the study that older workers them-selves feel that they have acquired valu-able experience over the course of theircareer.

Which occupations are best suited toan older workforce?

Given the range of skills which improveprecisely as people get older it would befoolish to allow this group of the popula-tion to be lost to the labour market pre-maturely. How can they be used up to alater age? Firstly by giving them adequateopportunities for personal development,throughout their working lives. And sec-ondly by allocating older people to func-tions in which their enhanced skills willbe used most. We should take older peo-ple off heavy physical work and put them,for example, in positions requiring accu-racy and precision, because precisionmotor skills improve with age. Given thatsocial skills in particular improve, and thebreadth of experience increases with age,older people can be used within the com-pany to train others. Older people havebuilt up a network of contacts. They canintroduce younger workers to these con-tacts. Older people also think about thekind of attitudes needed in the company.Here too they can guide and adviseyounger workers. The specific functionswhich are suited to older workers arecurrently being studied in the Adaptproject “Age”. Jointly with Adulta (Fin-land) and Loughborough College (Eng-land) we are working on a number ofoperational models for preserving theemployability of older adults. The workincludes writing a brochure on trainingand older people, studying ROME (aFrench system modelling changes in ca-reer direction), and devising a mentorshipscheme, i.e. a system whereby older peo-ple can act as mentors to other older peo-ple. The many skills which people de-velop as they get older mean that theycan continue to be a part of the world ofwork.

Older adults, abilityand willingness to learn

The ability and willingness to learn havebecome crucial if people are to remain inemployment. “Learning is often describedas a good way of increasing older work-ers’ participation in the labour market.And rightly so. Older people receive lessoccupational training than younger peo-ple, despite the fact that it enhances their

“The employability of olderadults is described, withincreasing urgency, as oneof the major issues whichthe labour market will faceover the next few decades.(…)To start with, the popu-lation is getting older. Theaverage age is rising be-cause fewer younger peo-ple are coming through intothe labour market “

“(…) Older workers saythemselves that their physi-cal capacities in particulardecline with age but thattheir social and mentalskills improve. (…) Weshould take older peopleoff heavy physical workand put them, for example,in positions requiring accu-racy and precision.. (…)Older people can be usedwithin the company to trainothers. (…) Older peoplealso think about the kind ofattitudes needed in the com-pany. Here too they canguide and advise youngerworkers.”

“Given the range of skillswhich improve precisely aspeople get older it would befoolish to allow this groupof the population to be lostto the labour market pre-maturely”


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employability” (Groot, Maasen van denBrink, 1997).

In this article we focus on the ability andwillingness of older adults to undergotraining. What do we know about theirability and willingness to learn?

What do we mean by “older” and whatdo we mean by “older adults”? Thesethings have been varyingly defined in thepast.

Differing views of ageing

Researchers from different disciplinesemphasise different facets of the ageingprocess.

Biologists concentrate on biological fac-tors which determine how long peoplelive. Psychologists look at age-relatedchanges in individuals’ behaviour (e.g. theeffects of ageing on the ability to learnand memorise, intelligence, skills, moti-vation and emotion). Over the years bi-ologists and psychologists have traceddifferent curves for the ageing process.In general, ageing was seen in terms ofthe growth (up to a given age), peaking(at a given age) and decline (from a givenage) of all abilities simultaneously. Thiscurve is hill-shaped and so the term “hillmetaphor” is used. Researchers now seeageing more as a “rectangular process” inwhich abilities increase up to a given age,then remain steady, rise or fall, and fi-nally all decline, culminating in death.This process varies greatly from one in-dividual to another. Thus, on the one handolder adults may retain certain abilitiesby using compensatory mechanisms. Forexample, older people may take moretime to perform certain actions or mayundertake fewer activities, but those ac-tivities which they do perform will beperformed more accurately and more pre-cisely. On the other hand, studies involv-ing personnel managers show that man-agers themselves are aware that certainskills of older workers increase whilstothers decrease. The IISA study of theemployability of older metalworkers alsoreveals that some abilities deteriorate withage whilst others improve. Those whichdeteriorate include primarily physical fac-ulties such as hearing, visual acuity andmemory. Those which improve are pri-marily social or mental skills, such as

thinking before acting, responsibility, loy-alty and interpersonal skills.

For sociologists, ageing is defined in so-cial terms. For each of the different phasesof life there is a model of what a person’srole in society should be. Role changesin institutions such as the family, the so-cial security system or the employmentstructure have a powerful effect on theway in which old age is defined. Sociolo-gists look at how people make the transi-tion from one role to another. They lookat how people’s behaviour changes as aresult of this role change. In other words,sociologists look at the social factorswhich affect human behaviour and at thesocial consequences which follow fromhuman behaviour.

These various perspectives tell us thatquite a few factors (physical, mental andsocial) play a part in the ageing process.Any study of the older adult requires usto combine, or at least juxtapose, thesevarious approaches.

What is an older adult?

Firstly, older adults are quite simply indi-viduals. Each adult ages in a very spe-cific way. Life course psychologists em-phasise that an individual’s life may bemarked by both stability (capacities areretained) and change (capacities increaseor decline). People differ in their geneticmakeup and in the way in which thatmakeup interacts with different environ-ments (family, school, work).

Alternatively, specific social significances(roles) are linked to specific biologicalparameters (e.g. ethnic origin), whereseveral different people are exposed tothe same circumstances. This way ofthinking divides the group of older adultsinto subgroups (by gender, race, income).Henkens concludes in his study of the lit-erature that “older people form a hetero-geneous group depending on their expe-rience and the various opportunities theyhave had. The work experience of olderadults is stratified according to occupa-tion, ethnic origin, level of education andtraining, gender…” Certain factors willalso be found more frequently (together)in certain economic sectors. Social demog-raphers divide the population into co-horts. Cohorts are groups with a homo-

“ Researchers now see age-ing more as a “rectangularprocess” in which capaci-ties increase up to a givenage, then remain steady,rise or fall, and finally alldecline, culminating indeath.”

“(…) some abilities deterio-rate with age whilst othersimprove. Those which dete-riorate include primarilyphysical attributes such ashearing, visual acuity andmemory. Those which im-prove are primarily socialor mental skills, such asthinking before acting, re-sponsibility, loyalty and be-ing good with people.”


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geneous age structure who have experi-enced the same life events, whose socialposition is the same and who live by thesame standards.

In other words, physical, mental and so-cial factors all play a part in the ageingprocess. We also know that people be-come old at different ages and that theyare defined as being old at a specific age.Thus, for example, someone may bephysically and mentally “old” at the ageof 70, when he or she has already beenretired for ten years. So there is no fixedage at which people qualify as olderadults. And it is equally hard to specifyan age at which the older worker is“older”.

Can older adults learn?

Whilst there are differences in the way inwhich the ageing process is defined, andwhilst it is difficult to pick an exact agewhich divides young from old, the ques-tion remains whether older adults are stillable to learn. Answers are provided hereby neurology (ageing of the brain), cog-nitive psychology and social psychology.

NeurologyAccording to Birren & Shaie ageing af-fects the brain as follows. A first effect isthat the number of neurones decreaseswith advancing age (Birren & Shaie, 1995).It is worth stating here that the greatestneurone loss occurs during childhood andthat most neurones are retained through-out life. Older adults also retain a certainlevel of plasticity throughout life. Plastic-ity is the mechanism in the brain whichmakes cognitive and emotional growthpossible. This mechanism can best becompared to the building of bridges be-tween neurones. When we suddenly un-derstand something we have made a linkin our brain between two neurones. “Cog-nitive function (learning) depends prima-rily on connections between neurones andless on the number of neurones”(Kolinsky, 1996).

According to some authors, ageing bringsa slow-down in the processing of infor-mation. That means that response to learn-ing, the ability to do and the ability tounderstand, is slower. In addition to fac-tors intrinsic to the actual processing,other things too may be responsible for

this slow-down. The following factors maybe partly responsible for slower informa-tion processing in older adults. Environ-mental factors such as lighting and acous-tics. With age the pupil of the eye be-comes smaller (Winn, 1994), focussingbecomes harder (Elworth, 1986) and italso becomes harder to locate a soundsource (McDowd, 1988). In other words,adequate light and a clear acoustic speedup the processing of information by olderadults.

Whether or not learning is an impera-tiveThe nature of the need to learn may alsobe a contributory factor in slower infor-mation processing. On the one hand,choice in the material to be processedstimulates the memory and, on the otherhand, irrelevant information is processedat the expense of relevant information(Bloom, 1976; Guskey, 1997; Block, 1971).The mechanism of storing new informa-tion needs rather more explanation. Onthe one hand, newly stored informationhampers the recall of information storedearlier. According to Peterson this proc-ess can be minimised by making a suffi-ciently clear distinction between the suc-cessive learning tasks (Peterson, 1983). Onthe other hand, information already ac-quired may make it harder to absorb newinformation. Thus, for example, prior fa-miliarity with a typewriter may compli-cate the learning process for someonelearning to use a computer (Halasz, 1982).For someone typing text, hitting the en-ter key at the end of a line is a normaltyping manoeuvre which will be incor-rect if that person is word processing ona computer. The new information whichthe person has to acquire conflicts withhis own ideas and existing knowledge -something which older adults find it hardto come to terms with. According to Bol-ton it is best if the instructor ascertainsright at the start of a learning situationwhat the acquired capacities of older stu-dents are (Bolton, 1978). It is then veryimportant for them to put across clearlythe relevance of the new information. Ul-timately the new information can be ac-commodated in the student’s mind sideby side with the existing information. Inour illustration of the typewriter and thecomputer this means first appreciating theability to type (and the typewriter), sec-ondly explaining the benefits of word

“(…) physical, mental andsocial factors all play apart in the ageing process.We also know that peoplebecome old at differentages and that they are de-fined as being old at a spe-cific age. (…) So there is nofixed age at which peoplequalify as older adults.”


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processing using a computer, and thirdlycomparing the differences and similari-ties between the two.

Neurologically, older adults can certainlylearn, though the learning process in thispopulation group will be slower. But ifwe take account of environmental factorsand certain features of the requirementto learn we can minimise this slow-downof information processing.

Cognitive psychologyBirren & Shaie compare the effects ofageing on the brain to a process of ma-turing or further development in adult-hood (Birren & Shaie, op. cit.). Charac-teristic of this process is the fact that adultsprogress as they grow older towards adifferent kind of intelligence. With age a“bottom-up” processing of informationgives way to a “top-down” method ofprocessing. Cattel, Horn and Salthousespeak in this context of a transition fromfluid intelligence to crystallised intelli-gence (Cattel, 1987; Horn, 1989; Salt-house, 1984).

“Bottom-up” processing takes a lot ofenergy. This process is based on the in-tensive collection of data with little feed-back from previous experience. Whenindividuals are confronted with an entirelynew problem in their daily life or a learn-ing situation they cannot draw on previ-ous experience to deal with that prob-lem. Considerable energy then goes intofinding a way of dealing with the prob-lem. “Top-down” processing, on the otherhand, is based on already stored infor-mation. This means that in this form ofprocessing problems can be dealt with byretrieving the appropriate information.

The difference between fluid and crystal-lised intelligence is the same as the dif-ference between “bottom-up” and “top-down” processing. Fluid intelligence con-sists of abstract reasoning, a fast responseand the fast processing of information,whilst crystallised intelligence is based onunderstanding and experience gained inthe course of the individual’s life.

Thijssen makes a link between the spe-cific intelligence of older workers and thecontemporary work situation. He does thisusing the concept of a “concentration ofexperience”. This is presented as experi-

ence which increases in quantity over theyears but decreases in diversity. The ef-fects of this process are both negative andpositive. According to Thijssen, however,this concentration of experience has pre-dominantly negative effects at times ofrapid change. “People will be relativelydisinclined to gain new qualifications byundergoing training or instruction or tobuild on their existing experience in a waywhich will make them more employable.”We shall see later in this article that will-ingness to learn is indeed not automaticin older adults.

All this prompts us to conclude that olderadults use a different form of intelligencefrom younger adults . According toThijssen, this form of intelligence is lessvalued at times of rapid change. The con-centration of experience (derived fromcrystallised intelligence or “top-down”information processing) is also thoughtto impede the willingness of older adultsto learn.

Social psychologySo far we have outlined arguments whichsuggest that older adults are able to learn.But older people will only make full useof their ability to learn if they are con-vinced of their own abilities. This princi-ple is referred to in the literature as “self-efficacy” (Bandura, 1995). “Self-efficacy”(or belief in one’s own ability) is influ-enced by four different sources: primaryexperience, secondary experience, verbalconviction and psychological aspects ofthe moment itself.

Primary experience is previous experiencein given situations. Thus individuals withprevious experience (of training) and pre-vious success (good results, pay rise, ca-reer advancement) will have greater faithin their own (learning) abilities. Positiveexperience creates greater belief in one’sown learning abilities, whilst negativeexperience will gradually undermine thatbelief. Bloom refers to academic self-con-cept here (Bloom, op. cit.). Secondaryexperience on the other hand derives fromobserving the efficacy expectations ofother older adults. In other words, if oneolder adult believes in his own abilities,this has a positive influence on the effi-cacy of other older adults. Verbal convic-tion refers to the degree of support givenby other people such as family, manag-

“Characteristic (…) is thefact that adults progress asthey grow older towards adifferent kind of intelli-gence. With age a “bottom-up” processing of informa-tion gives way to a “top-down” method of process-ing. (…)”Bottom-up” pro-cessing takes a lot of en-ergy. This process is basedon intense collection of datawith little feedback to pre-vious experience. (…)“Top-down” processing, onthe other hand, is based onalready stored informa-tion.”

“(…) older adults use a dif-ferent form of intelligencefrom younger adults. Ac-cording toThijssen, thisform of intelligence is lessvalued at times of rapidchange. The concentrationof experience (derivedfrom crystallised intelli-gence or “top-down” infor-mation processing) alsoimpedes the willingness ofolder adults to learn. (…)Apart from the ability tolearn there is also the ques-tion of willingness to learn.The two are of courselinked. If one feels able tolearn one will also be moreprepared to learn. Willing-ness to learn is encouragedby favourable conditions inwhich to learn.”


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ers, instructors and the media. It is im-portant to the learning process in olderadults that both managers and instructorsshould believe in the learning abilities ofolder people.

Lastly, psychological input from the mo-ment itself means specific feelings andemotions of the moment which mayweaken or strengthen an individual’s faithin their abilities.

The personnel manager’s view ofolder people - the self-fulfilling proph-esyManagement’s view of the learning abili-ties of older adults influences the percep-tions which these persons have of theirlearning abilities. Often they are not of-fered further learning opportunities. Theinability to learn then becomes a self-ful-filling prophesy. There are strong indica-tions that these prejudices are widespreadamongst managers and personnel man-agers (Bouman, 1996; Simoens, Denys &Omey, 1995).

Willingness to learn

Apart from the ability to learn there is alsothe question of willingness to learn. Thetwo are of course linked. If one feels ableto learn one will also be more preparedto learn. Willingness to learn is encour-aged by favourable conditions in whichto learn.

The future returnThe study on the “Employability of olderworkers in the Antwerp metalworkingindustry” (De Koninck & Kiekens, op.cit,)shows that people’s expectations of thefuture play a major role in their enthusi-asm for training. The return on trainingin terms of higher pay, usefulness andrelevance to the job, security of employ-ment and career prospects are seen aspowerful incentives to take part in train-ing.

Respondents with no plans to undergotraining were offered a number of rea-sons for their non-participation. Theywere asked to rate these on a scale of 1-5 (see table 2). The highest-scoring rea-sons were: “study is not adequately re-warded in terms of career prospects” and“study is a waste of effort”. These are theaverage replies for al l respondents

(younger as well as older ones). But theolder the respondents were, the moreweight they gave to these reasons. Theyconsistently scored highest in the agegroup 41-45. As people grow older, theircareer prospects dwindle. Willingness toundergo training then depends all themore strongly on whether the person stillhas prospects of career advancement.

Figure1Another significant finding of this studyis that willingness to undergo trainingcorrelates strongly with willingness to beflexible in other areas. Willingness toadapt in one area of employability isclosely linked to willingness to make sac-rifices in another area. In the areas notrelated to training, the person assesseswhat he stands to gain and what he standsto lose. Thus, a person may be very will-ing to make sacrifices and be flexibleabout the hours he works, sometimes witha very heavy workload, if a great deal isoffered in exchange: for example flexibil-ity in the functions performed (the jobitself is intrinsically interesting). Willing-ness to undergo training thus has to beseen in the overall context of a worker’splace of employment.

The study of older workers in the Ant-werp metalworking industry shows thatthis versatility in older workers varies fromone occupational environment to another.Factors such as physical and mentalstresses at work, security of employmentand the career prospects which the olderadult believes he still has are major de-terminants of the flexibility he displays.

We have talked just now about the influ-ence of working conditions on people’swillingness to learn. But working condi-tions are also an important reason whichdetermines whether or not people takeearly retirement (Van Gageldonk, 1978;Van Santvoort,1982; deZwart et al., 1996;Rasche, 1994).

Ways of keeping olderadults in employmentfor longer

In the last few decades, thanks to researchin a variety of disciplines, the employ-ability of older adults has been viewedthrough a wider-angle lens. Economists

“(…) people’s expectationsof the future play a majorrole in their enthusiasm fortraining. The return ontraining in terms of higherpay, usefulness and rel-evance to the job, securityof employment and careerprospects are seen as pow-erful incentives to take partin training.”

“As people grow older theircareer prospects dwindle.Willingness to undergotraining then depends allthe more strongly onwhether the person still hasprospects of career ad-vancement.”


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say that the level of replacement incomeplays an important part (Heyma, 1996).Social gerontologists and ergonomistsstress the importance of physical andmental stresses at work. Cognitive psy-chologists focus on the irregular patternof learning capacities in the course of aperson’s life. Occupational and organisa-tional sociologists claim that “a lack ofcareer variation and the lack of continu-ing concern for the proper developmentof human beings in relation to their workare the main reason why people get intoa career rut (van den Berg, Frietman,Hetebr i j , Joosse, Krot & Ykema-Weinen,1996)”.

Age awareness in staff policyIn recent years there has been talk of theneed for “age awareness in staff policy”(Dresens, 1991)4. This policy takes ac-count of factors in people’s lives whichrepresent both progression and regres-sion. It looks at the flow of personnel into,through and out of a company. Emphasisis placed on the need for a specific policyon training for older adults. Under an age-

aware staff policy, training is then seenas just one element in a series of otherpolicy lines. Age awareness in staff policyis preventive too. This preventive policyentails a number of different strategies:matching the job to the person, reducingstress factors, following a planned ap-proach of skills development and careerstructure. Emphasis is placed here onmaking better use of people’s capabili-ties and on creating favourable conditionsin which they can learn.

Matching the job to the personJobs (functions) can be matched to peo-ple’s changing physical and mental skills.Discussions are currently ongoing in theNetherlands on how to combine occupa-tional welfare policy with policy on oc-cupational safety and health for olderworkers.

An age-defined “job assignment policy”(which includes switching people to otherfunctions) can also play a significant rolehere. A more concrete form of this isadapting working hours and holidays to

26-30 31-35 36-40 41-45 46-50 51-55 56-600,0

0,5

1,0

1,5

2,0

2,5

3,0

3,5

4,0

Table 2

Study not adequately linked to career prospects

Age in 5-year categories

4) In the sectoral initiative of employ-ees of the Antwerp metalworking in-dustry (VIBAM) in the province ofAntwerp a plan was drawn up in 1998which was aimed at persuading thesocial partners to encourage “age-aware methods of business and man-agement”.


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the ageing employee. Part-time work anda pension is one of these other possibili-ties.

Career development programmesJ. van den Berg et al. prefer to talk hereof “career-oriented staff policy”. Regularreviews of future skills requirements andreviews of the company’s pool of skills(in different age groups) are seen as ma-jor imperatives here (van den Berg, 1996).The holding of performance interviewswhere both employee and employer havean imput are part of this policy, becausepeople are more prepared to invest inthemselves if they have more control overtheir future. Opportunities for managingthe direction of one’s career are very im-portant.

Managers’ prejudicesContinuing concern for the proper devel-opment of human beings in relation totheir work requires a freedom from preju-dice about older workers. As we haveseen, the perceptions and expectations ofthose responsible for personnel play adecisive part in shaping older workers’attitudes. Because of these prejudices andthis stereotyping older adults often do nottake part in training measures. A logicalconsequence is that their knowledge be-comes outdated and redundancy becomeseven more inevitable. These prejudices onthe part of personnel managers are alsoseen as something which age-aware staffpolicy must address and oppose.

MentorshipsExploiting the skills of older adults bycreating mentorships: mentorships are amodern version of the mediaeval “mastercraf tsman-apprent ice” relat ionship,whereby the older worker plays a key rolein training up a younger worker. Valu-able expertise and experience are passedon in a form which is institutionalised toa greater or lesser degree. Under theAdapt project “Age”, British and Finnishpartners are designing the mentorshipmodel as a practical example of training.

Conclusion

The reduced participation of older peo-ple in the world of work is a social prob-lem with many sides to it. There is thequestion of how to fund early retirement,which is being taken increasingly earlier.There is also the issue of social justice.The fact that work is central to the waypeople identify themselves holds true ofolder population groups too. They too areentitled to job satisfaction and the socialcontacts work brings. At the same time,there must not be a general compulsionto keep people in employment for longer.It would be unfair to make people workfor longer than their capabilities allow.In other words, people can only be kepton in employment in ways which are care-ful and caring. A policy of this kind needsto be built on a variety of cornerstones.

“Regular reviews of futureskills requirements and re-views of the company’s poolof skills (in different agegroups) are seen as majorimperatives (…). Peopleare more prepared to investin themselves if they havemore control over their fu-ture.”


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Age discrimination in Europe, 1994, EuropeanIndustrial Relations Review, 247, August, 1994, pp.13-16.

Bandura A. (1995): Self-efficacy in changingsocieties, New York, Cambridge University Press,334.

Bart de Zwart et al. (1996): Fysiek belastend werkouderen vereist beleid op maat, Meersporen-benadering, Arbeidsomstandigheden, 9, pp. 416-419.

Birren E., Shaie K. W. (1995): Handbook of thepsychology of aging, London, Academic PressLimited, p. 416.

Block, J. H. (1971): Mastery learning: theory andpractice, U.S.A., Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971,p. 152.

Bloom, B. S. (1976): Human characteristics andschool learning, U.S.A, Kinsport press, 1976, p. 284.

Bolton E. B. (1978): ”Cognitive and non-cognitivefactors that affect learning in older adults and theirimplications for instruction”, Educational Geronto-logy, 3, 331-334.

Bouman, T. H. (1996): Denkbeelden over ouderewerknemers, Opvattingen van managers over hetfunctioneren van oudere werknemers en effectenvan stereotypering op personeelsbeoordeling enbeslissingen”, Mens & Onderneming, 1996, 3, pp.221-236.

Cattel (1987): Intelligence: Its structure, growth andaction, Amsterdam, North Holland, p. 124.

De arbeidsmarkt in Vlaanderen, Jaarboek 1996,Stuurgroep Strategisch Arbeidsmarktonderzoek metmedewerking van Steunpunt Werkgelegenheid Ar-beid Vorming, p. 166.

De Coninck P., Kiekens D. (1997): ”De Employa-bility van de oudere Werknemers uit de AntwerpseMetaalverwerkende Nijverheid”, Een studie uitge-voerd in opdracht van het Vlaams InteruniversitairOnderzoekersnetwerk voor de Vlaamse Arbeids-markt (VIONA), het Vormingsinitiatief van de Be-dienden uit de Antwerpse Metaalnijverheid (VIBAM)en het Fonds voor Tewerkstelling en Opleiding inde Metaalnijverheid - Provincie Antwerpen (FTMA),december.

Dresens K. (1991): ”Hebben zij mij niet meer no-dig? Facetten van een preventief leeftijdsbewustpersoneelsbeleid”, Lelystadt, Koninklijk VermandeB.V., 1991. See also de Koning Boudewijnstichtingbrochure: ”Leeftijdsgericht ondernemen, Leeftijd enervaring als bronnen van kennis en kunde”. Bro-chure includes n “Age-awareness in staff policy”checklist for personnel managers.

Elworth C. L. (1986): ”Age, degraded viewing en-vironments, and the speed of accommodation”,Aviation, Space and Environmental Medicine, 57,pp. 54-58.

Groot W., Maasen van den Brink H. (1997): Scho-ling en inzetbaarheid van oudere werknemers, ESB,167, p. 568.

Guskey, T. R. (1997): Implementing MasteryLearning, Kentucky, Wadsworth Publ ishingCompany, 1997, p. 308.

Halasz F., (1982): ”Analogy considered harmful”,Proceedings of Human Factors of ComputingSystems, 11, 383-386.

Henkens K. Older workers in transition, pp. 12-13.

Heyma A. (1996): Retirement and choice constraint:A dynamic programming approach, Research me-morandum 96.03 Faculty of Law – Department ofEconomics, Rijksuniversteit Leiden.

Horn J. L. (1989): Intelligence: Measurement, theoryand public policy, Urbana, University of Illinois, p.316.

Kolinsky R. (1996): ”De cognitieve beperkingenvan levenslang leren”, Beroepsopleiding, 8, 89-95.

Mc Dowd J. M. (1988): ”Effects on aging and taskdifficulty on divided attention performance”, Journalof Experimental Psychology: Human Perception andPerformance, 14, 267-280.

Peterson D. A. (1983): Facilitating Education forOlder Learners, San Francisco, Jossey-bass, 342.

Rasche W. (1994): Psychisch belastende functies;een probleem van ouderen? Arbeidsomstandighe-den, 70, nr. 12, p. 643.

Salthouse, T. A. (1984): ”Effects of age and skill intyping, Journal of Experimental Psychology :General, 1984, 113, 245-271, Salthouse.

Simoens, P., Denys J., Omey, E. (1995): ”De hou-ding van personeelsmanagers ten aanzien vanoudere werknemers in Vlaanderen”, Bevolking enGezin, 1995, pp. 89-106.

van den Berg J., Frietman J. (ITS), Hetebrij M.(INTERLIMITES), Joosse D., Krot B., Ykema-Weinen P. (AW-V) P. (1996): LoopbaangerichtPersoneelsbeleid, Een handreiking voor bedrijven,OVP/SIV Haarlem.

Van Gageldonk (1978): Rapport onderzoek ver-vroegde uittreding, Leiden: Rijksuniversiteit Leiden,Subfaculteit Psychologie, vakgroep Methoden entechnieken/DSWO.

Van Santvoort M. M. (1982): Nederlands onder-zoek naar de oudere werknemer en de pensione-ring: Een overzicht, Tijdschrift voor Gerontologieen Geriatrie, 13, pp. 186-192.

Winn B. (1994): ”Factors affecting light-adaptedpupil size in normal human subjects”, InvestigativeOphthalmology & Visual Science, 35, pp. 1132-1137.

References


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Introduction

Popular views about the negative impactof ageing on productivity and flexibilitysuggest ageing and flexibilisation are con-flicting tendencies. The article focuses onthe theoretical underpinnings of the rela-tionship between ageing and flexibili-sation. The aim is to clarify the associa-tion of the two trends and to bridge thetwo, seemingly, different worlds.

That flexibility and ageing are closely as-sociated follows from the definition offlexibility as proposed by Dahrendorf(OECD, 1986): “flexibility can be takento mean the ability of systems, organisa-tions and individuals to adapt successfullyto changed conditions by adopting newstructures or patterns of behaviour”. Butflexibility in the sense of the ability toadapt to changing conditions by adjust-ing behaviour is generally presumed todecline with age. Many authors forecastthe rise of the “flexible firm” (for exam-ple Kling, 1995), better equipped to re-spond to changing conditions. If that istrue, the presumed trade-off between age-ing and flexibilisation will worsen theposition of older workers. The “flexiblefirm” will primarily employ younger moreflexible and cheaper workers. In a simi-lar vein one presumes productivity risesand declines with age, providing a ration-ale for ageist hiring and firing policies.

Ageist manpower policies in firms are, inmany countries, supported by generousearly retirement policies justified by un-ions, employers and government. Theirgoals are to resolve redundancies, redis-tribute employment from old to young,adjust to contracting demand in periods

Moving ages and edgesA lifecycle perspectiveon ageing andflexibilisation1

Popular views about the nega-tive impact of ageing on pro-ductivity and flexibility sug-gest that they are perceived asconflicting trends. This articlefocuses on the theoretical un-derpinnings of the relation-ship between ageing and flexi-bilisation. It aims to clarify theassociation of these two trendsand examine them from alifecycle perspective. It showsthat the rather gloomy view ofthe impact of ageing on firms’performance and the economyin general has little empiricalevidence and rests on a tradi-tional view on the role of thelabour market and the welfarestate. In a flexible and demand-ing economy, a different re-sponse by welfare states andfirms to ageing is needed, re-sulting in a more balanced dis-tribution of work, educationand leisure over the lifecycle.The need is to encourage poli-cies of continuous career-longinvestment in human capitalthrough career-guidance, flex-ible work-practices and greaterinvestment in general and job-related education and trainingopportunities in firms.

1) An earlier version of the article waspresented at the congress ‘Ageing andflexibilisation. Conflicting tendencies?’at WORC, Work and OrganisationResearch Centre of Tilburg University,Tilburg, November 20, 1996.

of recession and substitute expensiveolder by cheaper younger labour (Johnson& Zimmermann, 1993). Ageing andflexibilisation are from an economic pointof view seen as conflicting tendencies. Inline with this, it is presumed ageing willjeopardise the modernisation of industry,increase unit labour costs (because ofexperience rating in most wage schemes)and reduce economic competitiveness.

These presumptions are examined in moredetail. How firms and welfare states canbest respond to the presumed ageing-welfare trade-off and some new routes forimproving the balance of costs and re-turns to ageing over the lifecycle are dis-cussed.

The lifecycle perspectiveon ageing

Demographers have drawn attention tothe consequences of ageing. In additionto changing fertility patterns there is along-term trend towards higher life ex-pectancy. The ageing population andworkforce may impose considerable costson firms to finance rising pension and,indirectly, health care costs (Johnson etal., 1992, 1993). It will also put a heavyburden on younger generations throughhigher taxes or premiums. Ageing will alsolead to increased pressure on firms’ wagebalances between older and youngerworkers. If firms react, as in the recentpast, by shortening working life and re-ducing training and education invest-ments, they will face rising direct wagesdue to a scarcity of young workers andindirect wage costs due to a rising taxburden.

Ruud J. A. MuffelsProfessor of labour market

and social security andsocio-economics of ageing.

Work and Organisation Re-search Centre, Tilburg Uni-

versity, The Netherlands,E-mail:

[email protected]


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If firms follow a different route they mightimprove the productivity-wage balance forolder workers, through increased invest-ment in training and education of olderworkers. Evidence suggests that flexiblework practices within firms goes hand inhand with increased investment in train-ing and education (OECD, 1999). The re-turns might be improved through ex-tended career and education patternswithin the firm and less use of early re-tirement.

The traditional and pessimistic view of theconsequences of ageing assumes, likepolitical economy theory, that the burdenof rising social expenditures for olderpeople will lead to lower economicgrowth rates, higher taxes, reduced liv-ing standards and declining social cohe-sion between older and younger genera-tions (Johnson & Falkingham, 1992).

However, there is a growing belief thatdemographic decisions at the micro-levelimpact on the economic behaviour andwell-being of economic agents (workers,households) over the lifecycle. This de-mographic approach is useful for exam-ining the lifecycle effects of ageing(Falkingham & Hills, 1995). This raises thequestion as to what lifecycle theory canteach us about the relationship betweenageing and flexibilisation.

Lifecycle theory is concerned with the al-location and distribution of economic re-sources over the lifecycle. It assumes eco-nomic decisions with regard to investmentin human capital, labour supply and sav-ings behaviour are taken in a lifetime ho-rizon. The decision rule is to choose theoption that guarantees the highest presentvalue discounted over the entire lifecycle.The age, or life stage, co-determine thesedecisions. People in earlier life stages be-have differently from those in later stagesof life with respect to labour supply, con-sumption and savings. Production and dis-tribution of resources over the lifecycleis also affected by life events which trig-ger decisions to move from one state intoanother. The sociological life-coursetheory argues in a similar vein, looking atthe impact of life events on transitionsfrom one state to another. The theory restson the principle of heterogeneity or dif-ferentiation, which means that age reflectsthe cumulative experiences of cohort

members over time placing them on dif-ferent life pathways (Marshall, 1995). Thetheory implies the notion of a homog-enous elderly population is fictitious.

The political economy of ageing (Esteset. al., 1982, Philipson, 1982) builds onthe sociological life-course theory and fo-cuses on the mass retirement of olderworkers in advanced industrialised econo-mies in the 1960s and 1970s. Retirementis seen as “socially constructed”, a delib-erate institutionalised practice to excludethe elderly and make them dependent onthe welfare state. They believe that thestate, in conjunction with ageist firm poli-cies and shortsighted trade unions, playeda major role in this process (Laczko &Phillippson, 1991). For that reason theprocess has been framed the “age dis-criminatory social process” designed toexclude older people en masse from theworkforce’ (Walker, 1990).

From age differentiation to age inte-gration

The life-course approach is interestingfrom a policy point of view. It questionsthe validity of the image of the threestages in life: too young to work, oldenough to work and too old to work(Krain, 1995). A basic characteristic ofchange in the labour market is the shorterworking life due to prolonged education,early retirement, or withdrawal from work.Lifecycle theory sees this as an anachro-nism. Structural changes in most westernstates involve not only changes in work-ing life, but also rising longevity and pro-longed periods of suffering from healthproblems in later life, rising average liv-ing standards, declining fertility rates,shifts in the gender ratio of labour forceparticipation, and dwindling family net-works. Life-course activities no longer fitin the conventional “three boxes of life”image. According to Krain this conven-tional image has to be abandoned in fa-vour of the concept of “ageing well”,which is coming to mean a continualblend of education, work and leisurethroughout the life course. It means adeparture from age differentiation to ageintegration (Riley et al., 1994) where edu-cation, work and leisure occur togetherand not sequentially. This blurs the bor-ders between work, education and leisure.Time spent in these three aspects of life

“The life-course approachis interesting from a policypoint of view. It questionsthe validity of the image ofthe three stages in life: tooyoung to work, old enoughto work and too old to work(…). This conventional im-age has to be abandoned infavour of the concept of“ageing well”, which is com-ing to mean a continualblend of education, workand leisure throughout thelife course. It means a de-parture from age differen-tiation to age integration(…) where education, workand leisure occur togetherand not sequentially.”


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will be more equally distributed over thecareer and lifecycle, and ideas of lifelonglearning are connected with lifelong work-ing and leisure spending.

Little is known about the impact of thelifecycle approach on the well-being ofpeople and the performance of firms andeconomic systems. But it puts a new per-spective on the design and content offirms’ and welfare states’ policies to en-courage better distribution of workingtime, caring obligations, and sabbaticalleave for continuous education duringworking life. More flexible retirement andwork practices (job rotation, worker in-volvement, team-based work organisationetc.) and investment in training and edu-cation, particularly for older workers,belong to a range of options in this per-spective.

Ageing, human capitaland productivity

Lifecycle theory draws attention to theeffect of belonging to an age cohort onthe development of economic status overthe lifecycle. In this respect it rests onhuman capital theory (Becker, 1964;Mincer, 1974, 1993). Human capital theorydeals with the supply of skills and invest-ment in human capital. Earnings rise overthe lifecycle due to increases in humancapital because of increased work expe-rience and skills acquired on-the-job orthrough education and training. Humancapital theory predicts that the trend ofageing will lead to higher labour costs.Older people leaving work through un-employment or disability will have lowre-employment probabilities.

The weak position of older people is dueto firm-specific skills, outdated or obso-lete human capital endowments, lack ofpay-off time for investments in humancapital of the older worker, and negativeimages about their potential productivity.With rapidly changing skill requirements,the human capital value of older workersdiminishes due to age-related decline oflearning abilities, and a perception thatageing reduces productivity. Reviewing 28studies on the topic, Doeringer (1990)concluded that the performance of olderworkers is not necessarily better or worse

than younger ones, but other factors, suchas motivation, self-reliance, recognition,experience and job demands may influ-ence performance with age. Research byindustrial and social psychologists (Warr,1994) also suggests that relationships be-tween age and productivity are complex.In almost all instances, differences in pro-ductivity appear larger within age groupsthan between them. Research in the Neth-erlands shows productivity increases withage up to certain thresholds which varyaccording to the extent and reach of “hu-man capital investments within the firm”(Gelderblom et al., 1992). Firms spend-ing more time and effort in offering learn-ing to older workers experience produc-tivity gains by driving up the age thresh-old at which productivity starts to decline.This corroborates a wide range of empiri-cal studies where a positive relationshipis found between training and earningsor productivity growth (Bartel, 1995, Blackand Lynch, 1996 and Boon, 1998).

A sharp decline in participation ratesof older worker

Labour participation patterns of men andwomen aged 55 years and over show asharp decline between the late 1970s andthe early 1990s. This trend varied consid-erably across countries. The fall was par-ticularly significant in Germany, Nether-lands, France and the UK, however, inSweden, the United States and Japan itwas moderate or even absent.

The explanation for falling participationrates among older workers can best begiven in terms of pull and push factorsthat determine exit from the workforce.Pull factors are the design of pension poli-cies and incentives for early exit throughgenerous benefit systems. High participa-tion rates of men between 55 and 65 yearsold in Sweden may be attributed to pen-sion policies permitting early and deferredretirement up to the age of 70. Other pullfactors are institutional constraints andregulations that forbid age-discriminatorypractices on the labour market such as inthe United States. Partly for that reason,participation rates of people above 65years are much higher in the United Statesthan Europe.

Push factors include increases in struc-tural unemployment, the rationalisation

“With rapidly changing skillrequirements, the humancapital value of older work-ers diminishes due to age-related decline of learningabilities, and a perceptionthat ageing reduces pro-ductivity. Reviewing 28studies on the topic,Doeringer (1990) conclu-ded that the performanceof older workers is not nec-essarily better or worsethan younger ones, butother factors, such as mo-tivation, self-reliance, rec-ognition, experience andjob demands may influenceperformance with age. (…)Differences in productivityappear larger within agegroups than between them.”


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processes in industrial societies and therising share of the flexible workforce.According to advocates of the structuralview, social policies cannot stop the emer-gence of a variety of employment exitroutes. The trend towards flexibilisationof retirement practices, working time,work practices and labour contracts isconsidered to be one of these.

During the 1980s and 1990s a new phasein employment exit routes was reached(Heuvel et al., 1992; Johnson et al., 1995).Changes in retirement systems since the1960s and 1970s show a threefold shift.First, from fixed to more flexible systems,second from full-time early retirement toflexible, partial (part-time) and phasedretirement systems, and finally from col-lective to individualised and strictly pri-vate systems (life-insurance schemes andprivate savings). The flexibilisation of theretirement process can be seen from therise in the 1980s and 1990s of severanceand redundancy pay schemes, flexibleretirement practices, and unemploymentand disability arrangements (Hayward etal., 1994; Kalisch and Aman, 1997). Forthe firm this provides a variety of employ-ment exit routes to adapt the workforcewithout much opposition from trade un-ions or government.

From a broader societal perspective thecentral role of mandatory retirementschemes was lost and replaced by a vari-ety of ways out of work. Consequentlythe transition from work into retirementbecame much more fluid. Pollan andLevine (1995) consider this to be the “fallof retirement” as conditions for conven-tional retirement disappeared. Accordingto Guillemard (1989), this developmentcan be seen as reflecting a process of de-standardisation or flexibilisation of thelife-course.

Flexibilisationof work patterns

The evolution of early employment exitroutes took place in the context of a trendtowards more flexible working conditions,times and contracts. The ideal firm is alean and adaptive organisation, wherechange is a key feature perceived as abasic requirement for survival and suc-

cess. Stability and inability to deal withchange are fundamental threats to the or-ganisation (Krain, 1995). But the questionarises as to how firms adapt to new de-mands for flexibility in response tochanges in market conditions, and theeconomic and technological environment.The need to create a more flexible or-ganisation has resulted in a variety of newforms of labour, changing drastically theconventional picture of work over thelifecycle in most western economies(Bosch, 1995).

It is clear that the ageing of the workforceand the trend towards more flexible workare interrelated. There is wide debateabout the impact of institutional con-straints and rigidities on the labour mar-ket on the rise of flexible labour. Theserigidities stem from legal practices, theoperation of markets and institutions andthe existence of formal and informal rulesconcerning “hiring and firing” or job pro-tection (Emerson, 1988; Droit et al., 1992;Betten, 1995; Danner, 1996; Hylton &O’Brien, 1996). Current trends in the riseof a variety of flexible work arrangementsand how these affect the labour marketposition of older workers are consideredbelow.

Ageing, job protection and wage rigid-ity

The argument is restrictive firing rulesinduce firms to use temporary and fixed-term contracts instead of creating perma-nent jobs to circumvent them. Conse-quently, the relative number of perma-nent jobs falls (Grubb & Wells, 1993). Themore temporary jobs, the less likely olderunemployed people, who because of theirhigh reservation wage (the minimumwage at which they accept a job offer)will get a job. The faster the process offlexibilisation of the labour market, theless likely that the growing numbers ofolder unemployed people will return tothe labour market. This will, ceterisparibus, lead to a growing share of olderunemployed people and an increase inlong-term unemployment, since the lengthof unemployment for older workers isrelatively high. The rise in long-term un-employment may be offset by an increasein employment in a period of economicupturn, or a fall in the supply of youngworkers. Although the extent to which the

“The flexibilisation of theretirement process can beseen from the rise in the1980s and 1990s of sever-ance and redundancy payschemes, flexible retire-ment practices, and unem-ployment and disability ar-rangements (…). For thefirm this provides a varietyof employment exit routesto adapt the workforcewithout much oppositionfrom trade unions or gov-ernment.”


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reduction in the supply of younger work-ers will be offset by increased supply offemale and immigrant labour is unclear,the general view is that a shortage sup-ply of young workers and excess demandfor older workers cannot be ruled outentirely because of restrictive migrationpolicies in a number of European coun-tries. Whether current rates of economicgrowth will maintain or increase thenumber of jobs for older workers dependson a number of things other than marketconditions. The possibility of “jobless”growth cannot be ruled out.

Ageing and the riseof flexible jobs

According to Emerson (1988) the debateabout the pros and cons of flexibilisationreflects a trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacificcontroversy about the content and designof employment policies. The United Stateshas, basically, an unregulated hiring andfiring system whereas Europe and Japanhave comprehensive and regulated labourlaw systems. Advocates of liberal employ-ment policies argue that the rigid andregulated European labour market systemhas a negative impact on the performanceof European employment policies.

The findings of a number of OECD stud-ies on dismissal protection regulationsshow, that southern European countrieslike Italy, Portugal, Spain, and Greecehave the highest levels of employmentprotection legislation for the late 1980sas well as for the late 1990s (see Table1). France, Germany, Sweden and Bel-gium have intermediate levels and theNetherlands, Denmark, Ireland and theUK the lowest levels of employment pro-tection legislation.

[Table 1 and 2 about here]The results show countries with a highlyregulated labour market, like Spain andItaly, have a relatively high proportion offlexible employment whereas countrieswith low labour-market regulation, likethe UK, Ireland and Denmark, have muchlower shares. It appears that the creationof flexible jobs is used to circumvent thestrong regulations with respect to perma-nent employment. Table 2 provides someevidence of the incidence of flexible la-bour by qualification level in some Euro-

pean countries. It shows that unskilledmanual jobs constitute the largest propor-tion of flexible labour (fixed-term con-tracts) broken down by qualification level(Delsen & Huijgen, 1994).

In Table 3, the number of flexible (tem-porary) jobs as a proportion of total em-ployment is given for the period 1983 to1994. In most countries the share of flex-ible employment increased although in adiverse pattern. In some European coun-tries the proportion of flexible work hasremained, by and large, stable such as inBelgium, Luxembourg and Germany. Inother countries such as in Spain, France,the Netherlands, the UK and Italy theshare of flexible employment increasedsignificantly2. The results for France andSpain are quite remarkable. In France theshare of flexible employment in totalemployment tripled and for Spain roughlydoubled. For the Netherlands, the shareof flexible labour grew from almost 6%to almost 11% in the same period.

An OECD report (1996) provides evidenceon the transition rate from unemploymentinto a permanent or temporary job, andfrom temporary to permanent jobs for theUK, Germany, France and Spain. It showsthat the percentage of unemployed mov-ing into a temporary job in a period ofone year varies strongly across the coun-tries. The highest share is generally foundamong the youngest age categories 15 to19 and 19 to 24 years. But even for peo-ple 25 years of age or older, it appearsthat in Spain 90% and in France 52%moved into a flexible job, compared toonly 23% in the UK and 37% in the Neth-erlands. The inflow from temporary jobto permanent jobs is rather low. After oneyear the transition rate is 25% to 30% inthe UK and France, but only 15% in Ger-many and 9% in Spain. After two yearsthe transition rate was less than 40% inthe UK and nearly 30% in Germany. Evenafter 4 years the transition rate was lessthan 40% in Germany. For the Netherlandsafter 3 years a somewhat higher transi-tion rate from flexible into permanent em-ployment of 50% was found (Muffels etal., 1999).

[Table 3 about here]With respect to ageing the rise of flexiblework is important since there appears tobe a trade-off between the size of thepermanent and flexible workforce. It was

“With respect to ageing therise of flexible work is im-portant since there ap-pears to be a trade-off be-tween the size of the per-manent and flexible work-force. (…) Countries with ahighly regulated labourmarket, in some instances,seem to have a larger shareof flexible jobs. (…) Wherethe share of flexible jobs inthe total number of newjobs is high (…) the em-ployment prospects forolder workers are unmis-takably worse. If in thesecountries ageist hiring andfiring policies exist, therise of flexible employmentwill reinforce the exit ofolder workers from the la-bour market.”

2) In two countries, Greece and Por-tugal, the lower share of temporaryemployment in 1994 compared to theearly 1980s must be attributed todefinitional changes in the early1990s.


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stated above that countries with a highlyregulated labour market, in some in-stances, seem to have a larger share offlexible jobs. The idea is that when coun-tries experience a period of economic up-turn, they first create temporary insteadof permanent jobs. In economic down-turns the reverse happens and flexibleworkers are the first to be laid off. Be-cause temporary jobs are often occupiedby women and young people, the labourmarket position of older workers is worsethe larger the share of flexible employ-ment. Where the share of flexible jobs inthe total number of new jobs is high suchas in France, Ireland or Spain, the em-

ployment prospects for older workers areunmistakably worse. If in these countriesageist hiring and firing policies exist, therise of flexible employment will reinforcethe exit of older workers from the labourmarket.

Flexible work practices

Another aspect of the flexibilisation ofwork is the need for more functional flex-ibility given the rise of various types offlexible work practices. In the Employ-ment Outlook (OECD, 1999) evidence isgiven on four types of flexible work prac-tices: flatter management structures,

Table 1

A ranking of the strictness of national employment protection legislation(EPL-indicators) in Europe and the United States (with decreasing strictness),mid 1980s – late 1990s

Rank Employer’s interviews Assessment of statistical data

IOEa EC company Lazear Bertola OECD OECD (1999)f

surveysb (1990)c (1990)d Jobs study(1994)e

1985 1989 1994 1956-84 1988 Late Late Late Late1980s 1980s (1) 1990s (1) 1990s (2)

1 IT IT BE IT IT IT PO PO PO2 ES NL ES ES BE PO IT GR GR3 BE ES DE/IR GR FR DE ES IT IT4 FR DE FR SW ES GR ES ES5 DE FR FR/GR DA DE GR SW FR FR6 NL BE PO UK BE DE DE DE7 PO/SW GR IT DE NL NL BE SW SW8 PO NL BE DK SW NL NL BE9 IR IR PO NL DK FR BE NL

10 DA UK UK SW IR DK DK DK11 UK UK UK IR IR IR12 IR UK UK UK13 United United United United United

States States States States States

Notes: BE=Belgium, DE=Germany, DK=Denmark, ES=Spain, FR=France, GR=Greece, IT=Italy, NL=The Netherlands, PO=Portugal, SW=Sweden, IR=Ireland,UK=UK, United States=United Statesa) Ranks based on the average of the IOE scorings of obstacles to dismissal and to the use of regular and fixed-term contract workers.b) Ranks based on the share of employers respondents claiming that hiring/firing restrictions are very important or important.c) Ranks based on combination of legal notice period and severance pay, as averaged for the period 1956 to 1984.d) Author’s compilation from the rankings in Emerson (1988).e) Ranks based on the average of overall rankings for regular and temporary work in the OECD (1994a)f) Ranks based on the overall average of summary indicators of the strictness of EPL (version 1 in panel 8 and 9 for regular and temporary employment and

version 2 in panel 10 also for collective dismissals)

Source: OECD, Employment Outlook 1999


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greater involvement of lower level em-ployees, installation of team-based workorganisation and job rotation3. In Table 4the cross-country raw probabilities ofhaving taken an initiative in these fourdomains in the last tree years prior to theinterview are given.

[Table 4]The OECD presents information on flex-ible work practices based on the EPOCsurvey in 10 European countries in 1996.There is a great deal of variation acrosscountries in the likelihood of them hav-ing taken either one of these four typesof initiatives. The UK, Denmark, and Swe-den belong to the group of countries thattook most initiatives. France, Spain andthe Netherlands belong to the intermedi-ate group and Italy, Ireland, Spain andPortugal to the group of countries leastlikely to have taken initiatives for flex-ible work practices. Southern Europeancountries are least likely to have takenflexible work initiatives and have, asshown earlier, the most regulated employ-ment protection systems. The countriesmost likely to have taken these kinds ofinitiatives like the UK and Denmark havethe lowest level of employment protec-tion regulation. But some countries likeIreland, France and Sweden do not fit wellin this pattern. The relationship betweenemployment protection legislation andfunctional or numerical flexibility, is ap-parently more complex and confoundedby other factors such as cultural differ-ences in, for example, workers’ attitudes

and differences in technology or manage-ment styles. The same conclusion is drawnby the OECD in looking at the relation-ship between flexible work practices andthe use of contingent workers (numericalflexibility). According to the OECD therecourse to flexible working practicestherefore does not necessarily imply agrowing polarisation between the ”core”and the ”peripheral” workers (OECD,1999). Although these results should betreated with caution given the limitationsof the dataset, a recent study in the Neth-erlands (Kleinknecht et al.,1997) came toa similar conclusion.

Though cross-country differences are hardto explain, the OECD found a positiverelationship between flexible work initia-tives, working time flexibility, the exist-ence of training and more performanceor skill related pay systems. What doesthis mean for the position of older work-ers? The association with working timeflexibility seems consistent with the ideathat, for example, working in self-man-aging or autonomous teams creates moreopportunities to depart from standardworking times. The positive relationshipbetween flexible work initiatives and theexistence of training and performancerelated pay systems might be explainedby the related increase in the required skilllevel of the worker. Evidence from coun-tries across Europe indicates that currentpractices in most firms are such that job-related training facilities are particularly

3) The EPOC survey has one majordrawback, which is that only infor-mation is available on the initiativesthat were taken in the last three yearsprior to the 1996 survey. The resultstherefore likely underestimate thepresence of these practices becausethe survey misses firms with a long-standing record in these areas.

“The positive relationshipbetween flexible work ini-tiatives and the existence oftraining and performancerelated pay systems mightbe explained by the relatedincrease in the requiredskill level of the worker.Evidence from countriesacross Europe indicatesthat current practices inmost firms are such thatjob-related training facili-ties are particularly ad-dressed to young workersin the early stages of theircareer. (…) The rise of flex-ible work practices impliesthat without a radicalchange in the current age-related training practicesthe position of older work-ers is weakened.”

Table 2

Distribution of fixed-term contracts by qualification, by country

Country Unskilled Skilled Clerical Clerical Proportion ofManual manual low high fixed-term

employmentBelgium 41.1 8.7 34.8 15.4 2.1Denmark 23.5 16.2 33.2 27.1 1.3Germany 42.0 17.0 23.1 17.9 2.5Ireland 38.5 15.6 14.6 31.2 2.0Italy 44.4 7.4 31.7 16.5 7.0The Netherlands 47.3 4.0 30.4 18.3 6.6Spain 42.5 21.3 16.3 19.8 12.5UK 18.4 16.1 25.0 40.5 0.9EUR8 41.4 13.0 26.2 19.4 2.9

Source: Delsen/Huijgen, 1994 (cited in Bosch, 1995)


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addressed to young workers in the earlystages of their career. It appears that es-pecially in southern countries such asSpain, Portugal and Greece, but also inFrance, Germany and the Netherlands job-related training is strongly age-deter-mined.

The rise of flexible work practices impliesthat without a radical change in the cur-rent age-related training practices the po-sition of older workers is weakened. Theincreasing need for flexible work organi-sation will endanger the position of olderworkers if current human resource man-agement policies do not change funda-mentally. For that reason the polarisationof the labour market will take place lessalong the lines of core and peripheralworkers, but increasingly along the linesof older and younger workers. But if firmsare willing to develop policies in whichjob-related training and career guidanceare age-neutral, the flexibilisation of workpractices could give an autonomous im-petus to devote more resources to train-ing older workers . An age-neutra lflexibilisation policy could then raise pro-ductivi ty gains associated with theflexibilisation of work practices. If cur-rent practices do not change, they willdrive up direct and indirect wage costsfor younger workers. This will lead to afall in investment by firms in training foryounger workers. Rising wage costs andfalling education investment will endan-ger the competitive strength of theeconomy, particularly in a knowledge-based, global society. A negative spiral isset in motion that is detrimental to thewage prospects of older and youngerworkers.

Lessons for the firmand the welfare state

What lessons can be drawn for policiesfor human resources in the firm and forthe welfare state? The conventional ap-proach provides no clear answer to thefundamental questions raised by ageingand flexibilisation. A different perspectivethat runs counter to the popular beliefsabout ageing is needed to find solutions.This new perspective may be found inlifecycle theory which confronts us witha more dynamic approach. Its main com-

ponents as discussed above can be sum-marised in three points:

(a) reforming retirement systems to makethem more flexible and sustainable;

(b) age-neutral training and educationprogrammes to raise investment by firmsin the human capital of older workers toraise their productivity. This means cre-ating opportunities for lifelong career-ori-ented learning, career guidance, and in-dividual support and training;

(c) redistributing work, education and lei-sure over the entire lifecycle by creatingopportunities for career breaks, sabbati-cal and care leave.

Redesigning the retirement system

Flexibilisation of the life-course shouldlead to institutional changes in the de-

“Reform of retirement sys-tems seems particularly rel-evant with respect to theflexibilisation of employ-ment exit routes. A changein retirement policies isneeded to keep occupa-tional pensions affordableand sustainable in the fu-ture.”

Table 3

Temporary employment in Europe, Canada,the United States and Japan

Country 1983 1994 Mean Difference1983-1994 1983-1994

Belgium 5.4 5.1 5.6 -0.3Denmark 12.5 12.0 11.4 -0.5France 3.3 11.0 7.8 +6.7Germanya 10.0 10.3 10.6 -0.3Greeceb 16.2 10.3 15.7 -5.9Ireland 6.1 9.4 8.2 +3.3Italy 6.6 7.3 5.8 +0.7Luxembourg 3.2 2.9 3.5 -0.3Netherlands 5.8 10.9 8.6 +5.1Portugalc 14.4 9.4 14.8 -5.0Spaind 15.6 33.7 28.2 +18.1UK 5.5 6.5 6.0 +1.0United Statese n.a. 2.2 n.a n.aCanadaf 7.5 8.8 n.a +1.3Japang 10.3 10.4 10.5 +0.1

Notes:a) 1984 and 1994. Data refer to West-Germany prior to 1992b) Due to definitional change in 1992, the data are not strictly comparable with 1983c) 1986 and 1994. Due to a definitional change in 1992 the data are not strictly comparable with 1986d) 1987 and 1994e) February 1995f) Figures for 1989 and 1994 for the age group 15 to 24g) The age group is 15 to 19

Source: OECD, Employment Outlook, 1996


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sign of retirement systems. Reform of re-tirement systems seems particularly rel-evant with respect to the flexibilisationof employment exit routes. A change inretirement policies is needed to keep oc-cupational pensions affordable and sus-tainable in the future. The defined ben-efit and final pay schemes in a number ofEuropean countries hamper labour mar-ket flexibility and hinder workers in ac-cepting less demanding and lower paidemployment in the later stages of work-ing life. The pension system thereforeconstitutes a major barrier to a more flex-ible organisation of work over workinglife (Muffels, 1993). Reforms in existingretirement systems are required to en-hance flexibility giving more room for apartial (part-time), phased or gradual re-treat from working life. At the same timethe range of options for retirement shouldbe enlarged with clearer financial incen-tives for deferring retirement. The changesshould guarantee the fine-tuning of theretirement practices to the potential andpreferences of employers and employeesin each sector.

Changes in human resources policies

Evidence from a number of studies showsthe unfavourable labour market position

of older workers on the internal as wellas the external labour market. On the in-ternal labour market the perceived mis-match between supply and demand of theskills of older workers means they are thefirst to be laid off when the firm reducesthe workforce. On the external labourmarket the job mobility of the olderworker is low and it is very unlikely theywill acquire a new job once laid off. Therising share of flexible jobs restricts thenumber of permanent jobs and reinforcesthe exit of the older workers from the la-bour market since flexible jobs are mostlyoccupied by young workers. These ob-servations result, on average, in highertenure and longer unemployment forolder workers. Due to the ageing processthe position of older workers becomesstrongly dependent on the supply ofyounger labour. If it diminishes, becauseof falling birth rates that are not compen-sated by rising immigration flows, the la-bour market position of older workers willimprove given that employment is ex-pected to remain stable.

The ageing of the workforce, all thingsbeing equal, may then provide a seriouscaveat for welfare state policies. As ex-plained above, these expectations resultfrom popular convictions about the po-

“Preventive age-orientedmanpower policies mayalso enhance the labourproductivity of older work-ers and prevent the ageing-productivity trade-off oc-curring at a relativelyyoung age. Investment inhuman capital througheducation and on-the-jobtraining throughout theirworking career extends theperiod during which pro-ductivity rises with age.”

Table 4

Flexible work organisation practices in 10 European countries. Raw proability ofhaving taken an initiative by country (rank between brackest), EPOC survey, 1996

Country Flattening of Greater Installation Job Aggregatedmanagement involvement of team- rotation rank

structures of lower level based work (average sumemployees organisation of ranking)

Denmark 44 (3) 10 (9) 43 (1) 24 (2) (3)France 20 (6) 40 (4) 26 (5) 6 (8) (4)Germany 31 (5) 18 (8) 18 (8) 7 (7) (7)Ireland 18 (7) 31 (6) 22 (7) 7 (7) (6)Italy 9 (8) 25 (7) 29 (4) 13 (5) (5)Netherlands 38 (4) 46 (3) 8 (9) 7 (7) (4)Portugal 3 (9) 10 (9) 22 (7) 11 (6) (8)Spain .. 35 (5) 40 (2) 17 (3) (2)Sweden 41 (2) 58 (1) 24 (6) 34 (1) (1)UK 48 (1) 51 (2) 39 (3) 16 (4) (1)(N=….) (4 244) (4 640) (4 640) (4 640)

Source: OECD, Employment Outlook 1999 and own calculations


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tential productivity of older workers. Theageing issue requires a drastic change infirms’ manpower policies. The best strat-egy for them is to invest in lifelong ca-reer-oriented manpower policies throughinvestment in education and on-the-jobtraining, personnel support and tailor-made guidance for employees through-out the working career.

Preventive age-oriented manpower poli-cies may also enhance the labour produc-tivity of older workers and prevent theageing-productivity trade-off occurring ata relatively young age. Investment in hu-man capital through education and on-the-job training throughout their workingcareer extends the period during whichproductivity rises with age.

Welfare state policies must provide incen-tives to firms, for example, by stimulat-ing investment in education and trainingfor workers throughout their working ca-reer. Welfare state policies must developpolicy tools for the redistribution of la-bour throughout working life, by support-ing and initiating arrangements for flexibi-lisation and individualisation of occupa-tional pension schemes. Policies shouldaim to provide incentives for deferringretirement and for creating partial orphased retirement opportunities like inSweden and the United States. Other toolsshould aim to improve opportunities formen and women to combine working andcaring duties. Such policies might includesupport for innovative flexible workingexperiments, legislation to create flexibleand part-time work opportunities, legis-lation for compulsory spending on train-ing older workers, and policies to improveaccess to and exchange of information oninnovative human resource managementpolicies.

Redistribution of education, work andleisure over the lifecycle

A further element is the change of wel-fare state policies from a static to a dy-namic, lifecycle approach. Within this per-spective welfare states should redistrib-ute economic resources over the lifecycle.This requires a thorough rethinking of thetools the welfare state has or can develop.One useful notion is the “generationalcontract” (Walker, 1996), which is “so-cially” defined and modified. This shift is

characterised as the departure from agedifferentiation to age integration whereeducation, work and leisure occur to-gether and not sequentially. In such a per-spective, policies aim to redistribute edu-cation, work and leisure over the lifecycle.Welfare state policies aim to create em-ployment opportunities for the underem-ployed, and education and leisure oppor-tunities for the overemployed. It alsomeans the creation of more opportuni-ties for parental or care and sabbaticalleave throughout life. A voucher systemis one of many ways by which thislifecycle perspective could be worked out.Education or leisure vouchers, giving peo-ple a right to spend time on education orleisure, can be earned through workingactivities. Work vouchers, giving a rightto work, can be earned through educa-tion and leisure activities. With respect toageing and flexibilisation this implies thattraining and education opportunities willbe more equally spread among genera-tions. However, little is known about be-havioural responses to voucher systemsand their economic effects.

Summarising conclusionsand research

Under prevailing conditions where popu-lar beliefs about ageing determine eco-nomic behaviour, the perceived negativeimpact of ageing on productivity, labourcosts and job mobility will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and endanger the in-ternational competitiveness and perform-ance of European economies. The domi-nant view is that ageing and flexibilisationare conflicting tendencies and hard toreconcile. This article has shown thisrather gloomy view of the impact of age-ing on the economy has little empiricalevidence and rests on a traditional viewon the role of labour market and welfarestate policies.

Summarising the findings it appears that,from a demographic view, the process ofageing will lead to increased pressure onthe wage balance between older andyounger workers. The outcome for indi-vidual firms largely depend on their re-action to the changed age compositionof the workforce. Either they react tradi-tionally by maintaining defensive ageistemployment policies, or in a more posi-

“Under prevailing condi-tions where popular beliefsabout ageing determineeconomic behaviour, theperceived negative impactof ageing on productivity,labour costs and job mobil-ity will become a self-fulfill-ing prophecy and endangerthe international competi-tiveness and performanceof European economies.”

“The outcome for indi-vidual firms largely dependon their reaction to thechanged age compositionof the workforce. Eitherthey react traditionally bymaintaining defensiveageist employment policies,or in a more positive wayby investment in the humancapital of the ageing work-force. (…) These measureswill improve productivityand compensate for the risein wage costs due to theageing of the workforce.”


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tive way by investment in the human capi-tal of the ageing workforce. The formerapproach leads to higher direct and indi-rect wage costs for younger workers andmore expensive employment exit routesfor older workers. Consequently, averageproductivity will decline relative to wages.The latter case implies a redesign andflexibilisation of work organisation prac-tices (workers involvement, team-work-ing and job rotation, flexible workingtimes and flexible, performance-related,pay systems) and flexibilisation of exitroutes (partial, flexible and phased retire-ment). These measures will improve pro-ductivity and compensate for the rise inwage costs due to the ageing of theworkforce.

From a lifecycle perspective, it is not onlyageing or the flexibilisation of workinglife that matter, but also rising longevity,declining fertility rates, shifts in the gen-der ratio of labour force participation,dwindling family networks and more gen-eral changes in attitudes and lifestyles ofworkers. The standard lifestyle has dis-appeared, replaced by a variety of life-styles which no longer fit the conventional“three boxes of life” image. The age dif-ferentiation model no longer conforms tocurrent lifestyle patterns and needs to bechanged into an age integration modelwhere education, work and leisure occurtogether. The borders between education,work and leisure become more blurredand time spent on these activities is moreequally spread over the career andlifecycle. A new perspective is neededtaking account of the variety in lifestyles.There might be a better distribution ofworking time, caring obligations and sab-batical leave for prolonged educationthroughout working life. The flexibili-sation of work practices fits well in thisnew perspective, while work organisationis better equipped to tune the variety ofpreferences for working, caring and lei-sure to the requirements of the flexiblefirm.

Apart from these structural changes in theenvironment of the firm, the operation ofthe firm also depends on the institutionalsetting and institutional constraints de-rived from legal practices, the operationof the market, and the existence of for-mal and informal rules. The evidenceabove suggests there are large cross-coun-

try differences in the existence and evo-lution of flexible labour and flexible work-ing practices. This points to the existenceof institutional factors that might explainthe great variation across countries. De-spite the great variation, many Europeanlabour markets, especially in the south,might be characterised as traditional, in-creasingly segmented and highly regu-lated. Evidence suggests that the polari-sation between core and peripheral work-ers may partly be attributed to a highlyregulated labour market at least in someEuropean economies. However, the arti-cle argues that European labour markets,because of their traditional and defensiveageist firms’ policies, are more threatenedby a generational polarisation than by thepolarisation between core and peripheralworkers. Given the process of an ageingworkforce and the need for flexibilisation,there is a danger that the polarisationbetween the generations will put a heavyburden on the European economies.

Therefore the article argues for age-neu-tral investments in training and educationto create opportunities for lifelong career-oriented learning, career guidance and in-dividual support. In conjunction with theurge for flexibilisation of working prac-tices this should pave the way for a bet-ter record of European labour markets.To be successful requires the support ofnational governments to create or sup-port arrangements aimed at redistributingeducation, work and leisure over thelifecycle. This could be pursued by newlegislation for combining work, educationand caring duties and for stimulating age-neutral training and education, fiscal poli-cies to support training initiatives andflexibilisation of work practices, and in-formation policies to broaden the scopefor new initiatives. A voucher system hasbeen proposed as an option to guaranteeevery worker has drawing rights on pro-longed education.

In conclusion, the article argues that in aflexible and rapidly changing economy amore fundamental response of firms andwelfare states to ageing is needed. Thecurrently perceived ageing-welfare trade-off might only be overcome through amore balanced distribution of work, edu-cation and leisure over the lifecycle in-volving a sort of “generational contract”.This “generational contract” will improve

“(…) European labour mar-kets, because of their tra-ditional and defensiveageist firms’ policies, aremore threatened by agenerational polarisationthan by the polarisationbetween core and periph-eral workers. Given theprocess of an ageing work-force and the need for flexi-bilisation, there is a dangerthat the polarisation be-tween the generations willput a heavy burden on theEuropean economies.Therefore the article ar-gues for age-neutral invest-ments in training and edu-cation to create opportuni-ties for lifelong career-ori-ented learning, career guid-ance and individual sup-port.”


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the balance of costs and returns to age-ing. In such a perspective ageing andflexibilisation constitute no caveats butchallenges to firms and welfare states ofthe 21st century.

Empirical research in which the issues offlexibilisation and ageing are linked iscurrently rather scarce. This area of re-search is worth exploiting given the chal-lenges posed by both trends for futurepolicies. Both concepts need to be inte-grated in the research design to investi-

gate the joint effects of ageing andflexibilisation conditioned by changes inthe economic and political context at na-tional and international level. It consti-tutes a major challenge for scientists be-cause little is known about the conse-quences of a flexible and ageing societyfor the individual firm, the individualworker and for society. Hopefully, politi-cians will be better equipped to deal withthe challenges of an ageing and flexiblesociety if sound research can prevent themfrom bad policy responses.

Bartel A. P. (1995): Training, Wage Growth and JobPerformance: Evidence from a Company Database,Journal of Labor Economics, No. 3, pp. 401-425.

Betten L. (1995): The employment contract in trans-forming labour relations. The Hague: Kluwer LawInternational.

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Black S., Lynch L. M. (1996): Human Capital In-vestments and Productivity, American Economic Re-view, May, pp. 263-267.

Bosch G. (1995): Flexibility and work organisation:follow up to White Article Growth, Competitiveness,Employment, Report of Expert Working Group. Lux-embourg: Office for Official Publications of theEuropean Communities.

Boon M. (1998): Employee Training in the DutchManufacturing: Determinants and Productivity Ef-fects, Statistics Netherlands, mimeo.

Danner D. A. (1996): The Flexible Workforce. In:Journal of Labor Research. vol. XVIII, no. 4.

Delsen L., Hijgen F. (1994): Analysis of part-timeand fixed-term employment in Europe using estab-lishment data, Dublin: European Foundation for theImprovement of Working and Living Conditions.

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RichardCurtainCurtain Consulting,Melbourne

Introduction

This article describes the likely featuresof the workplace of the future and someimplications for vocational training sys-tems. The results are based on an analy-sis of national surveys from the US andAustralia on the characteristics of bestpractice workplaces.

The use of survey data and case studiesto identify the characteristics of high per-formance workplaces is based on the as-sumption that workplaces doing well interms of the markets in which they oper-ate are more likely to survive into thefuture. It is pointless to try to predict thefuture. But it is possible – and fruitful –to identify major events that have alreadyhappened, irrevocably, and that will havepredictable effects in the next decade ortwo. It is possible, in other words, to iden-tify and prepare for the future that hasalready happened (Drucker, 1997). Thefocus of this article is on identifying anddescribing the characteristics of currenthigh performance workplaces as a wayof identifying the successful workplacesof the future.

In particular it presents original analysisfrom the Australian Workplace IndustrialRelation Survey (AWIS) carried out in 1995by the Federal Department of IndustrialRelations. The AWIS is a national surveyof 2001 workplaces of 20 or more em-ployees. This analysis is complementedby a summary of main findings of fourcase studies of Australian-based interna-tional enterprises.

The workplace of thefuture: implications forvocational training1

Key features of high per-formance workplacesin Australia and the US

Organisation and technologicalchange

A multivariate analysis of the AWIS wasconducted to identify the key featuresassociated with workplaces that are highperformers.2 High performance work-places were defined as those reportingsignificant improvements to labour pro-ductivity, expanding product demand, orrecent capital investment, in the two yearsprevious to the survey. The three groupstogether accounted for 27% of a l lworkplaces with 20 or more employees.

The analysis identified a number of char-acteristics associated with workplaces thatare performing well. It is useful to con-sider these in terms of the two levels atwhich workplaces function: the strategiespursued at the enterprise level and theways in which work is organised at theworkplace level.

The AWIS points to a strong associationbetween recent major organisationalchange and high performing workplaces.Workplaces that have undergone recentorganisational change in terms of restruc-turing and changes to work for non-mana-gerial employees are twice as likely to bea high performing workplace, all otherfactors held constant. In Australia, nearlyall high-performance workplaces (93%)underwent some form of organisationalchange in the previous two years to the

An analysis of Australianand US data seeks to iden-tify the likely characteris-tics of the workplace of thefuture and consider some ofthe implications for voca-tional training.This article describes thelikely features of the work-place of the future andsome implications for voca-tional training systems. Theresults are based on ananalysis of national surveysfrom the US and Australiaon the characteristics ofbest practice workplaces.The analysis identified anumber of characteristicsassociated with workplacesthat are performing well. Itis useful to consider thesein terms of the two levels atwhich workplaces function:the strategies pursued at theenterprise level and theways in which work is or-ganised at the workplacelevel.

1) This article is based on researchundertaken for a report prepared forthe State Government of Victoria bythe Allen Consulting Group on futureemployment change issues. The viewsexpressed in this article are entirelythose of the author and are not to betaken as those expressed in the re-port. Some of the data analysis re-ported here has also been publishedin “The workplace of the future:insights from future scenarios andtoday’s high performance work-places”, Australian Bulletin of Labour,November, 1998

2) The data analysis, based on thespecifications of the authors, was car-ried out by Frances Robertson of NILSwith the assistance of Mark Wooden.


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survey. This compares to 77% of non-highperformance workplaces. A related fac-tor associated with high performanceworkplaces is recent technologicalchange. This variable was constituted bycombining posit ive responses fromworkplaces in relation to the purchase inthe last two years of major new plant oroffice equipment.

Flexible working arrangements

High performance workplaces were alsoassociated with flexible working arrange-ments. They were more likely to haveincreased their operating hours in the 12months prior to the survey (26 percent ofhigh performance workplaces comparedwith 16% of non-high performanceworkplaces). High performance work-places are more likely to have shift work-ers or workers on call (70%) comparedwith non-high performance workplaces(60%). They were also more likely to beassociated with the existence of semi-autonomous work teams.

Emphasis on corporate ethos and in-vestment in human resources

The analysis of the AWIS also shows anassociation between high performanceworkplaces and a strong emphasis oncorporate ethos/culture and the manage-ment of human resources. High perform-ance workplaces are more likely to agreestrongly (38%) that ”the organisation de-votes time to developing a corporate ethicand culture” compared with non-highperformance workplaces (29%). Similarly,they are more likely to agree strongly(33%) with the statement that ”this organi-sation currently devotes considerable re-sources to the management of human re-sources” compared with non-high per-formance workplaces (24%).

Good employee management rela-tions

Related to the above findings, there isevidence of a strong association betweenhaving good employee management re-lations and being a high performanceworkplace. Manager respondents wereasked in two different questions to rateemployee management relations on a five-point scale from very good to very poor(with a 60% overlap for the same respond-

ents). High performance workplaces aremore likely to rate their employee man-agement relations very good (50%) com-pared with non-high performance work-places (41%).

Use of key performance indicators

High performance workplaces are morelikely to use key performance indicators(60%) compared with non-high perform-ance workplaces (53%). They are morelikely to benchmark customer service sat-isfaction (80%) compared with non-highperformance workplaces (72%) and tomeasure labour productivity regularly atthe level of a department or section (54%)compared to non-high performanceworkplaces (48%). High performanceworkplaces are also more likely to havekey performance indicators designed byemployees at the workplace (46%) com-pared with non-high performance work-places (36%).

Research on the characteristics of highperformance workplaces in Australia of-fers insights into future trends by extrapo-lating from emerging structures and proc-esses. However, this method of predict-ing future workplaces has several limita-tions.

The AWIS data are from 1994-1995 andso may not capture the information onvery recent enterprises. The employmentsize of the workplaces sampled in theAWIS (20 or more employees) may alsoexclude new enterprises in the earlystages of growth. In addition, the fixedresponse questionnaires may offer only apartial indication of the changes takingplace.

A focus on existing successful enterprisesmay also only highlight those enterprisesthat are doing well in today’s markets butmay not be successful in different marketconditions in the future. Many “visionary”companies that are highly successful havestrong corporate cultures that emphasiseadherence to company goals and cohe-siveness within the group. While suchcorporate cultures can improve effort,morale, and productivity, they also tendto thwart innovation by limiting not onlythe expression of “original” ideas, buteven their further development (Nemeth1997). Emerging, more decentralised en-

“Many ‘visionary’ compa-nies that are highly suc-cessful have strong corpo-rate cultures that empha-sise adherence to companygoals and cohesivenesswithin the group. Whilesuch corporate culturescan improve effort, morale,and productivity, they alsotend to thwart innovationby limiting not only the ex-pression of ‘original’ ideas,but even their further devel-opment (…).”


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terprises, not yet defined as successful orhigh performing, may be more tolerantof internal dissent. These enterprises maybe better able to stimulate internal deci-sion making, generate innovation andhence be more likely to thrive in the fu-ture (Nemeth op.cit.).

Research in the US

Relatively little information is availablefrom large scale representative survey dataon the characteristics of high performanceworkplaces in the US (Gephart 1995,Smith 1997, Lester 1998), but there aresome similar results from the data avail-able. Black and Lynch (1997) use datafrom a nationally representative sampleof more than 1,500 US manufacturingworkplaces conducted in 1994 by the USCensus Bureau. Their results show thatworkplaces with higher labour produc-tivity are more likely to have an R & Dfacility in their enterprise. Similarly,workplaces with non-managerial employ-ees who use computers and who receivedtraining are strongly associated withhigher labour productivity. Manufacturingplants with profit-sharing plans for non-managerial employees have 7% higherlabour productivity than their competitors.Comparison of performance with otherworkplaces through benchmarking is alsoa feature of the workplaces with higherlabour productivity.

Lynch and Black’s analysis also shows thathigher workplace productivity is only as-sociated with new forms of work organi-sation if they are accompanied by in-creased employee participation. Their re-sults show that unionised plants with tra-ditional manager-worker relations haveextremely low productivity. Unionisedplants that have adopted new workplacepractices such as incentive-based pay sys-tems and employee participation are notonly more productive than their old-fash-ioned unionised peers, but also outper-form non-union plants that have adoptedsimilar new workplace practices. Produc-tivity in unionised workplaces that haveintroduced formal quality programs andforums for regularly discussing issues is20%. However, the adoption of the samehigh performance techniques in non-union workplaces only yields a 10% im-provement in productivity over the base-line (Wallich 1998).

US evidence also shows that new formsof work organisation are associated withhigher productivity performance but onlyif part of an integrated strategy. A studyof 51 steel plants in the US examined theeffects of different human resource prac-tices on productivity (Ichniowski, Shawand Prennushi 1995). The results showthat individual initiatives such as workteams, quality circles and incentive payschemes do not have much impact onperformance. However, when several ofthese measures are present, the overalleffect on productivity is more significant.Thus the impact on performance is greaterthan the sum of its parts where individualwork practices are mutually reinforcingor integrated with each other (Lester1998).

A study of 62 automotive plants aroundthe world showed “bundles” of high per-formance human resource practices areassociated with higher assembly plant pro-ductivity (fewer assembly hours per ve-hicle produced) and improved quality(MacDuffie 1995). The study also showsthat the benefit of these human resourcepolicies is greatest when they are inte-grated, with a flexible, lean productionsystem (MacDuffie 1995).

The above research based on cross-indus-try surveys and industry-specific studiesin the US suggest several broad conclu-sions about the characteristics of highperformance workplaces (Lester 1998).These generalisations can be summarisedas follows:

❏ no single set of work practices can beidentified as likely to produce high per-formance outcomes;

❏ any single work change initiative islikely to have little impact on productiv-ity if implemented in isolation;

❏ combinations of internally consistentchanges to work appear to act synergisti-cally, producing effects on productivitythat are larger than the sum of the indi-vidual work change initiatives;

❏ an internally consistent set of workpractice changes is most likely to be ef-fective when they are linked to an enter-prise’s competitive strategy and culture.However, relatively few workplaces in the


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US are fully committed to major workplacechange and improvement.

Based on an extrapolation of the abovefindings, it is possible to develop an ideaof successful workplaces of the future. Or-ganisational structures are likely to besmaller than at present and to operate in ahighly autonomous way. They are likelyto undergo constant technological and or-ganisational change. This change is likelyto be more productive if it closely involvesthe workforce through various mechanismsto foster participation, including support-ive unions. The impetus for change is likelyto focus on building a strong sense of co-hesion based on agreed goals in theworkplace. The careful management of hu-man resources is also likely to be a promi-nent feature of the successful workplaceof the future. Workforce flexibility in termsof both working hours and relations withfellow workers are also likely to be im-portant. Performance measurement par-ticularly in relation to non-financial meas-ures such as customer satisfaction is likelyto be a major driver of change.

High performance as aresponse to globalisation

Moving from the survey evidence, thissection looks at what high-performancetranslates into in practice, again with a

view to identifying, on the basis of prac-t ical evidence, the features of theworkplace of the future.

The following discussion uses informa-tion from four case studies of high per-formance Australian companies and theirresponse to the global economy. The en-terprises studied were an Australianowned international bank, and three USowned international companies in petro-leum, car manufacturing, and computerdesign, manufacturing and sales. Globali-sation has several consequences for or-ganisational structures and ways of work-ing (see table).

Emerging global structures

Global operation for the enterprises stud-ied involves transforming production, dis-tribution and human resource systems, forexample, to be able to operate from acommon platform. New positions are usu-ally established, such as global productmanagers, and new business units suchas a global marketing group. This can in-volve rationalising product offerings andstreamlining processes from sales and cus-tomer relationship management to rev-enue collection.

The move to global operation requiresworking out how to leverage commonbest practice processes across regionalboundaries while still maintaining somedegree of local flavour. A new balancingact may be required to operate commonprocesses globally while managing re-gional markets locally.

The transition to a global company alsorequires a major effort to transform em-ployees to perform in the new ways. Thiseffort includes both extensive communi-cations to ensure that people understandwhy and how they must change and train-ing to equip employees with the know-ledge and skills needed to operate at thenew level. Employees in global businessunits need to understand in a compre-hensive way the businesses in which theywork. They are required to operate in vir-tual teams with loose managerial over-sight. They need to be responsible fortheir own training and development. Com-munications, reward and recognition, andmeasurement systems need to be re-aligned to support global operations.

Key features of high performance enterprisesin response to globalisation

Under strong competitive pressure to find the most effective strategy to reducecosts and maximise future position.

Adoption of world best practices is not merely desirable but a necessity for sur-vival.

New emphasis on need to leverage codified knowledge as a competitive tool.

Growing emphasis on changing tacit knowledge of workforce into codified know-ledge through use of quality systems.

Strong need for both workforce functional and numerical flexibility.

Move from maintaining harmonious industrial relations to the adoption of a HumanInvestment Strategy.


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Finding the optimal organisationalstrategy

The case studies showed clearly that glo-bally managed enterprises are under con-stant pressure to test which organisationalform best suits their strategic goals. Theseinclude whether to change from a func-tional and area-based structure into a glo-bal company; ”make or buy” (to retainin-house or to outsource); undertake ac-quisitions to enhance or add to the enter-prise’s core competences; set up franchiseoperations; form strategic alliances withother enterprises, or even to merge.

Importance of adopting world bestpractice

Exchanges of information about best prac-tice took place in each of the enterprisesstudied. In the case of the oil company,the low cost of transferring informationmade it possible for a number of networkgroups to exchange information abouttheir operations. Networking groups ex-isted for refinery operations, refinerymaintenance, refinery optimisation, refin-ery logistics, service station constructionand retail marketing. It is recognised thatfunctional expertise is ultimately to befound in the global company. It is ex-pected that, in the future, operationaladvice from a global network would, forinstance, be directly available to a plantoperator in a control room.

Leveraging knowledge as a competi-tive tool

There is a growing recognition within theenterprises studied of the value of intan-gible assets such as customer and sup-plier relationships, technical support,R&D, management philosophy, distinctivecompetences of the enterprise, and oper-ating systems. Leveraging knowledge asa competitive tool is emerging as an im-portant strategy in several enterprises.

The key intangible assets of the compu-ter company were its quality of manage-ment, products and services, innovative-ness, long-term investment value, finan-cial soundness, and ability to attract andkeep talented people. It has been esti-mated that up to 60% of the computercompany’s market value was due to theseintangible assets.

Importance of quality systems and di-versity programmes

The bank, through its organisationalchange programme, used quality awardscriteria to review work processes system-atically across the organisation. These in-clude all day-to-day activities, strategiesand improvement initiatives. The empha-sis was on ”the continual improvementof all areas of the business – constantlychallenging what is done and the way itis done.” This process was backed by aninterlocking team structure to provide asystem for coaching, communicating andlinking decision-making throughout theorganisation.

The car company, internationally, had itsown quality programme, aimed at turn-ing it into a globally managed companyfocused on quality.

The computer company and the oil com-pany had programmes aimed at maximis-ing the potential of all employees to con-tribute to business success. The goals ofthe oil company programme were to havea workforce fully aligned to the compa-ny’s business outcomes feeling able to con-tribute fully towards the oil company be-coming number one, a workforce that rec-ognised and valued a variety of work stylesand approaches and was continually ableto develop skills and competences.

Importance of workforce flexibility

Workforce flexibility, both functional andnumerical, is a major theme for all theenterprises studied. The computer com-pany required a high degree of flexibilityin terms of employment arrangements for30% of its workforce. It also expected flex-ible working arrangements throughtelecommuting by working from clients’premises. Some 40% of all computer com-pany employees in Australia have laptops.Weekend work was also expected. Func-tional flexibility was also highly soughtafter not only technical skills, but alsostrong communication and team workcompetences.

Adoption of a human investment strat-egy

The four enterprises studied shifted froma narrow industrial relations focus to a

“There is a growing recog-nition within the enter-prises studied of the valueof intangible assets such ascustomer and supplier re-lationships, technical sup-port, R&D, managementphilosophy, distinctivecompetences of the enter-prise, and operating sys-tems. Leveraging know-ledge as a competitive toolis emerging as an impor-tant strategy in several en-terprises.”


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more comprehensive range of human re-source policies. In some cases, this pro-gressed to the adoption of a human re-source investment strategy as a core ele-ment in the corporate strategy. This in-volved a shift in workforce attitudes froman ”entitlements” culture to a greater ac-ceptance of responsibi l i t ies. Thesechanges also involved a shift away fromnarrow task-oriented jobs to work that ismore comprehensive and judged on thebasis of outcomes.

Enterprises with a highly unionisedworkforce changed the conduct of indus-trial relations. This involved changingfrom working through external partiesand its narrow focus on wages and con-ditions, to an enterprise focus with pro-ductivity and performance benchmarksof prime concern. Most initiatives havebeen implemented to foster greater di-versity in the workforce, such as morefamily friendly policies and languagetraining.

This new enterprise focus emphasised thedevelopment of teams and empoweringindividual team workers. The aim is ahuman investment strategy for the wholeworkforce. This entailed encouragingteams to manage their areas like a smallbusiness, solving problems, making deci-sions and being accountable for out-comes. In the car company studied, some1,300 employees were given the oppor-tunity to acquire a better understandingof business principles by undertaking”business acumen and business leader-ship” training.

In addition, in the car company consider-able energy had been devoted to devel-oping a broadly based and robust careerdevelopment programme for the white-collar workforce. Many in the manufac-turing workforce attended accreditedtraining partly in their own time. It isplanned to extend current practices forthe white-collar workforce to the manu-facturing workforce. This applies to per-formance appraisal and the undertakingof training and development activities.Managers and supervisors will increas-ingly be required to take responsibilityfor their own training and development.

In the oil company’s refinery, manage-ment layers were reduced from 6 to 3;

greater accountability for outcomespassed to team leaders and teams. Teamleaders are expected to have high qualitycommunication and interpersonal skillsand all employees are encouraged to be”self-energised”.

The computer company adopted a com-prehensive human investment strategy.This may reflect the high proportion oftertiary graduates employed by the com-pany and its tradition of valuing its en-gineering expertise. They placed a strongemphasis on career self-reliance. It se-lected and managed businesses with agoal of providing long-term employmentand opportunities for personal growthand development. In return, people wereexpected to take initiative by managingtheir careers proactively, learning newskills and applying them to meet criticalbusiness needs. This included meetingand exceeding certain standards on thejob, while adjusting to changes in assign-ments, schedules and the work environ-ment.

Overview of high perform-ance enterprises

The evidence from the surveys, reportedabove, offers, in a somewhat disconnectedway, some pointers to the characteristicsof high performance workplaces in theUS and Australia. These pointers can beused to extrapolate current trends for thefuture. They suggest organisational struc-tures are likely to operate in a more au-tonomous way than past practice. Success-ful workplaces of the future will seek tocombine efforts to develop new productsand services with innovative work organi-sation. The result is likely to be work-places undergoing constant technologicaland organisational change.

US evidence suggests that this change islikely to be more productive if it closelyinvolves the workforce through variousmechanisms to foster participation, includ-ing supportive unions. Development of astrong corporate culture based on agreedgoals will be another common feature.

The focus on individual employees asvehicles for investment to foster intellec-tual capital will be a prominent feature

“The four enterprises stud-ied shifted from a narrowindustrial relations focusto a more comprehensiverange of human resourcepolicies. In some cases, thisprogressed to the adoptionof a human resource invest-ment strategy as a core ele-ment in the corporate strat-egy. This involved a shift inworkforce attitudes froman ”entitlements” culture toa greater acceptance of re-sponsibilities. Thesechanges also involved ashift away from narrowtask-oriented jobs to workthat is more comprehensiveand judged on the basis ofoutcomes.”


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of the future successful workplace. Thisis not to suggest that the workplace willbe all sweetness and light. Workforce flex-ibility will be an important feature. Thiswill require working at times that bestmeet the needs of customers. A high de-gree of inter-personal flexibility is likelyto be also necessary. This may involveworking in teams responsible for settingtheir own performance targets. Non-financial key performance indicators, par-ticularly in relation to customer satisfac-tion, are likely to play a major role inshaping the day-to-day work focus.

The case studies offer a more compre-hensive, holistic picture of what high per-formance looks like in practice. The evi-dence presented above of recent changesin response to the growth of the globalknowledge economy highlights a numberof likely key features of the workplace ofthe future. The most significant factor in-fluencing the direction and structure ofthe large enterprises is the new structuresbeing put in place to assist the move toglobally based operations.

Associated with the exposure to globalcompetition is the search by enterprisesto find the best fit between organisationalstructure and the demands of the marketin which the business unit is operating.Adoption of best practice in these circum-stances becomes a necessity, not just arhetorical expression of intention. Diverseorganisational structures are likely toemerge to respond to a rapidly changingand diversified set of market conditions.However, a common feature of these newstructures is likely to be much greateroperating autonomy than has been pastpractice.

A key way in which enterprises, both largeand small, are responding to operating ina global marketplace is to leverage know-ledge as a competitive tool. The effect ofoperat ing in the global knowledgeeconomy on the working lives of an en-terprise’s employees is significant. A highdegree of workforce flexibility is ex-pected. However, this has to be under-stood in the context of the primacy givenby enterprises in this new operating en-vironment to fostering their intellectualcapital through a human investment strat-egy that encourages employees to man-age their own career.

Implications for voca-tional training systems

Changes in the organisation of work arehaving a dramatic effect on vocationaleducation in industrialised countries. Thenew knowledge-intensive economy poseschallenges for systems previously seen ashighly successful. Employment is becom-ing increasingly fluid, with occupationalboundaries changing or dissolving. Or-ganisations are seeking to promote learn-ing and at the same time reduce the costof training through ”on-line learning”(Stern 1998).

In many ways, the new knowledgeeconomy is built on a shift in organisa-tions away from top-down hierarchicalstructures to flatter structures such as net-works and autonomous teams. Top-downhierarchies are particularly suited to pro-ducing or providing standardised goodsand services. Knowledge production re-quires looser forms of organisation thatgive greater recognition to personal au-tonomy and self-direction of the mind(Stiglitz 1998). Knowledge is best acquiredthrough the active involvement of thelearner and not through passive rotememorisation. Within enterprises, there isa strong emphasis on independence andteamwork, away from working conditionsbased on independence and autonomy.Cross-functional communication and co-ordination is increasingly seen as a cru-cial requirement of people working inever more specialised work teams.

Central command structures give way tosemi-autonomous teams horizontally co-ordinating according to centrally givenrules. Work organised according to the ex-ternally determined “one best way” is re-placed by participative experimentationleading to continuous improvement.Within the firm, the transfer of localisedtacit knowledge takes place mainlythrough horizontal apprentice-like rela-tions, not vertical training from managersto workers (Stiglitz, 1999).

The trend has profound implications forvocational training systems. Decentraliseddecision-making, involving, in particular,employers and employees as the end us-ers of the training are likely to be a majorfeature of training systems in the future.


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Two types of flexibility are likely to berequired of the vocational training sys-tem of the future (Sweet and Curtain,1999). One can be termed context flex-ibility and the other temporal flexibility.

Learning is best acquired when ”situated”or carried out in context. Context flex-ibility refers to the need for training pro-viders to arrange for learning to take placein a range of contexts. The importance ofthe strategic use of knowledge to theworkplace of the future means that greaterefforts will be made to capture the tacitknowledge in people’s heads. Some of thiswill to be transferred to procedures suchas a quality system. In other cases, it willbe tapped through intensive teamwork.The central importance of tacit knowledgewill mean that most learning will takeplace less from first principles in a de-ductive fashion in a classroom. Theworkplace itself, particularly where it isknowledge intensive work, will providethe best setting for learning.

Work-based learning offers a range ofbenefits to educationalists and enterprises.Three sets of benefits of close teacher-employer links can be identified. First, em-ployers can demonstrate to students theskills needed in the workplace and hencereinforce in students the value of a rel-evant education. Second, students arelikely to exert more effort once they re-turn to the classroom because they havea better appreciation of how classroomperformance is relevant to their futurecareers. And third, teaching staff accrueadditional authority based on their closeassociation with employers. However, re-alisation of these benefits depends onemployers playing an active role in thespecification of relevant competences tobe acquired during a work placement andin their assessment.

Unsatisfactory learning conditions in theworkplace may be due to an absence ofappropriately trained mentors. It may alsobe due to bad work practices, such asscapegoating or victimising of appren-

tices. For a work placement to be a ben-eficial experience for the student, it needsto be carefully planned and monitored bypeople who understand both the worksetting and what is to be learned there.Work placement co-ordinators may needa close rapport with employers to encour-age employers to devote the resourcesneeded to mentor s tudents in theworkplace. Co-ordinators, therefore, mayneed to be sourced directly from indus-try and be located in bodies with highcredibility with employers such as anemployer association.

The second major form of flexibility thatwill be important to vocational trainingin the future is temporal. This refers tothe flexibility in times, venue and for-mat that will be needed to meet the re-quirements of an increasingly diversegroup of users. Many young people inparticular are now likely to constructtheir own pathway by negotiating a se-ries of steps that includes work and fur-ther education. However, the choices ofyoung people are not likely to be in alinear sequence. Modes and times ofdelivery will need to accommodate a cli-entele that will increasingly want to ex-ercise their full range of options, particu-larly in relation to different combinationsof work and study.

Vocational training providers will need tomove from a course-based model with itsset hours of training delivery to one morefirmly focused on the needs of the indi-vidual. The issue is how best to matchindividual choices to education structuresto make a greater range of career choicesand aspirations possible.

Vocational training providers will need toencourage more individual ised ap-proaches to learning. This will involvegreater use of recognition of prior learn-ing to give credit for informal learning.The use of individual learning plans isone mechanism to facilitate individualnegotiation of their own learning path-ways.

“Two types of flexibility arelikely to be required of thevocational training systemof the future (…). One canbe termed context flexibil-ity and the other temporalflexibility.”

“Context flexibility refers tothe need for training pro-viders to arrange for learn-ing to take place in a rangeof contexts.”

Temporal [flexibility] “(…)refers to the flexibility intimes, venue and formatthat will be needed to meetthe requirements of an in-creasingly diverse group ofusers.”


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ABS (1998a): Retrenchment and Redundancy, Aus-tralia, July 1997. ABS Catalogue No. 6266.0.

ABS (1998b): Part-time, Casual and TemporaryEmployment, New South Wales, October 1997. ABSCatalogue No. 6247.1.

ABS (1998c): Labour Mobility, Australia, February1998. ABS Catalogue No.6209.0.

Adler P. (1997): ”Work Organisation: from Taylorismto Teamwork”, Perspectives on Work, Industrial Re-lations Research Association, Madison, Wisconsin.

Adler P., Borys B. (1996): ”Two types of bureauc-racy: enabling and coercive”, Administrative Sci-ence Quarterly, 41: 61-89.

Australian Manufacturing Council (1994): Lead-ing the Way: A Study of Best Manufacturing Prac-tices in Australia and New Zealand. AustralianManufacturing Council, Melbourne.

Bassi L., Cheney S., Van Buren M. (1997): Train-ing Industry Trends 1997.American Society forTraining and Development, Alexandria, Virginia.

Black S., Lynch L. (1997): ”How to compete: theimpact of workplace practices and information onproductivity”, NBER Working Paper No 6120, Na-tional Bureau of Economic Research, Boston.

Curtain R. (1987): “Skill Formation and the Enter-prise”, Labour & Industry (1)1:8-38.

Curtain R. (1996): Meeting the Training Needs ofFlexible Workers. Canberra Institute of Technology,Canberra.

DeFillippi R., Arthur M. (1998): ”Paradox inProject-Based Enterprise: The Case of Film Mak-ing”, California Management Review, Volume 39,No 2 (Winter).

Drucker P. (1997): ”The Future That Has HappenedAlready” Harvard Business Review. Sept.-Oct.).

Gephart M. (1995): The Road to High Performance.American Society for Training and Development,Alexandria, Virginia.

Ichniowski C., Shaw K., Prennushi G. (1995): TheEffects of Human Resource Management Practiceson Productivity, NBER Working Paper No. 5333. Na-tional Bureau of Economic Research, Boston.

Lester R. (1998): The Productive Edge: How US In-dustries are Pointing the Way to a New Era of Eco-

nomic Growth. W. W. Norton & Company, NewYork.

Lorenz E. (1992): ”Trust and the Flexible Firm: In-ternational Comparisons”, Industrial Relations,Vol. 31, No 3: 455- 472.

MacDuffie J. P. (1995): ”Human Resource Bundlesand Manufacturing Performance OrganizationalLogic and Flexible Production Systems in World AutoIndustry”, Industrial and Labor Relations Review,48, No 2 (January).

Magretta J. (1998): ”The Power of Virtual Integra-tion: An Interview with Dell Computer’s MichaelDell”, Harvard Business Review, (March-April)pp. 73-84.

Morehead A., Steele M., Alexander M., Duffin L.(1997): Changes at Work: The 1995 AustralianWorkplace Industrial Relations Survey. Longman,Melbourne.

Nemeth C. (1997): ”Managing Innovation: WhenLess Is More”, California Management Review, Vol-ume 38, No 1 (Fall).

Quinn J. B. (1997): “The intelligent organisation”,Seminar at Skandia Future Center June 24th,Skandia Insurance Company Ltd website.

Smith V. (1997): ”New forms of work organisation”,Annual Review of Sociology, 23: 315-39.

Stern D. (1998): “Developing Employability in aLearning Economy”, National Center for VocationalEducation Research, University of California,Berkeley. Paper presented at the National IssuesForum, Research Centre for Vocational Education,University of Technology, Sydney.

Sweet R., Curtain R. (1999): “Young People andWork: Is Vocational Education and Training the An-swer?” A National Issues Forum Report. ResearchCentre for Vocational Education and Training, Uni-versity of Technology, Sydney, March 1999.

Stiglitz J. (1999): “Public Policy For A KnowledgeEconomy”, Paper presented at the UK Departmentof Trade and Industry, London, January 27.

Wallich P. (1998): ”Look for the Union label: newanalysis of economic data shows that unionisationcould maximise productivity”, Scientific American,Scientific American Web site.

References


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Introduction

The need for a close integration of theo-retical knowledge with practical experi-ence in work activities is fully recognisedamong experts and practitioners in thefield of training. Considering learning asthe acquisition of practical and theoreti-cal knowledge is part of the genetic in-heritance of training. It originates fromapprenticeship in which, by definition, thetwo aspects develop together in an in-separable relationship. And yet the para-digm that the most widespread trainingpractices are based on does not fully sat-isfy this need of integration betweentheory and practice, for a number of rea-sons.

The social and institutional requirementsof training have overtaken the functionsmore closely related to production needs.Nowadays, it is equally – if not more im-portant – to ensure that competences ac-quired through training are legally validon the labour market than to actually cre-ate them in response to the needs theyare expected to fulfil. The basic purposeof much of the training currently providedin Western societies, and especially inEurope, is to certify precisely and in asocially recognised manner the possessionof certain skills, in the sense of levels ofqualification. This qualification must beachieved by means of formalised trainingpaths, in which the relationship with workpractice may indeed play a large role butis nonetheless secondary to achieving ob-jectives established by law and/or withthe mediation of parties representing gen-eral interests (for example the social part-ners). These training paths are basicallythe same as those of school and, althoughalternation between theory and practice

Knowledge dynamics,communities of prac-tice: emerging perspec-tives on training1

MassimoTomassini

Senior researcher atIsfol - Rome, Italy

1) This article is a shortened versionof a paper for the EU Seminar “Know-ledge production and disseminationto business and the labour market”(Goote Institute, University of Amster-dam, 23-24 April 1997)

The basic assumption ofthis article is training activi-ties are evolving in connec-tion with the needs of theknowledge society and thegreater emphasis on the re-quirements of employedadults. Alongside the tradi-tional training paradigmbased on teaching andmostly referring to formalqualification needs a newlearning-based paradigm istaking shape, referring toreal competence needs.This is the paradigm whichembraces continuing train-ing addressed to peopleworking in enterprises andcomplex organisations.

takes place in certain cases, the underly-ing concept is always of the kind: “firstyou learn, then you do”.

This paradigm safeguards major require-ments of stability in the use of labour re-sources, namely the needs of:

❏ workers (for whom recognition oftheir value on the labour market is en-sured); and

❏ enterprises – and other organisationsproducing goods and services (which canacquire the skills they need without hav-ing to resort to costly, and in practice un-manageable, selection and internal train-ing of each labour unit to be inserted intheir processes).

Therefore, it is an irreplaceable paradigmfor the operation of the labour market andone that has attained high levels of effi-ciency and social consensus in severalcontexts (for example the dual-system).However, it is based on an exchange valueof competences and does not fulfil needsrelating to their use value.

The use value of competences is actuallyrelated to their efficiency and is most di-rectly affected by the changes taking placein production processes and systems oforganisation. At this level, attention is be-ginning to shift from the regularity of workperformances (organised within well-defined jobs and stable qualifications) totheir usefulness in connection with qual-ity and competitiveness. Whether thework is performed by groups, individu-als, part-time staff or workers not organ-ised according to qualifications, is sub-ject to continuous transformation. There-fore a new paradigm of training is beingestablished: many training activities tend


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to refer not to formal qualifications, butto real competence needs. Indeed, itshould be considered that training:

❏ is an activity involving, more andmore, people employed for the first time.These are not only young people. Givendemographic change and productionneeds, they include adults already em-ployed and affected by continuous organi-sational and technological evolution andto whom many of the principles of tradi-tional training do not apply. For adults inparticular, the principle “first you learn,then you do”, which underpins the tradi-tional training paradigm, has a very lim-ited sphere of application;

❏ must integrate forms of productionand organisation for which the principle“first you learn, then you do” is extremelycontradictory. The fundamental character-istic of current production processes inall sectors is that they are highly dynamicand innovative. They require working,learning and innovation to proceed inparallel. The learning of work methodsand techniques must proceed hand inhand with innovation. They must accom-pany and create it through competent useof different kinds of knowledge. A morespecifically structural aspect, which thenew schools of enterprise economics in-creasingly emphasise as crucial, is the re-lationship between knowledge and pro-duction. In existing production processes,knowledge is the fundamental resourceof those processes. At all levels, exceptin economically marginal areas of manualwork, competences manifest themselvesin terms of transformation of knowledge.Moreover, the acquisition of core know-ledge-competences is the true source ofcompetitive advantage;

❏ acquires a strategic role not only inproduction, but also in social develop-ment on which societal growth and thequality of life depend, as is the case ofpublic services and, more generally, ofpublic administration. Here too, innova-tion based on competent use of know-ledge and its circulation should be un-ceasing, considering the demand for serv-ices of increasing value and complexityat lower costs.

Basically, the traditional paradigm of train-ing, based on teaching and largely bor-

rowed from the school system, is still avalid institutional guarantee of compet-ences for young people and the socialsupport of disadvantaged groups on thelabour market, which have greater diffi-culty in keeping pace with change in theknowledge society. On the other hand,this model is inadequate for areas of workmore closely involved in innovative proc-esses, namely the field of activity usuallytermed continuing training, which is nec-essarily linked to the development oflearning at all levels.

While the traditional paradigm, based onteaching, is structurally stable (even if itobviously needs continuous updating andimprovements in methods and content),the innovative paradigm, geared to learn-ing, is in constant transformation. In manyrespects, continuing training is in dangerof losing its “institutional identity” sinceit is increasingly expected to integratewith organisational innovation and devel-opment activities, of which the more typi-cal training aspects (lessons and otherclassroom-based activities) represent onlya part.

Experience in recent years has shown thatin the field of continuing training there isconstant innovation in methods and evenof objectives to be pursued. As a result,there is the problem of redesigning andmaintaining the field in ways (trainers,managers of enterprises and other com-plex organisations, social partners, na-tional and EU decision-makers) that re-flect the activities and roles of the vari-ous parties involved.

This article attempts to contribute to thisby focusing on some approaches thatcould make a significant contribution tothe new learning-based paradigm and topolicies for its development. More spe-cifically, given that training is a functionthat has much to do with the dynamics ofknowledge in organisations, how canthose dynamics be identified? What arethe basic characteristics of continuingtraining in the knowledge society? Fur-thermore, given that objectives and meth-ods differ between initial training (basedon the teaching paradigm) and continu-ing training (governed by the learningparadigm), can new approaches to con-tinuing training find some application inthe context of initial training? Some con-

“(…) The traditional para-digm of training, based onteaching and largely bor-rowed from the school sys-tem, is still a valid institu-tional guarantee of compet-ences for young people andthe social support of disad-vantaged groups on the la-bour market, which havegreater difficulty in keep-ing pace with change in theknowledge society. On theother hand, this model is in-adequate for areas of workmore closely involved in in-novative processes, namelythe field of activity usuallytermed continuing training,which is necessarily linkedto the development of learn-ing at all levels.”


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clusions are sketched, including possiblelines of research to be encouraged withinthe framework of EU policies in this field.

Knowledge dynamics

Training problems can be interpreted ina framework conceptually more relevantto the current economic and social situa-tion, if it is assumed that training activi-ties are ones of continuous knowledgetransformation and directly linked toknowledge as the fundamental resourceof our times. “Knowledge is not anotherresource that is developed alongside thetraditional factors of production – labour,capital and land – but the only meaning-ful resource today: knowledge is not aresource, but the resource that makes thenew society unique” (Drucker, 1993).From this viewpoint, training is a func-tion that not only serves to transfer know-ledge (from someone possessing it tosomeone who does not). It is a more com-plex function in which knowledge trans-fer is strictly linked to facilitating know-ledge transformation processes, in whichknowledge itself has different aspects andmeanings.

Knowledge transformation affects simul-taneously different dimensions of know-ledge, for instance those distinguished inrelation to both individuals and organisa-tions in terms of (Ludvall and Johnson,1994):

❏ know-what – which refers to know-ledge about “facts”, equivalent to what isnormally called information and/or relatedto the body of knowledge that each cat-egory of experts must possess;

❏ know-why – related to scientific know-ledge, influencing technological develop-ment, its pace and the characteristics ofits application;

❏ know-how – related to technical skills,the capability to act competently in a spe-cific context (for example judging theprospects for a new product, operating amachine-tool, etc.). Know-how is typicallya kind of knowledge developed by indi-viduals. But its importance is evident ifone considers the division of labour andcooperation factors within and betweenorganisations (for instance, the creation

of industrial networks is largely due tothe need for firms to be able to share andcombine elements of know-how);

❏ know-who – another kind of know-ledge which is becoming increasingly im-portant, referring to the social skills, al-lowing access to, and use of, knowledgepossessed by somebody else.

How are these kinds of knowledge inter-connected? What makes them productive?A major contribution to answering thesequestions comes the theory of the “know-ledge-creating company” (Nonaka, 1991;Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). This theoryis explicitly intended to provide concep-tual support for the development of man-agement models capable of running com-plex and highly innovative enterpriseswishing to emulate the behaviour of Japa-nese corporations at the height of theirsuccess. The theory, which combines bothEastern and Western models of thoughtand suggestions, seeks to fulfil the needfor a new theoretical framework as thebasis of new management practice in en-terprises.

Nonaka’s framework is based on the as-sumption that knowledge in organisations,especially in the most innovative enter-prises, is created through the interactionbetween tacit and explicit knowledge,continuously “converting” one into theother. The model postulates four differ-ent modes of knowledge conversioncalled:

❏ socialisation (tacit knowledge convert-ing into other tacit knowledge),

❏ externalisation (conceived as the pas-sage from tacit knowledge to explicitknowledge),

❏ combination (of different pieces of ex-plicit knowledge), and

❏ internalisation (the passage from ex-plicit knowledge to tacit knowledge).

Each is considered below.

Socialisation

Socialisation is a process of sharing ex-perience and thereby creating tacit know-ledge embedded in shared mental mod-

“(…) Training is a functionthat not only serves totransfer knowledge (fromsomeone possessing it tosomeone who does not). Itis a more complex functionin which knowledge trans-fer is strictly linked to fa-cilitating knowledge trans-formation processes, inwhich knowledge itself hasdifferent aspects and mean-ings.”


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els and in technical and social skills. Thisis, for instance, the case in apprentice-ship, in which tacit knowledge directlyderives from the master – through lan-guage, observation, imitation and prac-tice – and is converted into tacit know-ledge by the apprentice. It is a processwhich cannot be abstracted from associ-ated emotions and specific contexts inwhich shared experiences are embedded.Japanese companies provide other exam-ples of knowledge socialisation, like the“brainstorming camps” aimed at creatinggood settings for the development of newproducts, managerial systems and corpo-rate strategies. In this kind of meetingknowledge is socialised through creativedialogue and the enhancement of mutualtrust among participants.

Externalisation

Externalisation is the process of express-ing tacit knowledge into explicit concepts.It is generally based on metaphors, analo-gies, hypotheses, images or models fromwhich new ideas and products can begenerated through interaction between in-dividuals wanting the same outcome. Itis a process which takes place in conceptcreation combining different reasoningmethods (deduction and induction). In thecase of the design of a new automobile,for example, the corporate slogans (suchas create new values and give drivingpleasure) played an important role as wellas the “concept clinics”, which gatheredopinions from customers and car experts.Externalisation can often be derived fromnon-analytical methods based on meta-phors and analogies. Another example ofsupport to collective thinking for the de-sign of a new car is the “automobile evo-lution” metaphor that allowed the auto-mobile to be viewed as an organism.

Combination

Combination is a process of systematis-ing concepts into a knowledge system,combining different bodies of explicitknowledge. The media for this purposecan be very different (documents, meet-ings, telephone conversations, computer-ised databases, etc.). Reconfiguration ofexisting information through sorting, add-ing, combining and categorising of explicitknowledge can in fact lead to new know-ledge. An example is the use of data from

the “point-of-sales” system of retailers,which can be used not only to find outwhat sells but also to create new “waysto sell”, that is, new sales systems andmethods. Middle management plays acritical role in creating new conceptsthrough networking of codified informa-tion and knowledge. Creative uses of com-puterised communication networks andlarge-scale databases facilitate this typeof knowledge conversion.

Internalisation

Internalisation is the process of embody-ing explicit knowledge as tacit know-ledge. It is closely related to learning bydoing and is the sum of experiencesgained by individuals through sociali-sation, externalisation and combinationwhich become individuals’ tacit know-ledge bases in the form of shared mentalmodels or technical know-how. But in-ternalisation can be achieved throughother forms. Reading or listening to suc-cess stories can induce new levels of tacitknowledge in the members of an organi-sation and the establishment of newshared mental models within the organi-sational culture.

In Nonaka’s model the four modes ofknowledge conversion are structurallyinterconnected. Different events of organi-sational life can be seen from the view-point of each of these modes in the proc-esses of knowledge creation. Tacit know-ledge of individuals is the basis of know-ledge creation “organisationally” amplifiedthrough the four modes of knowledgeconversion. Nonaka defines this processas the “knowledge spiral”, in which theinteraction between tacit and explicitknowledge becomes larger in scale as therelationships between the four modes arecontinuously increased and managed.

In this perspective, organisational know-ledge creation (which could be consid-ered a subtler way of viewing what inother approaches is called organisationallearning) is a spiral, starting at the indi-vidual level and moving up through ex-panding communities of interaction, cross-ing internal and even external bounda-ries of the organisation.

In Nonaka’s approach, knowledge “con-version” processes can be fostered prin-


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cipally by means of continuous manage-rial action coherent with the features andconditions of the “spiral” and having themiddle managers as main protagonists.Their basic objective, according to an ap-proach termed as “middle-up-down”, isto mediate between the “visions” of sen-ior management and the creative skillsspread throughout the organisation, be-tween the top-down and bottom-up ap-proaches. In this perspective, there is noseparation between learning and know-ledge creation: everything must convergeto provide the proper context for facili-tating group activities as well as the crea-tion and accumulation of knowledge atthe individual level.

Communities of practice

The functioning of the knowledge spiralcannot be attained through simple me-chanical management intervention. It re-quires appropriate cultural backgrounds,the existence of shared meanings, com-mon bases for interpreting and under-standing “who we are, where we have togo” in a specific organisation. The “com-munities of practice” approach providesseveral interesting clues to be developedin the debate on training. Community ofpractice is not a specific theory, but a setof concepts first developed in the early1990s. It developed around the idea of aclose correlation between the modes ofcreating and maintaining individuals’ par-ticipation in work, on the one hand, andthe forms that participation takes depend-ing on the social and cultural nature ofwork context, on the other. Here again,knowledge plays a crucial role, but as aresource “situated” in its context and char-acterised by complex creation and repro-duction dynamics that keep it in a stateof continuous transformation.

In general, community of practice can bedefined as the organisational informalaggregation in which “united by a com-mon enterprise, people come to developand share ways of doing things, ways oftalking, beliefs, values – in short, prac-tice – as a function of their joint involve-ment in mutual activity”. The communi-ties of practice are identified “not onlyby their membership, but by shared waysof doing things” (IRL, 1993). From thispoint of view, learning is not just the ac-tivity of an individual but the primary en-

gagement with others. The key to en-hancement and motivation in learning liesin the intimate connection of the desirefor participation and the role of know-ledge in enabling it.

Working, learning and innovating, fromthis point of view, are all activities basedon knowledge transformation, in the sensethat it is the continuous circulation anduse of the knowledge the organisationpossesses and the creation of new know-ledge in response to innovation needs.Explicit knowledge and tacit knowledgemutually synergize in the work contextto achieve a dynamic balance between“know-what” (the theoretical level) and“know-how” (the practical level) withouteither one or the other being dominant:because of their close interdependencethe “co-production” of theoretical know-ledge and practical knowledge takes place(Seely Brown et al., 1989).

The idea of knowledge as a direct reflec-tion of what one perceives in the physi-cal world is strongly criticised in the com-munity of practice approach. The mostrelevant part of knowledge is seen interms of interpretation of experience,based on idiosyncratic frameworks thatat the same time favour and limit indi-vidual processes of sense-making (Res-nick, 1993). Much importance is placedon the context of knowledge, or ratherthe situation in which cognitive acts takeplace. Situated cognition is the drivingidea of this approach. It recognises thatindividuals are very sensitive to their cul-tural context which provides a complexfabric of references that, in the long run,shape an individual’s knowledge and de-termine a social construction of know-ledge.

A number of empirical research studieshave fuelled this type of hypothesis withevidence of undoubted importance. Forexample, an anthropological analysis ofwork behaviour in a community of prac-tice of photocopying machine mainte-nance workers (Orr, 1993), emphasises thesocial nature of the working knowledge.Over time, the maintenance workers de-velop highly specific forms of interactionand methods of problem-solving. Thedefects they have to deal with are oftenvery different from anything envisaged inthe official manuals issued by the manu-

“(…) The ‘communities ofpractice’ approach pro-vides several interestingclues to be developed in thedebate on training. (…) Ingeneral, [it] can be definedas the organisational infor-mal aggregation in which‘united by a common enter-prise, people come to de-velop and share ways of do-ing things, waysf talking,beliefs, values – in short,practice – as a function oftheir joint involvement inmutual activity’.”


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facturers. As a result, definitions and so-lutions to problems are created collec-tively using the experience of each mem-ber of the group. Various forms of com-munication, including informal chatting,sometimes outside work, play an impor-tant role in this connection. They form abasis of “stories” (not without some ele-ment of legend, Orr calls them “war sto-ries”). These stories summarise collectivediagnoses and maintain the social con-text of the workplace thereby enablingcurrent interpretations to interact withthose evolved in the past out of similarepisodes and situations experienced bydifferent members of the company. Asthey are integrated with learning by thecustomer, these “stories” provide the tech-nicians with real problem-solving reper-tories that can be continuously altered andupdated.

Working activities in the communities ofpractice are constituted by continuousintertwining of three essential factors:

❏ narration, allowing the creation andexchange of stories through which thestock of experience gained with informalpractice is maintained and valorised;

❏ collaboration, helping people to par-ticipate in collective flows of situatedknowledge; and

❏ social construction, through whichprofessional identities are constituted,both at the individual and collective level.

An aspect of this approach which is par-ticularly relevant from the viewpoint oftraining development, concerns how com-munities of practice are accessed by new-comers. How does one join a community?How does a novice become a fully fledgedmember? The concept proposed in thisregard is “legitimate peripheral participa-tion” (Lave Wenger, 1991; Pontecorvo etal., 1995; Zucchermaglio, 1996) whichmeans the path the novice must follow togain expert skills and recognised statusof “old-timer” in the organisation. In thispath learning is only partly of a direct anddeclarative kind. Usually newcomers learnnot by taking part directly in a particularactivity, but by maintaining their legiti-mate position on the periphery of theorganisation. This kind of participation isimportant for new people entering thecultural context. They need to observe

how practitioners at various levels behaveand talk to get a sense of how expertiseis manifest in conversations and otheractivities (Seely Brown et al., 1989). The“cognitive apprenticeship” of newcomersis based on a complex learning processwhich can be defined as collaborativelearning, or group learning, consideringthe crucial role of the collective dimen-sion as far as the progress in participa-tion of work practice is concerned.

Through this kind of process, newcom-ers develop a changing understanding ofpractice over time from improvised op-portunities to participate peripherally inongoing activities of the community.Knowledge skill is encompassed in theprocess of assuming an identity as a prac-titioner, of becoming a full participant –an “old-timer”. Thus, the dynamics of le-gitimate peripheral participation show thatcommunities of practice are based oncontinuous knowledge transformationprocesses governing essential elementssuch as learning, social interaction, andthe collective interpretation of situations.From the viewpoint of training, the prob-lem is to plan interventions scaled accord-ing to these knowledge transformationdynamics and which are capable of sup-porting and developing them.

Perspectives for the devel-opment of training

Approaches such as the knowledge-cre-ating company and communities of prac-tice help to establish the learning para-digm as a necessary step forward fromthe teaching paradigm in the training ofemployees. The way organisational dy-namics are explained in the knowledge-creating company approach is very muchgeared to satisfying management needs,especially as far as management of groupsand teams is concerned. The communi-ties of practice approach is, in some re-spects, an extension of the first and fo-cuses on the internal functioning of thegroups, as communities in which impor-tant socio-cognitive mechanisms operate.

Both have several interfaces with otherapproaches recently developed to inter-pret the dynamics of organisations, bring-ing the debate back to the role and ob-


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jectives of training. The idea of the learn-ing organisation shares many features withthe approaches described above and hasbecome popular among managers andexperts; it has prompted much reflectionamong training practitioners about therole of training in facilitating learning inorganisations rather than as a simple trans-fer of knowledge (Tomassini, 1993, 1996).

Both provide interesting references for in-novative training actions within the learn-ing paradigm at different levels.

A first level concerns the definition of co-herent objectives for training activities,which are linked in a non-generic way toorganisational development requirementsand can foster direct involvement of thoseinvolved. For example, in enterprises un-dergoing technological change, trainingmanagers often think it sufficient to cre-ate programmes only for those directlyengaged to learn principles and opera-tional procedures of the new technolo-gies. In doing so the results do not al-ways match expectations. Technologicalinnovation produces unexpected conse-quences and very different adaptation andintegration requirements than the linearapplication of technical standards. Tak-ing into account knowledge transforma-tion processes should help, in such cases,by identifying the most critical aspects ofchange with the aid of those involved es-pecially at the line-management level. Itcan also help in assessing the meaning ofthe decisions that led to the innovation,in analysing the flows of tacit and explicitknowledge through the organisation, inseeing how the communities of practiceaffected by the innovation can rebuildtheir modes of operation in terms of learn-ing, interpreting situations, co-optingnewcomers.

This should be the premise for planningtraining interventions inside the organi-sational scenario: those involved shouldnot acquire “training” more or less pas-sively, but be required to formulate pro-posals and solutions, point out constraints,learn and re-interpret situations collec-tively and, at the same time, acquire thespecific technical skills needed to masterthe innovation.

Taking into account knowledge conver-sion processes should also help choices

for appropriate training methodologies. Avast range of tools and techniques areavailable for new types of continuingtraining, which, for example, might begrouped into tools and techniques:

❏ to develop new understanding of cur-rent phenomena and induce more realis-tic decision patterns. Interesting examplesare techniques to simulate different vari-ables and states of the organisation suchas “micro-worlds” developed by the Cen-tre for Organisational Learning (Senge,1991, 1994) and now available for largeaudiences on specific software tools simu-lating the specific realities in which theparties operate;

❏ to increase the skills which, in Nonaka’sapproach, allow the knowledge-creatingcompany to grow through the autonomyof individuals, teamwork and using thecreativeness of both. For this purpose, vari-ous forms of action learning are available,techniques that involve teams in control-led and self-reflective solving of real firmproblems and encourage the integrationof explicit and tacit knowledge, shared in-terpretations of situations, and collabora-tion within the community. Other more tra-ditional techniques, such as role-playing,can familiarise people with the behaviourof different roles and encourage the de-velopment of skills for responding to tur-bulent external environments by reproduc-ing their complexity within the teams. Anumber of tools (such as “Metaplan”) canbe used to increase both vision sharingamong members of the same or differentteams and role synergies from an inter-functional viewpoint;

❏ for distance learning and self-learning,designed for autonomous acquisition ofknowledge useful for work activity froma wide variety of sources outside theworkplace. This area is receiving consid-erable stimulus from the growing use ofthe Internet and application software ena-bling users to interact in computer-medi-ated communication systems. Self-learn-ing is an essential element of continuingtraining, but to be effective it must be co-ordinated and optimised with appropri-ate methods and forms of coaching;

❏ in the area of organisational analysis.As mentioned earlier, often the most ap-propriate training intervention is not the

“(…) In enterprises under-going technological change,training managers oftenthink it sufficient to createprogrammes only for thosedirectly engaged (…). In do-ing so the results do not al-ways match expectations.Technological innovationproduces unexpected con-sequences (…). Taking intoaccount knowledge trans-formation processes shouldhelp (…) by identifying themost critical aspects ofchange with the aid of thoseinvolved especially at theline-management level.”


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one in which the actual organisation istaken for granted, but the one in whichself-definition and on-going self-evalua-tion of the intervention paths are set inmotion.

By means of these processes, the organi-sational actors should be able to fulfil theirown needs themselves as far as possibleand find missing knowledge when nec-essary by using experts, information sys-tems or databases or other sources. Inseveral action research and action learn-ing approaches, the tendency is to involveseveral levels of the organisation in thefar-reaching and long-term objectives ofchange. The basic idea is that multi-polarlearning processes can be set in motion.They can lead groups in organisations toshare background values, content, meth-ods and solutions for change by meansof guided sessions of organisational self-analysis and internal-external communi-cation (Di Gregorio, 1995, 1996).

To set these processes in motion, specificskills for organisational analysis are nec-essary, which the new types of trainersneed to possess on a large scale. In gen-eral, the brief considerations made aboveshould show how necessary it is to raisenew generations of continuing trainingoperators according to approaches whichare as innovative as possible with respectto the teaching paradigm. The emergingprofiles in the field of training integratepedagogical skills with organisational de-velopment skills and the ability to triggercomplex interventions. In many ways thegap should be abolished between trainerand activator of new organisational proc-esses, both of whom are agents of change.Furthermore, the gap should be reducedbetween training and co-ordination roleswithin the working groups and teams. Ininnovative organisations, coordinatorshave fewer hierarchical features and in-creasingly provide stimulus and supportto collective processes through coaching.

For trainers wishing to keep in step withchange, continuous innovation is neces-sary, but it is impossible for each to spe-cialise in the whole (and virtually infinite)range of available approaches and tools.Consequently, training of trainers shouldfocus not on updating and qualification/re-training of professional profiles in se-ries, but as far as possible on creating

inter-functional teams and optimisingmethods of operation of the communi-ties of practice type. The teams shoulddevelop internally a multitude of special-ised roles to cope with the complexity ofthe assigned tasks; they should be able,when necessary, to integrate externalknowledge, particularly as regards tech-nical aspects of training, which should beentrusted to experts engaged on an adhoc basis according to requirements.

Concluding remarks andemerging lines for researchactivities on training

The basic assumption of this article isthat training activities are evolving inconnection with the needs of the know-ledge society and the greater emphasison the requirements of employed adults.Alongside the traditional training para-digm based on teaching and mostly re-ferring to formal qualification needs anew learning-based paradigm is takingshape, referring to real competenceneeds. This is the paradigm which em-braces continuing training addressed topeople working in enterprises and com-plex organisations.

The development of this new paradigm,in which the principle “first you learn,then you do” has a very limited sphere ofapplication, gains considerable theoreti-cal support from approaches and conceptsformulated in different and very diversedisciplines. The point of contact betweenthese concepts and approaches is thattraining activities support on-going know-ledge-transformation processes.

In this perspective, training not onlyserves to transfer knowledge (from some-one possessing it to someone who doesnot), but also has as its main purpose fa-cilitating knowledge-conversion.

This article refers to two approaches con-cerning knowledge transformation: thefirst, developed in a management context,focuses on the relationship between ex-plicit knowledge and tacit knowledgewithin the knowledge-creating company;the second, conceived by psychologistsand anthropologists interested in the so-cial dynamics of knowledge, is related to

“In many ways the gapshould be abolished be-tween trainer and activatorof new organisational proc-esses, both of whom areagents of change.”

“(…) Training of trainersshould focus not on updat-ing and qualification/re-training of professionalprofiles in series, but as faras possible on creating in-ter-functional teams andoptimising methods of op-eration of the communitiesof practice type.”


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the communities of practice in the mostcommon job contexts.

Both these approaches – which are notextensive – provide conceptual bases forthe objectives of the quality, flexibility andcooperation sought by innovative train-ing activities.

In continuing training, the focus on know-ledge-transformation processes should bethe premise for planning training actionsto be performed with the participation ofall those involved. They should not un-dergo “training” more or less passively,but formulate proposals and solutions,point out constraints, learn and re-inter-pret situations collectively. A large numberof tools and techniques is available, in-cluding those for decision abilities devel-opment, for operating in autonomousworking groups, supporting self-learning,and carrying out training interventionsbased on organisational analyses directlyinvolving those concerned.

Yet focus on knowledge-transformationprocesses could be also the basis for thenew approaches in the field of initial train-ing. Evolution in continuing training canhave a driving effect on initial training aswell. In that area it is no longer sufficientto assume that so-called core skills or keycompetences are crucial, it is necessaryto develop models geared to new formsof apprenticeship based on group learn-ing (as in the “co-operative learning” ap-proach: Johnson et al., 1993).

From the viewpoint of both continuingand initial training, it is likely that know-ledge-transformation will imply a far-reaching reform of the way training ob-jectives are formulated, intervention ismade and trainers are trained.

The training of trainers should seek notonly to qualify/re-train individual profes-sional profiles, but also, as far as possi-ble create inter-functional training teamsconceived as communities of practiceholding different competences but unitedby common goals and values. The teams-communities should develop internally amultitude of roles and specialisations ap-propriate for the assigned tasks. They

should be capable, when necessary, ofintegrating external knowledge, especiallywith regard to the technical aspects of thetraining and intervention paths to be en-trusted to experts engaged ad hoc accord-ing to requirements.

This outline is very schematic and needsto be improved in various areas. New re-search activities might, therefore, givemore consideration to issues such as:

❏ analysis of examples of excellence andgood practice. Reference has to be madeto cases of new training experience con-sistent with the learning paradigm. Theseanalyses could provide useful bench-marking references for the training fieldon a European scale;

❏ experimentation with innovative re-search methodologies examining workcontext (for instance, based on the eth-nographic approaches which underliemuch of the research on communities ofpractice);

❏ closer contacts among trainers at Eu-ropean level. This aspect is essential inthe light of experience of past pro-grammes. Creating networks of trainers,especially among the cases of excellence,should be a priority, also in view of thesuggestions contained in the EuropeanCommission white paper “Teaching andlearning: towards the learning society”,which states that “no institution alone, noteven a school or enterprise, can expectto develop the skills necessary for work”(European Commission, 1995).

The hypothesis on which work should bebased is that among the various commu-nities of practice in the field of highestquality training it would be possible tocreate networks of co-operation andknowledge exchange which would beuseful not only to the communities them-selves, but to the systems as a whole. Thistype of network on a European scale cansupport, among others, the emergence ofa new way of considering the training oftrainers, not only in terms of updating butalso of dissemination of the best trainingpractice consistent with the emerginglearning paradigm.

“In continuing training, thefocus on knowledge-trans-formation processesshould be the premise forplanning training actions tobe performed with the par-ticipation of all those in-volved.”

“From the viewpoint of bothcontinuing and initial train-ing, it is likely that know-ledge-transformation willimply a far-reaching re-form of the way trainingobjectives are formulated,intervention is made andtrainers are trained.”


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Di Gregorio R. (1997): Progetti di cambiamentonelle organizzazioni pubbliche e private Milano,Guerini e Associati.

Di Gregorio R. (1994): La formazione-interventonelle organizzazioni Milano, Guerini e Associati

Drucker P. (1993): Post-capitalist Society. It.ed.(1993) La società post-capitalistica, Milano,Sperlig & Kupfer.

European Commission (1996): Enseigner etapprendre. Vers la societé cognitive Bruxelles, Com96.389.

Institute for Research on Learning (1993): citedin Winslow Bramer.

Johnson D. W., Johnson R. T., Holubec E. J.(1993): Cooperation in the Classroom, Edina MN,Interaction Book Company.

Lave J., Wenger E. (1990): Situated Learning: Le-gitimate Peripheral Participation Cambridge Mass.,Cambridge University Press.

Lundvall B., Johnson B. (1994): “The LearningEconomy” Journal of Industrial Studies, vol.1, n.2.

Nicolini D., Gherardi S., Odella F. (1996): Un-covering How People Learn in Organisations: theNotion of Situated Curriculum, Università di Trento,paper presented at the 1996 Eclo Conference, forth-coming in Management Learning.

Nonaka J., Takeuchi H. (1995): The Knowledge-Creating Company, New York, Oxford Univ. Press.

Orr J. (1990): Sharing Knowledge, Celebrating Iden-tity: War Stories and Community Memory in a Serv-ice Culture, It. transl. in Pontecorvo et al.

Pontecorvo C., Ajello A. M., Zucchermaglio C.(1995): I contesti sociali dell’apprendimento.Acquisire conoscenze a scuola, nel lavoro, nella vitaquotidiana, Roma, Led.

Resnick L. B. (1993): “Shared Cognition: Thinkingas Social Practice”, in Resnick L. B., Levine J.,Bernard S. D. Perspective on Socially Shared Cog-nition. Washington, DC, American Psycological As-sociation.

Seely Brown J., Collins A., Duguid P. (1989): “Situ-ated cognition and the culture of learning”, Educa-tional Researcher, 32.

Senge P. M. (1990): The Fifth Discipline. The Artand Practice of Organisational Learning, New York,Doubleday Courrency.

Senge P. M., Roberts C., Ross R., Smith B.,Kleiner A. (1994): The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook.Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Or-ganisation, New York, Doubleday Courrency.

Tomassini M. (1993): Alla ricerca dell’organizza-zione che apprende. L’apprendimento organizzativonel futuro della formazione continua, Roma, EdizioniLavoro.

Tomassini M., ed., (1996): Training and ContinousLearning. Contributions on the Organisational, So-cial and Technological Dimensions of Learning,Milano, Franco Angeli.

Winslow C. D., Bramer W. L. (1994): Future Work:Putting Knowledge to Work in the KnowledgeEconomy, New York, Free Press.

Zucchermaglio C. (1996): Vygotskij in azienda.Apprendimento e comunicazione nei contestilavorativi, Roma, La Nuova Italia Scientifica.

References


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Types of vocationaltraining and their use

Introduction

The Spanish training system provides vo-cational training under three main head-ings, regulated training, occupationaltraining and continuing training.

Regulated vocational training is a form ofinitial vocational training provided underthe education system, aimed at studentswith no previous work experience. It hasdeveloped considerably over time (Cano,López and Ortega, 1993). Currently itsprimary objective is to ensure traineesdevelop the abilities necessary to fulfil theroles demanded of them and cope withsituations arising in the course of theirwork. Regulated training has to focus onthe acquisition of the vocational compe-tence required for the job (Royal Decree676/93). Every certificate of regulated vo-cational training includes an occupationalprofile listing a number of work activitiesand levels of competence expected ofthose who have been trained in their vari-ous work situations, referred to as voca-tional achievements. Prieto (1994) statesclearly and precisely that the objective ofregulated vocational training should beto equip trainees to perform a job of workthrough acquisition of the necessarycompetences in the form of knowledge,social and technical skills, etc.

Occupational training is defined by theFondo de Formación (1992) as the resultof teaching and learning efforts directedat improving the preparation of those con-cerned for the world of work. Anotherdefinition which might be used for refer-ence is that of the National Institute ofEmployment (INEM, 1992). It describesoccupational training as training designedto equip workers, employed or unem-ployed, for a given occupation or job bymeans of shorter or longer courses with

MiguelAurelioAlonsoGarcía

Department of Dif-ferential and Indus-

trial PsychologyFaculty of PsychologyUniversity of Madrid

This article deals with thevarious types of vocationaltraining - regulated, occupa-tional, continuing andwork-based - in Spain. Itanalyses responses recei-ved from a sample of thosewho had undergone voca-tional training in its variousforms and goes on to ana-lyse different perceptionsof the usefulness of thetraining received accordingto the persons’ sex, occupa-tional group, performanceand degree of satisfaction.The trainees in the surveydistinguish clearly betweenthe various kinds of train-ing and their usefulness.The results suggest a num-ber of points deserving at-tention by academic andpolitical authorities aimingto ensure a high level ofvocational skills.

1) One good example is the pro-grammes the Commune of Madrid hasbeen organising since 1994 throughthe Ins t i tu to Madr i leño para laFormación under the name of Finnova.

a marked practical emphasis. Frías (1994)defines occupational training more strictly,as developing a series of competences inunemployed people, or first-time job-seekers, so as to facilitate their integra-tion into the labour market. This limitsthe kind of person at whom training istargeted, but agrees with the other defi-nitions as regards its objectives. It is pro-vided outside the education system andan essential condition of occupationaltraining that distinguishes it from regu-lated vocational training is that it is notacademically recognised. Another is thatit should be exclusively aimed at provid-ing vocational skills, thereby ruling outtraining of a more general nature, or per-sonal development courses.

The third category of training is continu-ing training, which is for workers em-ployed in the public sector at central, au-tonomous community or local level andfor those employed in private firms.

Another type of training is work-basedtraining. By this is understood those pe-riods of practical work in firms that fol-low a course of occupational training, orwork experience that combines the ac-quisition of a body of knowledge withthe performance of a number of functionsand tasks (Alonso, 1998). These pro-grammes, which do not involve classroominstruction, nonetheless enable trainees toacquire a combination of knowledge,skills and attitudes1.

The Ministry of Education and Culture hasits own version of work-based training.When it recently introduced the new sys-tem of regulated vocational training it cre-ated a ‘Training at work centres’ module,the chief purpose of which is to concen-trate training activities on a work centre(Royal Decree 676/93). Training at workcentres takes place in a real working en-


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“We proposed a classifica-tion of training distinguish-ing between three types:regulated vocational train-ing, occupational training(which includes continuingtraining) and work-basedtraining.”

Table 1

Frequency distribution of variables for types of training

Not Very Reasonably Sufficiently Veryat all little

Your VT is suitable for FINNOVA 6 23 46 150 73

VT equips you for work 2 20 97 134 44

OT is useful for work 5 8 48 147 47

FINNOVA is useful for work 2 4 29 132 133

Usefulness of regulated training 7 70 115 97

Usefulness of occupational training 1 18 83 105 36

Usefulness of FINNOVA 2 11 26 98 163

vironment. Trainees perform tasks in-volved in different occupations. They be-come acquainted with the way produc-tion processes or the provision of serv-ices are organised and with relationshipsin a working environment (Directorate-General for Regulated Training, 1994).This type of training is compulsory fortrainees pursuing medium- and higher-level training courses. Courses take upeight, ten or fifteen weeks of the schoolyear in the one or two terms after a traineehas covered all the subjects needed forthe relevant qualification. Trainees are notemployed (Royal Decree 2317/93) andcannot be paid for work done duringtraining.

Martínez (1996) considers the system oftraining at work centres run by the Minis-try of Education and Culture would bemore useful if the objectives were ex-tended to helping to boost the number oftrainees subsequently finding employ-ment, by evaluating the competence ofthose trainees who do manage to do so.

Work-based training is the most expen-sive form of training. Some courses in-clude it as an addition to the programmebut periods of work experience with afirm extending beyond three months arerare and training leading to qualificationthat is exclusively work-based even rarer.

The various types of training have dem-onstrated their usefulness over the years.They have become well established andare supported by government authorities,who see them as a means of enhancingindividuals’ qualifications.

For this survey continuing training hasbeen treated as a form of occupationaltraining as defined by the Fondo deFormación and INEM.

We proposed a classification of trainingdistinguishing between three types: regu-lated vocational training, occupationaltraining (which includes continuing train-ing) and work-based training. This classi-fication is used in the empirical sectionof this article.

Methodology

Objectives

The purpose of this article is to determinewhich of the various forms of training -regulated, occupational or work-based -the trainees themselves perceive as mostuseful and, more specifically, how theirperceptions differ according to the aca-demic qualification involved and whethertrainees distinguish clearly between thedifferent types of training.


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Table 2:

Validity of candidate selection and the different types of vocational training

Variable FP_ADECU FP_UTIL FO_UTIL FIN_UTIL FP FO F_PRACOverall freq. 298 297 255 300 289 243 300Mean 3.8758 3.6667 3.8745 4.3000 4.0450 3.6461 4.3633Median 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 5.00Mode 4.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 4.00 4.00 5.00Stand. dev. 0.93637 0.83423 0.81324 0.75181 0.82162 0.83706 0.84084Mean error 0.054 0.048 0.050 0.043 0.048 0.053 0.048Coeff. of variation 0.241 0.227 0.209 0.174 0.203 0.229 0.192Min. value 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.00 1.00 1.00Quartile I 3.00 3.00 4.00 4.00 3.00 3.00 4.00Quartile III 4.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 5.00 4.00 5.00Max. value 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00 5.00

Population and sample

Our sample comprised 332 young peopleof an average age of 24 who had attendedsecond-level vocational training coursesand who had taken part in the Finnovawork-based training programme in 1994and 1995. This programme lasted a year,its principal objective being to equip train-ees with the knowledge and skills neces-sary to find employment. Courses wereheld at universities and government-runresearch centres of the Autonomous Com-munity of Madrid. Since the survey cov-ered all those taking part in the pro-gramme, the population and sample wereidentical.

Procedure

The Finnova ‘94 and Finnova ‘95 pro-grammes covered two separate groups oftrainees from different years. The first stepwas to check that any differences betweenthe groups were not significant. Once thiswas found to be the case the groups werecombined in a single population for dataanalysis.

A short questionnaire was drawn up andused two years running. Questions cen-tred on how useful the trainees consid-ered the various types of training they hadreceived and were currently receiving.The highest level of training involved waslevel 2. All were taking part in a work-

based training programme and many hadalready benefited from occupational train-ing.

The variables for the various forms oftraining, ranked on a five-point Likertscale, were as follows:

FP_ADECU: Is the knowledge you ac-quired during your specialised trainingcourse sufficient for you to do the jobinvolved in your work-based training orplace under the Finnova scheme?

FP_UTIL: Does the knowledge you haveacquired during your specialised trainingcourse on its own ensure that you aresuitably prepared for a job in the fieldconcerned?

FO_UTIL: Will the knowledge you haveacquired on the occupational trainingcourses (CAM, IMAF, IMEM, IMEFE etc.)be useful to you in carrying out a job inthe field concerned?

FIN_UTIL: Will the knowledge you areacquiring under the Finnova scheme beuseful to you in carrying out a job in thefield concerned?

FP: Usefulness of regulated vocationaltraining (level 2)

FO: Usefulness of occupational trainingcourses

F_PRAC : Usefulness of work-based train-ing (Finnova)

“Our sample comprised 332young people of an averageage of 24 who had attendedsecond-level vocationaltraining courses and whohad taken part in theFinnova work-based train-ing programme in 1994 and1995.”


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Table 5:

Factors with variables

Factor 1 Factor 2 Factor 3F_PRAC 0.92761FIN_UTIL 0.84577

UTIL 0.83270FO 0.70094

FP_UTIL 0.77950FP 0.60808FP_ADECU 0.35768

There were thus two questions concern-ing the usefulness of regulated vocationaltraining (FP_UTIL and FP), two relating tooccupational training (FO_UTIL and FO)and two to work-based training (FIN_UTILand F_PRAC). There was also a questionas to how suitable the training they hadbeen given was proving for their work-based training placement (FP_ADECU).

We worked on the basis of the averagegrading in the academic qualificationsobtained by some individuals in regulatedvocational training (grade variable).

The data was analysed statistically by para-metric and non-parametric methods. Theparametric methods used were factoranalysis using the principal axes with Kai-ser’s normalisation and equamax rotationto see the groupings of the various ele-ments and the Cronbach α reliability analy-sis to determine the inherent consistencyof the questions asked. The non-paramet-ric methods were Spearman’s coefficientof rank correlation to determine the de-gree of relationship between the variables,the Mann-Whitney U test to determine anystatistically significant differences betweenthe two groups, the Kruskal-Wallis (χ2) testto analyse the differences between morethan two groups and the Cochran Q testwhen the scores were dichotomous andthere were more than two groups.

In the initial phase a check was made toestablish the existence of any statisticallysignificant differences between the vari-ables of the survey as a function of sex,occupational family for which practicaltraining was taking place, and subjects’performance (assessed by a tutor respon-sible for each individual’s training) andsatisfaction scored on a scale.

To check whether differences existed be-tween individual perceptions of trainingusefulness, trainees were put into twogroups - those who rated the usefulnessof training as medium, low or very low(scores less than 3) and those who ratedit high or very high (4 or 5). The vari-ables were divided into a series of di-chotomies with the lowest scores recordedas zero and the highest as one.

Statistical analyses were performed usingthe SPSS 7.5 2S software package. Chartswere drawn using Word Perfect 8.0.

Table 3:

Usefulness of the different types of training(Average scores out of a maximum of 5)

3.88

3.67

3.87

4.30

4.05

3.65

4.36Usefulness of FINNOVA

Regulated vocational training useful for FINNOVA (FP_ADECU)

Regulated vocational training useful for work (FP-UTIL)

Occupational training useful for work (FO_UTIL)

FINNOVA useful preparation for work (FIN_UTIL)

Usefulness of regulated vocational training (FO)

Usefulness of occupational training (FP)

Table 4:

Coincidence and explained variance of variables

Variable Coinci- * Factor Proper % cumul.dence value variance %

FP_ADECU 0.23167 * 1 2.29905 32.8 32.8FP_UTIL 0.62547 * 2 1.16046 16.6 49.4FO_UTIL 0.76342 * 3 0.69918 10.0 59.4FIN_UTIL 0.75305 *FP 0.37792 *FO 0.52161 *F_PRAC 0.88553 *


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Results

A reliability check was carried out for theseven training variables to ensure the in-herent consistency of the survey. Thisshowed a high coefficient of reliability (α= 0.71) with statistically significant differ-ences between the means.

A first step was to determine the fre-quency distribution of the variables (ta-ble 1) to see the trends in the replies andcalculate measures of central tendenciesand dispersion (table 2) to analyse sub-jects’ replies for each variable.

The FP_ADECU variable (the suitabilityof training for a work-based trainingplacement) was used to validate the se-lection of trainees for the programme,namely the appropriateness of the require-ments in terms of regulated training toqualify for a place in the programme.74.8% of respondents considered the re-quirements sufficiently or very appropri-ate. The mean was 3.88 and the median 4(out of a total of 5) points (see table 2).The validity of selection was high for bothyears, but especially in the case of thesecond (U=9369.5; P=0.01), demonstrat-ing the value of previous experience whenan operation has to be repeated severaltimes.

Other questions related to the usefulnessof the different types of training in gen-eral and for coping with a particular jobof work. The average scores given areshown in table 3; all are higher than 3.5out of a maximum of 5.

All types of training are perceived by train-ees as being useful for carrying out a job,especially work-based training where the

means are higher than 4 out 5. The aver-ages for the questions concerning the use-fulness of regulated vocational trainingand occupational training are higher than3.6 out of 5 with a median of 4.

A factor analysis was carried out (tables3, 4 and 5) to find out how the responsesof individual subjects to the various ques-tions coincided and which type of train-ing the subjects found most useful. 59.4%of the data turned out to be explainableby three factors. Factor weightings arehigh, except in the case of FP_ADECU(suitability of training for a work-basedtraining placement) since this variable re-lated to the validity of the selection andwas not concerned with usefulness likethe other variables. While excluding itfrom the analysis would have the effectof increasing the degree of explained vari-ance - to 66.54% - it was retained becauseof its contribution to the third factor.

The first factor (‘Work-based occupationaltraining’) explains 32.8% of the data. Thesecond factor (‘Occupational training’)explains 16.6% of total variance and thethird factor (‘Regulated vocational train-ing’) explains 10%.

The factor analysis showed that traineesdistinguished clearly between the threetypes of training and their usefulness, notonly as regards the knowledge impartedbut also the usefulness of that knowledgeat the actual workplace.

Spearman’s coefficient of rank correlationonly shows correlations higher than 0.4between the variables for regulated train-ing FP and FP_UTIL (0.41), for occupa-tional training FO and FO_UTIL (0.62) andfor work-based training F_PRAC andFIN_UTIL (0.76). In other words, the ques-

Table 6:

Sex-based differences

Variable Mann-Whitney test Probability Men Women

Mean rank N Mean rank NFP_UTIL 8778.5 0.0017 135.69 162 164.97 135FIN_UTIL 8687.5 0.0003 135.13 162 168.55 138FP 8619.5 0.0112 134.54 161 158.16 128F_PRAC 8626.0 0.0001 134.58 161 168.94 139

“All types of training areperceived by trainees asbeing useful for carryingout a job, especially work-based training where themeans are higher than 4 out5. The averages for thequestions concerning theusefulness of regulated vo-cational training and occu-pational training arehigher than 3.6 out of 5 witha median of 4.”


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tions most interrelated are those referringto the same types of training. It wouldtherefore seem that individuals distinguishclearly between the different types oftraining when rating them, and the datamay be regarded as valid.

The Cochran Q test (Q=52.25; P=0.0001)yielded statistically significant differencesbetween the three types of training. Thetype of training which individuals perceiveas the most useful is work-based train-ing, followed by regulated training andthen occupational training. It should beborne in mind that this result could beinfluenced by the fact that those ques-tioned were at that moment engaged inwork-based training, which could reflectin their replies.

To determine which type of training wasperceived as more useful by trainees whohad gained the best gradings in their regu-lated training we used the Mann-WhitneyU test. No statistically significant differ-ences were found (U=232; P=0.319) in theperception of usefulness of regulatedtraining between those with better orworse gradings. However, differenceswere found in the case of occupationaltraining (U=114; P=0.008) and work-basedtraining (U=62.5; P=0.001) which scoredhigher with those with better grades. Thusit was those trainees with the better gradesin regulated vocational training who con-sidered occupational and work-basedtraining to be more useful.

This finding coincides with the Spearmancoefficient of rank correlation in that theaverage academic qualification of thetrainee (their grade) has a 0.44 correla-tion with the usefulness of the knowledgeacquired in the Finnova programme forcarrying out a job (FIN_UTIL), a correla-tion of 0.42 with the usefulness of theknowledge acquired in occupational train-ing for carrying out a job (FO_UTIL) anda correlation of 0.44 with the usefulnessof occupational training courses (FO).Those trainees who may be assumed tohave had to make a greater effort to getthrough the second-level vocational train-ing find it the most useful.

When it came to sex (table 6) statisticallysignificant differences were also found forthe FP_UTIL variable, which relates to theusefulness of knowledge acquired in vo-cational training for carrying out a job(χ2=8778.5; P=0.0017), and for the regu-la ted vocat ional t ra ining var iableFIN_UTIL, which refers to the usefulnessof knowledge acquired under the Finnovaprogramme for carry ing out a job(χ2=8687.5; P=0.0003). In both caseswomen score usefulness higher than men.The same trend emerges with regard tothe usefulness of regulated vocationaltraining (FP) (χ2=8619.5; P=0.0112) andof work-based t ra ining (F_PRAC)(χ2=8626; P=0.0001).

Women clearly find regulated training andwork-based training more useful than

Table 7:

Differences as function of occupational family

Variable χ2 Proba- Occupational families2

test bility Mean Rank

1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 12 13(N=8) (N=25) (N=11) (N=9) (N=88) (N=9) (N=22) (N=54) (N=45) (N=41) (N=12)

FP_UTIL 39.70 0.00 164.50 142.59 202.50 111.07 168.71 152.75 137.79 105.64 179.43 132.23 100.58FP 34.52 0.00 154.00 152.73 188.00 123.14 162.88 126.13 149.00 133.88 166.89 95.43 86.33FIN_UTIL 25.91 0.01 145.71 119.28 182.75 124.21 165.01 133.75 116.74 133.25 175.43 158.24 96.17F_PRAC 37.89 0.00 136.38 109.75 163.50 130.93 172.91 128.69 116.88 141.95 169.56 159.72 62.38

1. Farming2. Building construction3. Manufacturing4. Agrifood industries

5. Heavy and civil engineering6. Chemical industry7 . Cultural information and performances8. Installation and assembly

9. Repairs and maintenance10. Health12. Corporate services13. Transport and communications

“Thus it was those traineeswith the better grades inregulated vocational train-ing who considered occupa-tional and work-basedtraining to be more useful.”

“Women clearly find regu-lated training and work-based training more usefulthan men. There are no dif-ferences as regards theusefulness of occupationaltraining.”


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men. There are no differences as regardsthe usefulness of occupational training.

There are statistically significant differ-ences in trainees’ perception of the use-fulness of the various types of trainingaccording to the occupational family ofthe jobs to which the trainees were allo-cated for their practical training (table 7).These appear for the variables for regu-lated training: FP_UTIL (χ2=39.6984;P=0.0001), FP (χ2=34.5230; P=0.0003) andwork-based t ra ining - FIN_UTIL(χ2=25.9054; P=0.0067) and F_PRAC(χ2=37.8869; P=0.0001).

Trainees who attribute a greater useful-ness to regulated vocational training arethose with work-based training place-ments in the agrifood, health, chemicaland farming occupational categories.Those considering it to be less useful arethose in transport and communicationsand repairs and maintenance.

Those who consider work-based trainingto be most useful are also in jobs in theagrifood, health and chemical sectors aswell as in corporate services. Those whoconsider it less useful are in transport andcommunications and manufacturing. Itwould appear that the occupations in thefirst group involve more varied tasks anda greater learning content while those inthe second group are more monotonous.

Occupational training is perceived asequally useful by all, regardless of thefield concerned.

Those performing best in work-basedtraining regard all three types of training

as more useful than do those performingless well (Table 8). These differences ap-ply in the case of the regulated trainingvariable FP (U=1952.5; P=0.00l3), the oc-cupational training FO_UTIL (U=1913.5;P=0.0401) and FO (U=1701.0; P=0.0164),and for the work-based training variablesFIN_UTIL (U=1539; P=0.0001) andF_PRAC(U=1579; P=0.0001).

Those individuals most satisfied with theirwork-based training placement attributeda greater usefulness to occupational train-ing and work-based training than thosewho were less satisfied (table 9). Differ-ences appear in the variables FO_UTIL(U=1918; P=0.0463), FIN_UTIL (U=1324;P=0.0001), and F_PRAC (U=1360.5;P=0.0001). There were no differences inthe perceived usefulness of regulated vo-cational training.

Conclusions

Individuals distinguish very clearly be-tween the three types of training and theirusefulness. Generally, they consider work-based training the most useful, followedby regulated vocational training, with oc-cupational training coming last.

A closer analysis shows differences in theperception of usefulness as a function of:

❏ sex (women attribute greater useful-ness to regulated and work-based train-ing than men);

❏ grade (those obtaining higher gradesin regulated training consider work-based

Table 8:

Differences as function of performance

Variable Mann- Probability Low-performance High-performanceWhitney group group

test RTG < 6 RTG > 6

Mean rank N Mean rank NFP 1952.5 0.0013 93.85 24 146.99 260FO_UTIL 1913.5 0.0401 98.48 22 128.11 228FO 1701.0 0.0164 88.82 22 123.70 218FIN_UTIL 1539.0 0.0001 74.56 25 154.80 270F_PRAC 1579.0 0.0001 76.16 25 154.65 270


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and occupational training more useful,while those with poorer grades prefertraining under the education system);

❏ performance (those performing best inwork-based training rate it more usefulthan do those performing less well);

❏ satisfaction (the most satisfied subjectsrate work-based and occupational train-ing higher than those who are less satis-fied).

The results show that individuals perceivework-based training as most useful, sug-gesting it would be appropriate to gener-alise the use of work-based training forthe more usual types of training. Thiswould mean:

❏ incorporating work-based training intowork centre training programmes, therebymaking it a regular feature of regulatedvocational training and getting it startedwith the necessary assistance and re-sources;

❏ extending the use of work-based train-ing in occupational training courses andmaking it a requirement for qualification;

❏ increasing the number of ad hoc work-based training programmes, the successof which would depend essentially on theclarity of definition of the occupationalprofiles involved and a suitable choice oftrainees.

Such a generalisation would involve con-cluding agreements with suitable firms,who normally are very receptive to co-operative schemes of this type. This

should achieve the two-fold objective ofimparting the knowledge, skills and/or at-titudes aimed at in any training pro-gramme and ensuring they are subse-quently applied in actual work situations.

The general use of work-based trainingwould assist trainees in their learningprocess and make it easier to determinewhich aspects have been mastered suffi-ciently to be applied in practice on thejob. This will doubtless make it possibleto assess how worthwhile training is.

Appointing a tutor to be responsible forsolving problems and assessing trainees’competence is extremely useful (Sparrow,1994) and permits the monitoring proc-ess that should form part of any trainingactivity. Monitoring can often be left tothe trainer as the expert on the subject(Buckley and Caple, 1991).

Employers would then have not only aworkforce that is suitably trained, but alsoone possessed of the practical know-howso often lacking. They would have theopportunity to check the ability and atti-tude of a trainee when faced with anumber of tasks and determine whetherthe process of socialisation at work(Prieto, Peiró, Bravo and Caballer, 1996)has been successful. These samples ofbehaviour would undoubtedly help topredict a trainee’s future performancemore effectively than do occupationaltests (Levy-Leboyer, 1992) or training tests(Reilly and Manese, 1979; Robertson andKandola, 1982). If at a later date firmsoffering practical work experience are inneed of personnel the information willprove very useful to them.

Table 9:

Differences as function of satisfaction

Variable Mann- Probability Low-satisfaction High-satisfactionWhitney group group

test Overall S < 5 Overall S > 5

Mean rank N Mean rank NFO_UTIL 1918.0 0.0463 83.00 28 105.60 176FIN_UTIL 1324.0 0.0001 58.71 31 130.73 211F_PRAC 1360.5 0.0001 59.02 32 131.55 211

“The results show that indi-viduals perceive work-based training as most use-ful, suggesting it would beappropriate to generalisethe use of work-basedtraining for the more usualtypes of training.”


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The trainees for their part will benefit frommore attractive curricula and from in-creased job opportunities, whether in thesame firm, others in the same sector, orin jobs related to the practical experiencegained.

The task of making the use of work-basedtraining the norm will call for constanteffort by government authorities at all lev-els to maintain and improve the three-fold system of regulated vocational, oc-cupational and continuing training.

Martínez, B. (1996): Relaciones entre sistema edu-cativo y mercado de trabajo, Estudios de Juventud38 (1996) pp.9-29.

Prieto, S. (1994): Incertidumbre y riesgos de la re-forma de la formación profesional, Cuadernos deRelaciones Laborales 4 (1994) pp.33-40.

Prieto, Peiró, Bravo and Cabeller (1996): Socia-lización y Desarollo del Rol Laboral, in J.M. Peiróand F. Prieto (Eds.): Tratado de Psicología del Tra-bajo, Vol. II: Aspectos psicosociales del trabajo, Sín-tesis Psicología, Valencia, 1996, pp. 65-100.

Reilly, R. R. and Manese, W. R. (1979): The valid-ity of a mini-course for telephone company person-nel, Personnel Psychology 32 (1979) pp. 83-90.

Robertson, I. T. and Kandola, R. S. (1982): Worksample tests: validity, adverse impact and applicantreaction, Journal of Occupational Psychology 55(1982) pp. 171-183.

Sparrow, P. R. (1994): The psychology of strategicmanagement, in: C. Coopers, I. Robertson (Eds.)International Review of Industrial and OrganisationalPsychology, Vol.9 (1994), John Wiley, Chichester.

Alonso M. A. (1998): Formación en Prácticas y So-cialización Laboral, Doctoral Thesis, Madrid, 1998.

Buckley, R. and Caple, J. (1991): La Formación,teoría y práctica, Díaz de Santos, Madrid, 1991.

Cano, J., López, J. and Ortega, M. (1993): La nue-va formación profesional. Ramas, Módulos Profe-sionales y Ciclos formativos. Escuela Española, Ma-drid, 1993.

Dirección General de Formación ProfesionalReglada (1994): Formación en Centros de Trabajo,Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, Madrid, 1994.

Fondo de Formación (1992): Materiales AFFA, Ma-drid, 1992.

Frías, J. (1994): Formación Professional Occupa-cional, Cuadernos de Relaciones Laborales 4 (1994),pp. 15-22.

INEM (1992): Metodología de los Estudios Sectoria-les, Madrid, 1992.

Levy-Leboyer, C. (1992): Evaluación de personal.Los métodos a elegir, Díaz de Santos, Madrid, 1992.

Bibliography


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for and the variables and indicators need-ing further investigation.http://www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/publi-cation/download/panorama/6002_en.pdfDownloadable document

Adults in training: an internationalcomparison of continuing educationand trainingO’CONNELL P JOrganisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, OECDCentre for Educational Research and In-novation, CERIParis: OECD, 1999, 37 p.CERI/WD(99)1OECD Publications,2 rue André-Pascal,F-75775 Paris Cedex 16,Tel.: (33-1) 45248200,Fax: 49104276,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.oecd.org/publications

This paper seeks to exploit the new op-portunity offered by the InternationalAdult Literacy Survey, which collecteddetailed information on participation intraining in the twelve months prior to thesurvey, to compare continuing educationand training of adults across countries.The main focus of the paper is on differ-ences between countries in participationin education and training, the duration ofcourses, and financial sponsorship. Thepaper also examines cross-national simi-larities and differences in education andtraining by gender, age group, educationalattainment, literacy levels, occupation,and the size and type of the organisationsin which people work. The survey revealssubstantial cross national differences inthe incidence and volume of continuingeducation and training among adults.Notwithstanding these marked differ-ences, however, the survey also suggestsremarkable similarities across countries inthe distribution of education and trainingwithin sub-populations.http://www.olis.oecd.org/OLIS/1999DOC.NSF/LINKTO/CERI-WD(99)1Downloadable document

Reading

Europe International

Rea

din

g se

lect

ion This section has been

prepared by

Anne Waniart,and the DocumentationService with the help ofmembers of the nationaldocumentation network

This section lists the most im-portant and recent publica-tions on developments in train-ing and qualifications at aninternational and Europeanlevel. Giving preference tocomparative works, it also listsnational studies carried out aspart of international and Eu-ropean programmes, analysesof the impact of Communityaction on the Member Statesand national studies seen froman external perspective.

Information,comparative studies

The transition from the educationalsystem to working life: use of nationalstatisticsMAINGUET CEuropean Centre for the Development ofVocational TrainingCEDEFOPLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1999, 89 p.(Dossier)ISBN: 92-828-6749-8, enEUR-OP, L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales offices,http://eur-op.eu.int/en/general/s-ad.htmCat.nr.: HX-22-99-232-EN-CEN FR DE

At this time of high unemployment, es-pecially among young people, analysis ofthe steps in the transition between theeducational system and working life hasbecome an important field of study. Sur-veys are being developed, research net-works set up, etc. The aim of this reportis to arrive at an understanding of the fac-tors that ensure the success of vocationalintegration and offer protection againstunemployment. Statistical studies on thetransition cannot of course, as things nowstand, produce clear-cut answers, butwhat they can do is to state the questionsand sometimes challenge received ideason the prospects offered by the variousstreams of study. This report is intendedto be a provisional review of the variousnational surveys existing in Europe, thecomparative research conducted as a re-sult, the main variables surveyed, themethodological problems encountered,the principal findings, the questions stillunanswered and the hypotheses. It alsoreviews the national surveys currentlygathering information on the transition,the existing research networks, compara-tive studies and, at the end, an exhaus-tive bibliography. For the researcher, then,this report is a sort of interim review, inthat it highlights the hypotheses that needto be developed, the improvements to bemade to the data-gathering tools, the com-parisons and harmonisation that are called


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Education policy analysis 1999Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, OECDCentre for Educational Research and In-novation, CERIParis: OECD, 1999, 94 p.ISBN: 92-64-17136-3, enOECD Publications,2 rue André-Pascal,F-75775 Paris Cedex 16,Tel.: (33-1) 45248200,Fax: 49104276,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.oecd.org/publicationsEN (Also: FR,DE)

To meet a continuing growth in demandfor learning, OECD countries seek to pro-vide a wider array of education and train-ing opportunities for learners in their ear-liest years through adult life. Has in-creased participation in education andtraining in the 1990s met the demand forlifelong learning? What gaps remain, andfor which learners and in which types oflearning? What are the most promisingpolicy directions to encourage the expan-sion of learning opportunities that re-spond to learning aims and learner needs?How can policies help marshall the re-sources needed for the investment inlearning and to encourage their efficientuse? This 1999 edition of Education PolicyAnalysis explores these and other ques-tions. Drawing on the policy experienceand trends in OECD countries, the fourchapters in this book cover: - projectionsof growth in participation in formal edu-cation and training to meet lifelong learn-ing targets, and implications for costs; -policy options to secure the benefits ofearly childhood education and care; - theuses of ICT in education; - tracking par-ticipation from under-represented groupsin tertiary education.Image location: http://electrade.gfi.fr/isroot/OECDBookShop/covers/9699092m.gif

Employment and growth in the know-ledge-based economyOrganisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, OECDParis: OECD, 1999, reprint, 392 p.ISBN: 92-64-14813-2, enOECD Publications,2 rue André-Pascal,F-75775 Paris Cedex 16,

Tel.: (33-1) 45248200,Fax: 49104276,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.oecd.org/publications

Managers, policy makers and economistsconcur, increasingly, about the importanceof knowledge and learning for the eco-nomic success of people, firms and na-tional economies. But how is knowledgebeing produced, distributed and used asinformation technology becomes morewidely diffused? And as production be-comes knowledge-intensive in its inputsand outputs, what are the implications foreconomic analysis and policy? How canwe measure the growing importance ofknowledge for economic development?This publication brings together articlesby a range of international experts andscholars. Their observations and conclu-sions cover the complex and vital inter-section between empirical measurement,economic theory, and policy.

Measuring student knowledge skills:a new framework for assessementOrganisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, OECDOECD Programme for International Stu-dent Assessment, PISAParis: OECD, 1999, 81 p.ISBN: 92-64-17053-7ISBN: 92-64-17053-1OECD Publications,2 rue André-Pascal,F-75775 Paris Cedex 16,Tel.: (33-1) 45248200,Fax: 49104276,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.oecd.org/publicationsEN FR

Parents, students, the public and thosewho run education systems need to knowwhether children are acquiring the nec-essary skills and knowledge to becometomorrow’s citizens and to continue learn-ing throughout life. International indica-tors can describe the levels of achieve-ment in various countries, to which oth-ers might aspire. They can provide direc-tion for school’s instructional efforts andfor students’ learning as well as insightsinto curriculum strengths and weaknesses.This is the first volume in the PISA series.It provides the conceptual framework onwhich the PISA 2000 assessment is based.


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It defines the domains of reading literacy,mathematics literacy and scientific literacyforming the core of PISA in terms of thecontent the students need to acquire, theprocesses that need to be performed, andthe contexts in which knowledge andskills are applied. It also describes themethods developed to ensure that theassessment tasks are valid across coun-tries, are strong at measuring relevantskills and are based on authentic life situ-ations.

Preparing youth for the 21st century:the transition from education to thelabour market: proceedings of theWashington D.C. Conference, 23-24February 1999Organisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, OECDParis: OECD, 1999, 458 p.ISBN: 92-64-17076-6OECD Publications,2 rue André-Pascal,F-75775 Paris Cedex 16,Tel.: (33-1) 45248200,Fax: 49104276,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.oecd.org/publications

This publication points the way to futureinitiatives to improve youth labour mar-ket and educational outcomes as identi-fied by policy-makers and experts ofOECD countries brought together at theWashington Conference “Preparing youthfor the 21st century: the policy lessonsfrom the past two decades” held on 23-24 February 1999. To give a most com-prehensive picture to date, it first putstoday’s challenges into a historical per-spective by taking stock of two decadesof policies for youth employment. Butmore substantially, this book providesinsight into experiences and policy issuesin the United States, as well as in Europeand Japan, with stress on the special needsof disadvantaged youth. Anyone inter-ested in making sure that youth will makea good start in education and in estab-lishing rewarding labour market careerswill find this compendium a milestone inthe youth employment debate.

Quality and internationalisation inhigher educationOrganisation for Economic Co-operationand Development, OECDProgramme on Institutional Managementin Higher Education, IMHEParis: OECD, 1999, 268 p.ISBN: 92-64-17049-9OECD Publications,2 rue André-Pascal,F-75775 Paris Cedex 16,Tel.: (33-1) 45248200,Fax: 49104276,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.oecd.org/publicationsEN (Also: FR)

This book discusses some of the chal-lenges of ensuring quality in internation-alisation, and provides a framework toassist institutions in designing and review-ing their own strategies and policies.Analysis of the envolving policy environ-ment is contributed by internationally rec-ognised experts, and case studies fromAustralia, Finland, Kenya, Mexico, Polandand United States are included. The bookalso presents the InternationalisationQuality Review Process, a unique practi-cal tool for institutional leaders and man-agers who wish to develop the interna-tional dimension of their programmes andservices.Cover picturehttp://www.oecd.org/els/images/gifs/qualhighed_fre.gif

Employment revival in Europe: labourmarket success in Austria, Denmark,Ireland and the NetherlandsAUER PInternational Labour Office, ILOGeneva: ILO, 2000, 140 p.ISBN: 92-2-110841-4ILO Publications,CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland,or from ILO local offices in many coun-tries,Tel.: (41-22) 7997912,Fax: (41-22) 7998577,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.ilo.org

This innovative study reviews the remark-able economic and labour market recov-ery made by four small European coun-tries: Austria, Denmark, Ireland and theNetherlands. It analyses their success and


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highlights the specific factors responsible,in particular the promotion of social dia-logue and the institution of criticalmacroeconomic and labour market poli-cies. While assessing the progress andexamining the remaining problems inthese four countries, the book comparestheir progress with that of other EuropeanUnion countries and examines how simi-lar policies and action could help combatunemployment and make progress to-wards full employment. It also shows theemployment intensity of economic growthand gives readers a substantial, broadoverview of the economic and labourmarket situation in each country. The rea-sons behind the success are consideredas well, and the study shows that devel-oped Welfare States in Europe have re-cently demonstrated a fair capacity foradjustment resulting in labour market suc-cess. The study makes relevant policyrecommendations for promoting furthergrowth and social progress in these coun-tries, as well as in others across Europe.There is a special annex dedicated to edu-cation and training.

Managing vocational training systems:a handbook for senior administratorsGASSKOV VInternational Labour Office, ILOGeneva: ILO, 2000, 278 p.ISBN: 92-2-110867-8ILO Publications,CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland,or from ILO local offices in many coun-tries,Tel.: (41-22) 7997912,Fax: (41-22) 7998577,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.ilo.org

This book addresses the multiplicity ofchallenges facing public vocational edu-cation and training programmes aroundthe world. It provides state-of-the-artmaterials and frameworks for coordinat-ing important management and structuralreforms. It offers practical guidelines formanaging budgets and finance, evaluat-ing performance and developing strate-gic operational plans, along with othervaluable methods and techniques for run-ning effective vocational education andtraining systems. The handbook is organ-ised into six distinct modules and pro-vides invaluable suggestions for identify-

ing and reacting to labour market signals,and solving common problems in strate-gic planning. It also offers useful analytictools for programme assessment, de-scribes a structure of funding mechanismsand reviews schemes for financing voca-tional education, labour market trainingand government- regulated financing oftraining in enterprises. Furthermore, thebook outlines a key framework for guid-ing training providers to improve organi-sational structure, staffing and budgetingprocedures, and quality control.

World trends in adult education re-searchWERNER M (ed.)UNESCO Institute of Education, UIEInternational Seminar on World Trends inAdult Education Research, Montreal,Canada, 06-09 September, 1994Hamburg: UIE, 1999, 280 p.UIE,Feldbrunnennstrasse 58,20148 Hamburg, Germany,Tel. +49 40 4480410,Fax: +49 40 4107723

This document presents in three sectionsthe contributions prepared for the con-cluding international seminar on WorldTrends in Adult Education Research, heldin Montreal. The first section includes twoanalyses of trends and prospects in thefield of adult education research and theimplications for a future research agenda.The second section consists of the re-gional studies which were prepared in theframework of this trend analysis, enrichedby selected national analyses. In alpha-betical order it starts with the two contri-butions from Africa. The study on the Arabregion is followed by the three-part Asiancontribution. The Pan-European survey isalso divided into three parts, 1) a regionalanalysis of the Western European situa-tion, 2) one about Central and EasternEuropean countries and a study onCanada. Two regional analyses finallypresent the Latin and American picture,3) the final third section consists of thesynthesis report of the Montreal seminar.


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Getting the stakeholders involved:partnership at work in three countriesfrom Africa, Asia and Eastern EuropeMUNBODH S;ATCHOARENA D (ed.)International Institute for EducationalPlanning, IIEPUnited Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organisation, UNESCOIIEP research and studies programme(Paris), 1999, 142 p.ISBN: 92-803-1181-6IIEP, 7-9 rue Eugène-Delacroix,F-75116 Paris

Nowadays, partnership is often viewed asa way of improving the governance oftechnical and vocational education sys-tems. The wide recognition of social part-ners as key players and the emergence ofthe concept of social dialogue have largelycontributed to this trend. In many indus-trialised countries, partnership has for along time been an important element forthe regulation, provision and financing oftechnical and vocational education. In-creasingly, developing economies andcountries in transition are also establish-ing partnership frameworks and instru-ments to improve their training systemsand to make them more relevant and re-sponsive to both labour market and so-cial needs. This book is meant to providedetailed information on specific partner-ship processes, as well as a reflection ongood practice, by reviewing the recentexperiences of Mauritius, Hungary andIndia. Although this publication does notprovide general answers about success-ful partnership, it is hoped that it will beuseful to practitioners and policy-makersanxious to know more about how to makeit work and also about the risks and ob-stacles involved.

Lifelong learning in Europe: differ-ences and divisions - Vol 2: strategiesof social integration and individuallearning biographiesWALTHER, A; STAUBER, B (eds.)Lifelong learning in Europe, Lisbon, May1998Tübingen: Neuling Verlag, 1999, 247 p.Regionale und internationale Sozialfor-schungISBN: 3-922859-51-8

This book takes up the discussion on thepotentials and limitations of lifelong learn-

ing that have been raised in the first vol-ume. Like the first volume it is based onthe proceedings of a European conferenceheld in Lisbon in 1998. This volume con-centrates on the contradictions of lifelonglearning policies: flexibilisation and indi-vidualisation require a differentiation oflearning opportunities according to indi-vidual needs and aspirations, social posi-tions and biographical perspectives. Therelationship between differences and di-visions is analysed theoretically as wellas in concrete case studies.

European Union: policies,programmes, participants

Report from the Commission to theCouncil, the European Parliament, theEconomic and Social Committee andthe Committee of the Regions on theimplementation, results and overallassessment of the European Year ofLifelong Learning (1996): submitted inaccordance with Article 8 of EuropeanParliament and Council Decision No.2493/95/ECEuropean CommissionLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1999, 21 p.(Documents COM, (99) 447 final)ISSN: 0254-1475, enEUR-OP, L-2985 Luxembourg, or from itsnational sales offices, http://eur-op.eu.int/en/general/s-ad.htmCat.nr.: CB-CO-99-452-EN-CEN FR DE (Also: DA EL ES FI IT NL PTSV)

Since the initiative for the European Yearof Lifelong Learning was implemented in1996 the concept of “lifelong learning” hasgained acceptance in public opinion andpolitical discourse, stimulating policy de-bate on adapting education and trainingprovision to an increasingly diversifieddemand. The Commission chose a dimen-sion which highlights the complementarityand continuity between education andvocational training in terms of personaldevelopment, integrating people, intosociety, employability and economic com-petitiveness. It can be concluded that theacceptance gained indicates that the Eu-ropean Year was a timely initiative whichhas helped fundamentally to change so-ciety and attitudes, and that it has been


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one of the more successful initiatives ofthis type.

Lifelong learning: the contribution ofeducation systems in the MemberStates of the European UnionInformation Network on Education inEurope, EURYDICEBrussels: Eurydice, 2000, 163 p.ISBN: 2-87-116-294-8, enEURYDICE European Unit,15 rue d’Arlon, B-1050 Brussels,Tel.: (32 2) 2383011,Fax: (32 2) 2306562,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.eurydice.org

The learning society is not ahead of usbut already with us. Lifelong learning isone of the central principles of the Euro-pean Union, which has undertaken tostrengthen European cooperation in thisarea; this is the aim which ministers re-sponsible for education and training inEuropean countries have chosen to guidetheir policies. However, how it should beimplemented has not been settled once andfor all. The notion of lifelong learning hasbeen very rapidly taken for granted andlauded as a firmly established enterprise.What is at issue now, therefore, is howthe concept should be institutionalized.Thesurvey conducted by Eurydice betweenOctober 1999 and March 2000 takes stockof the measures and policies implementedby the governments of the 15 MemberStates so that anyone may have an oppor-tunity to become involved in lifelong learn-ing at any age. After looking back at howthe concept was defined and developed,the survey analyses actions undertaken atall levels of the education system (pre-school, compulsory, upper secondary andhigher education, as well as adult educa-tion). The results show that all MemberStates are using the aim of lifelong learn-ing to inject the necessary vitality and senseof purpose into the reforms they are nowimplementing. The way they have takenover the concept varies and largely de-pends on the specific nature of their sys-tems. Yet similar trends are observable re-gardless of the level of education con-cerned: improving, broadening and diver-sifying provision, fighting failure, makinguse of the new information and communi-cation technologies, developing coopera-tion within and outside the education sys-

tem, increasing flexibility and improvingtransparency, etc. The survey is based oninformation gathered from each countryin the course of a working partnershipbetween the National Units of theEURYDICE Network and the appropriateministerial departments. Its appraisal is thusbased on reliable first-hand data.EN (Also: FR,PT)http://www.eurydice.org/Documents/LLL/EN/ENQUETE_2_EN.pdfDownloadable document

Deregulation in placement services: acomparative study for eight EU coun-triesDE KONING J (coord.); DENYS J;WALWEI UEuropean Commission - DG V Luxem-bourg: EUR-OP, 1999, 67 p.ISBN: 92-828-6850-8, enEUR-OP, L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales offices,http://eur-op.eu.int/en/general/s-ad.htmCat.nr.: CE-21-99-860-EN-CEN

Until the 1990s job placement was seenas a public task in which the Public Em-ployment Service (PES) was to play thecentral role. Under the influence of thegeneral tendency towards deregulationand privatisation, and more specificallydue to criticism of the PES performance,this has changed. In many countries thePES monopoly in job broking was abol-ished in the first half of the 1990s. Oftenthis change was followed by further lib-eralisation of the job services market.Based on national reports for 8 countries(Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland,Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden andthe United Kingdom), this summary re-port tries to draw a number of generalconclusions about deregulation in place-ment services. The 8 countries were cho-sen because deregulation was an impor-tant or potentially important developmentin placement services. The main conclu-sion is that of the countries involved themarket share of private agencies in jobplacement is only high in the Netherlandsand the United Kingdom (and in the Flem-ish community in Belgium).http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dg05/publicat/employment/deregulation_en.pdf DownDownloadable document


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Survey into the socio-economic back-ground of ERASMUS studentsCommission of the European Communi-ties Luxembourg: EUR-OP, 2000, Docu-ments COM (2000) 4 final, 2000, 82 p.ISSN: 0254-1475, enEUR-OP, L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales offices,http://eur-op.eu.int/en/general/s-ad.htmCat.nr.: KT-CO-00-014-EN-CEN FR DE ES (Also: DA FI IT NL PT SV )

As part of the negotiations for the budgetrevision of the first phase of the SOCRA-TES programme, the European Parliamentrequested the European Commission topresent a report on the social and eco-nomic background of Higher Educationstudents participating in the ERASMUSchapter of the SOCRATES programme. TheCommission therefore set up, in co-op-eration with the ERASMUS National Agen-cies, a mechanism to collect informationby means of a survey of a representativesample of ERASMUS students having par-ticipated in the programme in the 1997/98 academic year. It is shown how thescheme has grown from about 3,000 stu-dents when it first began in 1987/88 toover 1000,000 today, it is valued through-out the Higher Education world in Eu-rope and is now extending into many ofthe countries in Central and Eastern Eu-rope. The experiences available to mo-bile students are many and varied and arenot merely educational. Many of the find-ings of the survey support widespreadviews about the strengths of a study pe-riod abroad and about the impact of theprogramme which confirms that the Com-munity programmes in the field of edu-cation, training and youth play an impor-tant role.

The European Employment Strategy:investing in people, investing in moreand better jobsEuropean Commission - DG VLuxembourg: EUR-OP, 1999, 10 p.EUR-OP, L-2985 Luxembourg,or from its national sales offices,http://eur-op.eu.int/en/general/s-ad.htmEN FR DE ES (Also: DA FI IT NL PT SV )

Europe has not managed to meet one ofits key objectives: to generate job oppor-

tunities for all. All Member States are con-cerned by the different facets of a com-mon problem: many people in Europehave no opportunity to create wealth andearn their share of it. 16.5 million peopleare looking for a job without success.Over half of those unemployed have beenout of work for over a year, one third ofthem for more than two years. This re-duces a person’s employability while add-ing to the growing problem of social ex-clusion. Unemployment hits particularlyhard those people who are often alreadyat a disadvantage when it comes to com-peting on a labour market where competi-tiveness is the key word. Unemploymenthas a high social cost for the individualand a high economic cost for society.http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg05/empl&esf/empl2000/invest_en.pdfDownloadable document

Modernisation of Europe and the roleof the social partnersLARSSON AEuropean Commission - DG VBrussells: European Commission - DG V,1999, 10 p.Presidency Conference on the Social Dia-logue, Helsinski, Helsinski, 2/11/99European Commission, DG V,200, rue de la Loi, B-1049 BrusselsEN

During the Presidency conference on so-cial dialogue, which was held in Hel-sinki, the Director General of DG Employ-ment and Social Affairs spoke of the roleof social partners. Social dialogue is aboutcreating better conditions for managingchange, in the private as well as the pub-lic sector. The wide range of changes andnew conditions that govern working life- from technological innovation to con-sumer preferences, from demographicchange to the new gender profile of theworkforce - are roughly the same for thepublic and the private sectors. The socialdialogue needs to rise to the challengethe European modernisation agenda ispresenting to it if we are all to enjoy eco-nomic and social progress in the nextcentury.http://europa.eu.int/comm/dg05/speeches/991102alb.docDownloadable document


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Beleidsnota werkgelegenheid2000 - 2004

Vlaams minister Werkgelegenheid enToerismeBrussels: Vlaams minister Werkgelegen-heid en Toerisme, 2000, 197p.Vlaams minister Werkgelegenheid enToerisme,Koolstraat 35, 1000 Brussel

This report on new policy is a concretepresentation of the basic options avail-able in the government agreement for theperiod 2000- 2004. The report on the mostsuitable policy sets out the major strate-gic choices and options in the field ofemployment and in the field of trainingfor the duration of the government agree-ment. The report reflects the vision of theresponsible minister and forms the basisfor debate in the Flemish Parliament. Indue course the implementing measureswill be presented to the Flemish Govern-ment or the Flemish Parliament for ap-proval.

Oudereneducatie en lokaal beleidVlaams Centrum voor Volksontwikkeling,VCVOVorming (Brussels) 1, 2000, p. 10 -11ISSN: 0773-6150

This article refers to the Study Day, heldon 14 December 1999, when the Groupfor the co-ordination of training coursesand the Flemish Centre for Social Devel-opment organised a conference on thesubject of education for older people andthe relevant policy that needs to be im-plemented at local level, in collaborationwith Forem. This form of education al-lows, inter alia, for the social participa-tion of older age groups and for theirpersonal development, so that they canmake a longer and better contribution tocommunity life.

Arbeitsprogramm 1999des Bundesinstituts

für Berufsbildung(1999 Work Programme of the FederalInstitute for Vocational Training)BOTT P (comps.)

Bundesinstitut für Berufsbildung, BIBBBielefeld: Bertelsmann Verlag,1999, 224 p.ISBN: 3-88555-663-4

In addition to a description of the Fed-eral Institute for Vocational Training(BIBB) as a research institution for voca-tional training, the annual report containsthe 1999 research projects, which fallunder three research areas. There are 43projects, including eight externally fundedinternational projects, and 59 plannedprojects. The publication provides infor-mation on focuses for research, researchobjectives, time frames and contact peo-ple at BIBB. An index and organisationaldiagram of the BIBB are also included.

Berufliche Eingliederung: zur Ent-wicklung einer erziehungswissen-schaftlichen Theorie des beruflichenVerbleibs(Vocational integration: the developmentof a scientific educational theory on vo-cational progress)ZIMMERMANN MMunich: Hampp, 1999, IX, 281 p. + bibl.(Wirtschaftspaedagogische Studien zurindividuellen und kollektiven Entwick-lung, 2)ISBN: 3-87988-379-3

The author considers to what extent vo-cational training and continuing voca-tional training affect the kind and qualityof jobs secured by graduates of trainingprogrammes. The focus is on developingand empirically testing a concept for thetransition from school to work. The au-thor also makes recommendations for fur-ther research into the relationship be-tween vocational education and integra-tion into employment. The publicationshould be of interest to those in research,politics and practice who are engaged inthe integration of young people into theworkforce.Note: Ph.D. thesis,University of Mannheim, 1998

From the Member States

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Berufserziehung und sozialer Wandel(Vocational education and social change)STRATMANN K; PAETZOLD G; WAHLE MFrankfurt/Main: Gesellschaft zur Förde-rung Arbeitsorientierter Forschung undBildung, 1999, 677 p. + bibl.ISBN: 3-925070-25-7

The impetus behind Karlwilhelm Strat-mann’s more than thirty years of researchinto the history of vocational pedagogyis to point to its continued relevance. Thehistory of vocational training also illumi-nates tensions between vocational train-ing and socio-political systems. This vol-ume includes a collection of essays on“Vocational education in caste society”,which is followed by analyses of “Voca-tional education in the 19th Century”,“Vocational training in the 20th Century”and “Vocational pedagogics as a field ofeducation science.”

Bildungscontrolling: Ein Konzept zurOptimierung der betrieblichen Weiter-bildungsarbeit(Training control: a concept for theoptimisation of in-plant continuing train-ing)KREKEL EBundesinstitut für Berufsbildung, BIBBBielefeld: Bertelsmann, 1999, 112 p. +bibl.(Berichte zur beruflichen Bildung, 233)ISBN: 3-7639-0887-0

Technological and economic changesdetermine new organisational and produc-tion structures and demand highly quali-fied personnel. Enterprises are increas-ingly taking recourse to training controlas a way of planning and regulating in-plant continuing vocational training andof optimising effectiveness and efficiency.The contributions explain different as-pects of training control, provide practi-cal examples from in-plant training pro-grammes and point to future challengesfor controlling in continuing vocationaltraining.

Educación y formacióna las puertas del siglo XXI:

la formación continua en España(Education and training on the thresholdof the 21st century: continuing training in

Spain)CACHON RODRIGUEZ L; MOLSOSA IPUJAL JMadrid: Editorial Complutense,1999, 411 p.ISBN: 84-89784-67-1

This is a compilation of reports presentedat the general opening of the academicyear at the Universidad Complutense ofMadrid entitled “Education and trainingin Spain on the threshold of the 21st cen-tury”, which took place in San Lorenzodel Escorial from 3rd to 7th August 1999,sponsored by the Fundación para laFormación Contínua (FORCEM, the Foun-dation for Continuing Training). The pur-pose was to identify the main prioritiesof continuing training in Spain in orderto establish the measures that should betaken within the new framework of voca-tional training created by the 2nd NationalProgramme of Vocational Training. Thereport has six parts. The first, “Education,training and learning in the knowledgesociety” analyses education and labourpolicies, in particular the EmploymentPlan and the LOGSE (the General Educa-tion Regulation Act). The second, “Train-ing and the social organisations” coversnational agreements on continuing train-ing, including opinions of labour andeducation administrations, trade unionsand employer organisations on the 2nd

National Programme of Vocational Train-ing. The third is dedicated to continuingtraining in Spain, especially the manage-ment and work undertaken by theFORCEM. The fourth part, “Training poli-cies and social harmony” contains reportsfrom the FORCEM’s sectoral and territo-rial areas, along with an evaluation of thefirst national agreements on continuingtraining. Part five includes “The Europeandimension of vocational training”, whichconcentrates on the reform of the Struc-tural Funds, the development of certainEU initiatives in Spain (OPTIMA I and II)and presents both the trade unions’ andemployers’ assessment of the latest indus-trial changes. The final part, “New reali-ties in continuing training, practice andprojects”, includes several innovativepractices. The course programme is in-cluded in an appendix.E


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Technical and vocationaltraining in the perspective

of a lifelong education: the contribu-tion of the French Commission forUNESCOCommission Nationale Francaise, CNFUnited Nations Educational, Scientific andCultural Organisation, UNESCOSecond International Congress on Tech-nical and Vocational Education, Seoul,Republic of Korea, 26-30 April 1999Paris: UNESCO, 1999, 22 p.EN

This document was prepared for the Sec-ond International Congress on Technicaland Vocational Education, held in Seoulon 26-30 April 1999, as the contributionof the French Commission for UNESCO.The French experience in teaching andvocational training and the perspectiveswhich appear at the dawn of the 21st cen-tury are representative of a developmentwhich since the eighties has created highhopes for the systems of education andinitial and continuing training. Today citi-zens must be aware that any training isan aid to finding a job but in no way aguarantee that one will indeed find andkeep a job. Training must remain - or onceagain become – a tool for social promo-tion and an instrument for adapting tonew technologies.

Formation professionnelle initiale etcontinue en Europe: visa pour l’ave-nir: une étude CEREQ-Elf AquitaineAVENTUR F (ed.); MOBUS M (ed.);VERGNE JL (ed.)Elf Aquitaine, Direction des RessourceshumainesCentre d’études et de recherches sur lesqualifications, CEREQ Paris: MagnardVuibert Multimédia, 1998, 376 p.ISBN: 2-8434-8031-0

This is a study conducted in the elevencountries in which Elf Aquitaine is estab-lished. For each country the first partanalyses the place of continuing voca-tional training in the national vocationaltraining systems by describing these sys-tems. The second part presents an over-view of information contained in nationaldocuments. It successively covers the or-ganisation and key players of initial vo-cational training, dynamic movements inthese systems (evolution of demand, re-

form policies and occupational integra-tion), the training level of the workforce,continuing vocational training (practicesand procedures to regulate the trainingof employees).

Aikuiskoulutus Suomessaja muualla Euroopassa.

[Adult education in Finland and inother European countries]RAHIKAINEN MGovernment Institute for Economic Re-searchGovernment Institute for Economic Re-search. Discussion Papers (Helsinki), 192,1999, 57 p.ISSN: 0788-5016ISBN: 951-561-271-3Government Institute for Economic Re-search,P.O. Box 269,FIN-00531 Helsinki

This paper gives an overview of trends inadult education in the 1990s. The key fig-ures presented included public costs ofadult education, participation in adulteducation and the scope of educationprovided. The targets of adult educationinclude, e.g., adjustment to the knowledgeeconomy and to rapid technologicalchanges, redistribution of education overlife-cycle, promotion of active policies,and social cohesion. The outcomes ofadult education include returns to labourmarket education and training, returns toin-service training, private rates of returnto adult education, and social returns tolifelong learning. Characteristics and mo-tives of participants of adult education arepresented along with the issue of the ac-cumulation of education.

Ammatillinen koulutus 2010: työvoi-man tarve vuonna 2010 ja amma-tillisen koulutuksen mitoitus[Vocational education 2010: human re-sources needs in 2010 and the quanti-tative planning of vocational educa-tion]AUTIO VOpetushallitus, OPHHelsinki: Hakapaino Oy, 1999, 290 p.ISBN: 952-13-0518-5National Board of Education,Library, Hakaniemenkatu 2,FIN-00530 Helsinki, Finland

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The publication deals with the quantita-tive prediction of vocational education.The starting point is the estimate of hu-man resources which will be needed by2010. The publication contains an exten-sive set of background material and acomprehensive description of the devel-opment of human resources as well ascomputational principles and methods forthe calculation of the need for vocationaleducation.

Ammatillisen koulutuksen arvostusEuroopassa ja Suomessa: ammattiin jajatko-opintoihin toiselta asteelta[Esteem for and quality of initial vo-cational education in Finland and inEurope: pathways from upper second-ary education to employment and fur-ther education].LASONEN J (ed.)Jyväskylä UniversityKoulutuksen tutkimuslaitos. Tutkimusse-losteita (Jyväskylä) 6, 1999, 292 p.ISSN: 1456-5153ISBN: 951-39-0566-7IER,P.O. Box 35 (Freda),FIN-40351 Jyväskylä,Tel.: (358-14) 2601211,Fax: (358-14) 2603201,URL: http://www.jyu.fi/tdk/ktl/index2.html

This publication is the final report of anational project called “Promoting esteemfor vocational education and training”aimed at disseminating information on theresults of two extensive projects belong-ing to the Leonardo da Vinci programme,Post-16 Strategies and INTEQUAL. Thetwo projects surveyed and analysed goalspursued, strategies applied, developmen-tal projects launched and pathways toemployment and further employmentopened in reforms of upper secondaryeducation in Europe, and compared anumber of innovative schemes for devel-oping double qualifications. The publica-tion contains 16 articles by various au-thors.

Benchmarking ammatillisen aikuis-koulutuskeskuksen toiminnan kehit-tämisen välineenä[Benchmarking as a development toolin a vocational adult education centre]

KULMALA JUniversity of TampereActa Universitatis Tamperensis (Tampere)663, 1999ISSN: 1455-1616ISBN: 951-44-4569-4University of Tampere,Publications Sales,P.O. Box 617,FIN-33101 Tampere, Finland

The purpose of the research underlyingthis thesis was to find out how vocationaladult education centres can developthrough the use of benchmarking. Theresearch refers to both quantitative andqualitative aspects. The aim was to findout what kind of understanding and ex-perience adult education centres have ofbenchmarking activities. In addition, theresearch focused on certain individual andorganisational factors that are prerequi-sites for benchmarking.

Astonishing success:economic growth

and the labour market in IrelandO’CONNELL PInternational Labour Organization - Em-ployment and Training Department, ILOGeneva: ILO, 1999, 77 p.; bibl.(Employment and training papers, 44)ISSN: 1020-5322;ISBN: 92-2-111756-1;ILO local officesor direct fromILO Publications,International Labour Office,CH-1211 Geneva 22, Switzerland,http://www.ilo.orgEN

This study of Ireland’s labour market ispart of a series examining countries withimpressive labour market records, theother European countries being Austria,Denmark and the Netherlands. Ireland hasbeen transformed over the last decadefrom a state with poor growth rates to aneconomy performing at exceptional lev-els. Since 1993 the economy has grownat annual rates of over 8 per cent (pc),employment is growing by 4 pc perannum and unemployment has fallen toless than 8 pc in 1998 - down from 17 pcin 1993. This study presents a detailedaccount of the principal trends in the la-bour market over the period 1981-1998

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and discusses the distributional conse-quences of success in the economy andthe labour market. It shows that rapidgrowth has coincided with increased pov-erty and low-paid work and that barriersstill exist which impede womens’ partici-pation in paid work. The report exam-ines the contribution that social partner-ship in Ireland has made to the country’seconomic success and examines otherfactors which have contributed to thissuccess, among them - CSF funding, thedemographic structure, the educationalsystem.

Hva er yrkesetikk?:Om sammenhengen

mellom yrkes- og profesjonsdidak-tikk, yrkeskunnskap og yrkesrelevantforskning.[What is vocational didactics?: On the re-lation between vocational and profes-sional didactics, vocational knowledgeand vocationally relevant research]HIIM H; HIPPE EUniversitetsforlagetNorsk Pedagogisk Tidsskrift (Oslo) 3,1999, 7 p.Universitetsforlaget,P. O. box 2959 Tøyen,N-0608 Oslo

In this article the authors – both teachersand researchers in the field of vocationaltraining - discuss questions arising froma new, national practical and pedagogi-cal training programme for teachers, in-volving a six months’ course on vocationaldidactics. The article discusses the rela-tions, similarities and differences betweenvocational didactics, general didactics andsubject-related didactics. Furthermore, theauthors argue that vocational didacticsmust be understood and designed in closerelation to knowledge development andresearch related to each professional filed.Two questions form the basis for the dis-cussion: 1. In what ways do vocationaldidactics differ from general and subject-related didactics? 2. Is there a connectionbetween different views of vocational di-dactics on the one hand and differentviews of research on the other?

Internationalising the curriculum forvocational education: problems andpossibilities.NORDKVELLE Y; FAUSKE HEuropean Journal of Intercultural Studies(Basingstoke) 10/1, 1999, p. 105-121ISSN: 0952-391XCarfax Publishing Company,P.O. Box 25, Abingdon,UK-Oxfordshire OX14 3UE,Tel.: (44-1235) 401000,Fax: (44-1235) 401550,E-mail: [email protected],URL: http://www.carfax.co.uk

This paper deals with the discrepancybetween the stated national curriculargoals for vocational education in Norwayregarding the teaching of ‘international co-responsibility’ values to student, and thefailure of the strategy for their implemen-tation throughout the curriculum. Thepaper investigates possible reasons for thepersistence of negative attitudes towardsimmigrants and development aid amongstudents in vocational training, especiallymen. It also describes some of the rel-evant historical and sociological back-ground of the vocational curriculum. Thepaper suggests that there is an urgent needto support curricular development in sucha way that ‘international co-responsibil-ity’ can be realised within a vocationallearning context, and puts forward someideas in this direction.

NOU 1999-17: Realkompetanse i høgreutdanning: Dokumentasjon av real-kompetanse og etablering av kortereog tilpassede studieløp i høgre ut-danning[NOU 1999-17: non-formal competence inhigher education: documentation of non-formal competence and establishing ofshorter and adapted training]Kirke-, utdannings- og forskningsdeparte-mentet, KUFOslo: KUF, 1999, 56 p. + annexesAkademika AS, Møllergata 17,P.O. Box 8134 Dep, N-0033 Oslo

This green paper was prepared by a pub-lic committee, representating private in-dustry, public authorities and social part-ners appointed by the Ministry of Educa-tion, Research and Church Affairs. Withthe aim of preparing for the planned“Competence Reform” the committee dis-

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cusses the development of an arrange-ment for documentation of non-formalcompetencies, including criteria for theacknowledgement of skills, applicationprocedures and how the system shouldbe managed. Furthermore, the commit-tee discusses the status of such documen-tation in relation to higher education, withregard to admission, credits and durationof training.http://odin.dep.no/nou/1999-17Note: Electronic text address

Estimation in a durationmodel for evaluating edu-

cational programsBRÄNNÄS KUmeå University. Department of Econom-icsUmeå: Umeå universitet 2000, 23 p.(Umeå economic studies, 2000(521))ISSN: 0348-1018Umeå university,Department of Economics,S-901 87 Umeå, Sweden

The paper is focused on estimation tech-niques for evaluating an educational pro-gram in terms of e.g the subsequent du-ration of unemployment or employment.This empirical work is focused on totaltime in employment following participa-tion in the Swedish adult education ini-tiative (AEI). The AEI is a five year adulteducation program that started in 1997and targets primarily the adult unem-ployed who lack a three year secondaryschool education.

New Deal and ethnicminority participants

MOODY ALabour Market Trends (London) 108/2,2000, p. 77-82ISSN: 1361-4819ISBN: 0-11-621223-3Stationery Office Publications Centre,Subscriptions Department,P.O. Box 276,London SW8 5DT,www.the-stationery-office.co.uk

The New Deal for young unemployedpeople, the Government’s flagship train-ing-for-employment programme, has beenoperating nationally since 1998; in thattime 380,000 people aged between 18 and24 have joined the programme, includingmore than 50,000 entrants from ethnicminority groups. This article describes thecharacteristics of the ethnic minorityentrants and examines their progressthrough the programme and their subse-quent destinations. It finds that ethnicminority participants are more likely toleave the programme in the early stages.Of those progressing to the options stageof the programme (full-time education ortraining, subsided employment or envi-ronmental work), ethnic minorities aremore likely to take the full-time educa-tion option. Ethnic minority participantswere less likely to leave the programmefor unsubsidised employment. Overall thearticle estimates that ethnic minority par-ticipants achieve 97 per cent of the joboutcomes of white participants, althoughethic minority groups are better qualified.

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Members of the documentary information network

CEDEFOP

European Centre for theDevelopment of Vocational TrainingP.O. Box 22427GR-55102 THESSALONIKITel. (30-31) 49 01 11 GeneralTel. (30-31) 49 00 79 SecretariatFax (30-31) 49 01 74 SecretariatMr. Marc WillemHead of Library & DocumentationServiceE-mail: [email protected] Information NetworkSecretariatE-mail: [email protected] Address:http://www.cedefop.grWeb address:http://www.trainingvillage.gr

CEDEFOP

European Centre for theDevelopment of Vocational Training20 avenue d’AuderghemB-1040 BRUSSEL/BRUXELLESTel. (32-2) 230 19 78Fax (32-2) 230 58 24Mr. J. Michael AdamsDirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Marieke ZwaninkE-mail: [email protected]. Marise AlbertsE-mail: [email protected] address:http://www.cedefop.grWeb address:http://www.trainingvillage.gr

FOREM

Office communautaire et régional dela formation professionnelle et del’emploiCIDOCCentre intercommunautaire de docu-mentation pour la formation profes-sionnelleBoulevard Tirou 104B-6000 CHARLEROITel. (32-71) 20 61 73 Ms. S. DieuTel. (32-71) 20 61 74 Ms. F. DenisFax (32-71) 20 61 98Ms. Sigrid DieuChef de ProjetsE-mail: [email protected]. Fabienne DenisSécretaire AssistanteE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.forem.be

VDAB

Vlaamse Dienst voorArbeidsbemiddeling enBeroepsopleidingICODOCIntercommunautairdocumentatiecentrum voorberoepsopleidingKeizerlaan 11B-1000 BRUSSEL/BRUXELLESTel. (32-2) 506 04 58Tel. (32-2) 506 04 59Fax (32-2) 506 04 28Mr. Reinald Van WeydeveldtDocumentationE-mail: [email protected]. Tomas QuaethovenE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.vdab.be

DEL

Danmarks ErhvervspaedagogiskeLaereruddannelseThe National Institute forEducational Training of VocationalTeachersRigensgade 13DK-1316 KOBENHAVN KTel. (45-33) 14 41 14 Ext. 317Ms. P. CortTel. (45-33) 14 41 14 Ext. 301Ms. M. HeinsFax (45-33) 14 19 15Fax (45-33) 14 42 14Ms. Pia CortResearch AssistantE-mail: [email protected]. Merete HeinsLibrarianE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.delud.dk

BIBB

Bundesinstitut für BerufsbildungReferat K4Fehrbelliner Platz 3D-10707 BERLINTel. (49-30) 86 43 22 30Dr. B. ChristopherTel. (49-30) 86 43 24 45Ms. S. BliedungFax (49-30) 86 43 26 07Dr. Bernd ChristopherE-mail: [email protected]. Steffi BliedungE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.bibb.de

OEEK

Organisation for Vocational Educa-tion and Training1 Ilioupoleos StreetGR-17236 ATHENSTel. (30-1) 976 44 64 GeneralTel. (30-1) 979 33 47 Ms. H. BarkabaFax (30-1) 976 44 64 GeneralFax (30-1) 973 15 93 Ms. H. BarkabaMr. Loukas ZahilasDirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Hermioni BarkabaHead of DocumentationWeb address: http://www.forthnet.gr/oeek/

INEM

Instituto Nacional de EmpleoMinisterio de Trabajo y SeguridadSocialCondesa de Venadito 9E-28027 MADRIDTel. (34-91) 585 95 82 GeneralTel. (34-91) 585 95 80Ms. M. Luz de las Cuevas TorresanoFax (34-91) 377 58 81Fax (34-91) 377 58 87Mr. Bernardo Díez RodriguezDeputy Director General ofTechnical ServicesMs. Maria Luz de las CuevasTorresanoInformation/DocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.inem.es

Centre INFFO

Centre pour le développement del’information sur la formation per-manenteTour Europe Cedex 07F-92049 PARIS LA DEFENSETel. (33-1) 41 25 22 22Fax (33-1) 47 73 74 20Mr. Patrick KesselDirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Danièle JoulieuHead of DocumentationE-mail: [email protected]. Stéphane HéroultDocumentation DepartmentE-mail: [email protected] address:http://www.centre-inffo.fr

FAS

The Training and EmploymentAuthorityP.O. Box 45627-33 Upper Baggot StreetDUBLIN 4IrelandTel. (353-1) 607 05 36Fax (353-1) 607 06 34Ms. Margaret CareyHead of Library & Technical Infor-mationE-mail: [email protected]. Jean WrigleyLibrarianWeb address: http://www.fas.ie

ISFOL

Istituto per lo sviluppo dellaformazione professionale deilavoratoriVia Morgagni 33I-00161 ROMATel. (39-06) 44 59 01Fax (39-06) 44 29 18 71Mr. Alfredo TamborliniGeneral DirectorMr. Colombo ContiHead of DocumentationE-mail: [email protected]. Luciano LibertiniE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.isfol.it

Chambre des métiersdu Grand-Duchéde Luxembourg

2 Circuit de la Foire InternationaleP.O. Box 1604 (Kirchberg)L-1016 LUXEMBOURGTel. (352) 426 76 71Fax (352) 42 67 87

CINOP

Centrum voor Innovatie vanOpleidingenCentre for Innovation of Educationand TrainingPettelaarpark 1Postbus 15855200 BP’s-HERTOGENBOSCHThe NetherlandsTel. (31-73) 680 08 00Tel. (31-73) 680 08 62 Mr. M. JacobsFax (31-73) 612 34 25Mr. Martin JacobsE-mail: [email protected]. Astrid BusserE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.cinop.nl


CEDEFOP

71

abf-Austria

ArbeitsgemeinschaftBerufsbildungsforschungRainergasse 38A-1050 WIENTel. (43-1) 545 16 71 31Fax (43-1) 545 16 71 22Ms. Susanne KlimmerE-mail: [email protected]. Marlis Milanovich (IBE)E-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.ibw.atWeb address: http://www.ibe.co.at

CIDES

Centro de Informação eDocumentação Económica e SocialMinistério do Trabalho e daSolidariedadePraça de Londres 2-1° AndarP-1091 LISBOA CodexTel. (351-1) 844 12 18Ms. O. Lopes dos SantosTel. (351-1) 844 12 19 Ms. F. HoraFax (351-1) 840 61 71Ms. Odete Lopes dos SantosDirectorE-mail:[email protected]. Fátima HoraDocumentation DepartmentE-mail: [email protected] address:http://www.deppmts.gov.pt

NBE

National Board of EducationHakaniemenkatu 2P.O. Box 380FIN-00531 HELSINKITel. (358-9) 77 47 71 24 Mr. M. KyröTel. (358-9) 77 47 72 43 Ms. A.MannilaFax (358-9) 77 47 78 65Mr. Matti KyröE-mail: [email protected]. Arja MannilaE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.oph.fi

SEP

Svenska EU ProgramkontoretUtbildning och kompetensutvecklingThe Swedish EU Programme Officefor Education, Training andCompetence DevelopmentBox 7785S-10396 STOCKHOLMTel. (46-8) 453 72 00Fax (46-8) 453 72 01Mr. Fredrik GunnarssonE-mail: [email protected]. Gunilla Spens (NIWL)E-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.eupro.seWeb address: http://www.niwl.se

IPD

Institute of Personnel andDevelopmentIPD House35 Camp RoadLONDONSW19 4UXUnited KingdomTel. (44-181) 971 90 00Ms. J. SchrammFax (44-181) 263 33 33 GeneralFax (44-181) 263 34 00 LibraryMs. Jennifer SchrammE-mail: [email protected]. Cathy DoyleLibrarianE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.ipd.co.uk/login/splashscreen.asp

NCU

Leonardo NorgeP.O. Box 2608St. HanshaugenN-0131 OSLOTel. (47-22) 86 50 00Fax (47-22) 20 18 01Mr. Halfdan FarstadE-mail: [email protected]. Grethe KjelldahlE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.teknologisk.no/leonardo/

Associated organisations

EC

European CommissionDGXXIIDirectorate General XXII Education,Training and YouthRue de la Loi 200 (B7, 04/67)B-1049 BRUSSEL/BRUXELLESTel. (32-2) 295 75 62 Ms. E. SpachisTel. (32-2) 295 59 81 Ms. D.MarchalantFax (32-2) 295 57 23Ms. E. SpachisFax (32-2) 296 42 59Ms. D. MarchalantMs. Eleni SpachisE-mail: [email protected]. Dominique MarchalantE-mail:[email protected] address: http://europa.eu.int/en/comm/dg22/dg22.html

EURYDICE

the Education Information Networkin EuropeLe réseau d’information sur l’éduca-tion en Europe15 rue d’ArlonB-1050 BRUSSEL/BRUXELLESTel. (32-2) 238 30 11Fax (32-2) 230 65 62Ms. Patricia Wastiau-SchlüterDirectorE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.eurydice.org

ETF

European Training FoundationVilla GualinoViale Settimio Severo 65I-10133 TORINOTel. (39-011) 630 22 22Fax (39-011) 630 22 00Ms. Denise LoughranLibrarianE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.etf.eu.int/etfweb.nsf/

ILO

International Labour OfficeBITBureau International du Travail4 Route des MorillonsCH-1211 GENEVE 22Tel. (41-22) 799 69 55Fax (41-22) 799 76 50Ms. Pierrette DunandEmployment & Training DepartmentDocumentalistE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.ilo.org

OIT

Centre international de formation deL’OIT125 Corso Unità d’ItaliaI-10127 TORINOTel. (39-011) 693 65 10Fax (39-011) 693 63 51Ms. KrouchDocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.itcilo.org

CINTERFOR/OIT

Centro Interamericano deInvestigación y Documentación so-bre Formación ProfesionalAvenida Uruguay 1238Casilla de correo 176111000 MONTEVIDEOURUGUAYTel. (598-2) 92 05 57Tel. (598-2) 92 00 63Fax (598-2) 92 13 05Mr. Pedro Daniel WeinbergDirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Martha PiaggioHead of DocumentationE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.cinterfor.org.uy

DfEE

Department for Education andEmploymentRoom E3MoorfootSHEFFIELDS1 4PQUnited KingdomTel. (44-114) 259 33 39Fax (44-114) 259 35 64Ms. Julia ReidLibrarianE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.dfee.gov.uk

FVET

Foundation for Vocational Educationand Training ReformLiivalaia 2EE-10118 TALLINNTel. (372) 631 44 20Fax (372) 631 44 21Ms. Lea OrroManaging DirectorE-mail: [email protected]. Tiina EnokE-mail: [email protected] address: http://www.kutseharidus.ee/


CEDEFOP

72

Issues recently

published in

English

No 16/99 Table of contents

Anticipating and developing competences in enterprises

• Guidelines for determining skill needs in enterprises (Karin Büchter)• Building learning organisations: Putting theory to test - Lessons from European

companies (Barry Nyhan)

Learning through mobility

• Mobility as a learning process (Søren Kristensen)• Foreign language instruction, vocational training and location securing

(Jacob Kornbeck)

A Nordic approach to helping school “drop-outs”

• Returning drop outs to school and work - the Nordic People’s College(Staffan Laestadius, Ingrid Hallman)

Over- and under-education

• Over- and under-education and the relation to vocational training (Joop Hartog)

Debate – Diplomas and the labour market

• Diplomas and the labour market: Results and questions (Louis Mallet)• Shift in skill demand (Christoph F. Buechtemann)• Diplomas versus skills (Hilary Steedman)• Diplomas, labour market signalling and the allocation of competence on jobs

(Gunnar Eliasson)

No 17/99

Learning and work organization

• New pressures for company training (Jacques Delcourt)• The risks and opportunities of learning on the job (Edgar Sauter)

Learning and culture

• The French education system as the expression of a political culture(Alain d’Iribarne; Philippe d’Iribarne)

Systems

• The funding of vocational education and training – an international comparisonof objectives and impact (Folkmar Kath)

• New efforts at reform of the Swiss vocational training system (Philipp Gonon)

Changing skill needs - theory and practice

• Structural characteristics and target categories of holistic vocational training (Bernd Ott)• The importance of the Internet and online systems for the future development

of qualification requirements; hypotheses and the results of experience(Angelika Lippe-Heinrich)

European research in vocational training

• The state of European vocational training research, its functions and its problems(Burkart Sellin; Phillip Grollmann)


CEDEFOP

73

Please cut out or copy the order form and send it in a window envelope to CEDEFOP

No 18/99

Learning in enterprises

• Training, skills, learning: how can new models be developed? (Philippe Méhaut)• The Thin Line. Teamwork - misnomer or innovation in work organisation

(Holger Bargmann)

Points from Europe

• EC and EU education and vocational training programmesfrom 1974 to 1999: an attempt at a critical and historical review (Burkart Sellin)

• Vocational training in Europe: individual and institutional determinants(Steven McIntosh)

• Multilingual School Education as a Key Qualification in the European Employment Area(Peter Graf)

Case Study

• Training and links between technical schools and industrial assembly plantsin northern Mexico (Alfredo Hualde Alfaro)

✄

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Yes, I want to read European and would like to subscribe to the European Journal “Vocational Training” for at least one year (3 issues, ECU 15 plus VAT and postage)

Please send me the following issues of the European Journal “Vocational Training” at a cost of ECU 7 per issue (plus VAT and postage)

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GR-55102 Thessalonica


CEDEFOP

74

The European Journalfor Vocational TrainingA call for articlesThe European Journal for Vocational Training journal is looking to publish articlesfrom researchers and specialists in vocational education and training and employ-ment. Researchers and specialists who want to bring the results of high-quality re-search, in particular comparative transnational research, to the attention of a wideaudience of policy-makers, researchers and practitioners in many different countries.

The European Journal is an independent and refereed publication. It is publishedthree times a year in English, French, German and Spanish and enjoys a wide circu-lation throughout Europe both within the Member States of the European Union andbeyond.

The journal is published by CEDEFOP (the European Centre for the Development ofVocational Training) and aims to contribute to debate on the development of voca-tional education and training, in particular by introducing a European perspective.

The journal is looking to publish articles which set out ideas, report on researchresults, and which report on experience at national and European level. It also pub-lishes position papers and reaction statements on issues in the field of vocationaleducation and training.

Articles submitted to the journal must be exact, yet accessible to a wide and diversereadership. They must be clear in order to be understood by readers from differentbackgrounds and cultures, not necessarily familiar with the vocational education andtraining systems of different countries. They should be able to understand clearly thecontext and consider the arguments put forward in the light of their own traditionsand experience.

In addition to being published, extracts of the journal are placed on the Internet.Extracts from past issues can be viewed on http:/www.trainingvillage.gr/etv/edito-rial/journal/journalarc.asp

Articles can be written either in a personal capacity, or as the representative of anorganisation. They should be around 2,500 to 3,000 words in length and can bewritten in either Spanish, Danish, German, Greek, English, French, Italian, Dutch,Norwegian, Portuguese, Finnish or Swedish.

Once written, articles should be sent to CEDEFOP in hard copy and on a disketteformatted for Word or Word Perfect, or as a Word or Word Perfect attachment by e-mail, accompanied by brief biographical details of the author outlining the currentposition held. All articles are reviewed by the Journal’s Editorial Committee whichreserves the right to decide on publication. Authors will be informed of its decision.Articles do not have to reflect the position of CEDEFOP. Rather, the Journal providesthe opportunity to present different analyses and various – even contradictory –points of view.

If you would like to submit an article the editor Steve Bainbridge can be contacted bytelephone on + 30 31 490 111, fax on + 30 31 490 175, or e-mail on: [email protected]

The European journal Vocational Training is published three times a year in fourlanguages (DE, EN, ES, FR). The annual subscription covers all issues of the publi-cation Vocational Training published in the course of the calendar year (January toDecember). Unless notice of cancellation is given by 30 November, the subscrip-tion will be extended automatically for a further calendar year. The publicationVocational Training will be sent to you by the EU Office for Official Publications,Luxembourg. The invoice will be sent to you by the responsible EU distributor.The subscription price does not include VAT. Please do not pay the amount dueuntil you have received the invoice.

Yearly subscription (excl. VAT): (three issues) EUR 15Single copies (excl. VAT): EUR 7

CEDEFOPCEDEFOPEurope 123, GR-57001 THESSALONIKI (Pylea)Postal address:PO Box 22427, GR-55102 THESSALONIKITel. (30-31) 490 111 Fax (30-31) 490 020E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.cedefop.gr Interactive: www.trainingvillage.gr

Europe 123, GR-57001 THESSALONIKI (Pylea)Postal address:PO Box 22427, GR-55102 THESSALONIKITel. (30-31) 490 111 Fax (30-31) 490 020E-mail: [email protected] Homepage: www.cedefop.gr Interactive: www.trainingvillage.gr

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