Higher education opens doors to job enhancement and economic benefits to adult learners. Despite facing multiple barriers such as life-work-school time conflicts and financial constraints, adult learners continue to seek higher education and certifications. Rural employers also benefit from supporting degree completion or job-specific…

The paper brings together a range of debates on the left that address TVET's future in current context. At the heart of these debates rest two issues. The first addresses competing views of capital and the second focuses on the contradiction between the interests of capital and workers. The paper argues that capital is not all of a piece and that…

This study examines manufacturing employer perceptions of postsecondary credentials, the ways in which they find them valuable, and explores the barriers employers identify which prevent employees from enrolling in employer sponsored continuing education programs. In total, 14 staff members were interviewed representing five manufacturing…

Adult education, learning and skills providers are familiar with the longstanding national challenge of poor adult basic skills, and many providers use their Adult Education Budget funding to offer English and math classes for adults. In recent years, there has been a focus on supporting unemployed adults to achieve the good literacy and numeracy…

This study explores employers' perspectives on workforce training from 10 firms in three industries (red meat processing, road freight transport, and freight forwarding) located in urban and regional areas of five states on Australia's eastern seaboard. The analysis draws on data collected at interviews with senior managers and internal and…

This qualitative study examined the impact of a six-step framework for work-specific vocabulary instruction in adult English language learners (ELLs). Guided by research in English as a second language (ESL) methodology and the transactional theory, the researchers sought to unveil how these processes supported the acquisition and application of…

Lifelong learning has become one of the keys to making workers' career paths more secure at both the French and the European policy level. However, the implementation of these policy lines raises delicate questions as to how the responsibility for vocational training should be shared among employees, employers and public institutions. The…

This paper discusses the ways in which employers view the contribution of work-based learning, how participating learners' experience the provision offered to them and how far work-based programmes can contribute to changing the discourse about learning from one of deficit to one of strengths. It draws on two complementary studies of work based…

Education to meet labour market demands and employer needs is a key priority in New Zealand's education policy. Government agendas for language and literacy education align with global discourses that link economic productivity to quality control, standardisation and proceduralisation through close regulation and funding. Yet, the interviews…

Employers seek employees who possess soft skills. Employees who do not have excellent soft skills may not experience success in obtaining and sustaining employment. McEwen's (2010) framework for skill-building--introduce, explain, practice, and reinforce--was used to describe activities for enhancing soft skills. Soft skills building activities…

Workplace learning is identified by UK and Scottish governments as an important means of achieving social mobility, and therefore producing a more equal society. However, there appears to be a patchwork of provision and funding arrangements, making it difficult for employers and employees to identify suitable routes. Analysis of large scale survey…

Human capital--the productive capacity that is embedded in people--is one of the most important contributors to the growth in nations' output and standard of living. Globalisation and technological change have increased the importance of human capital in recent years, to the point that there are now only two options to sustain high profits and…

This document includes comments on the adult provisions of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), informed by research conducted with employers, employer organizations, and others on the strengths and weaknesses of the current workforce development system from the perspective of employers and low-wage, low-skill employees. Jobs for the Future is…