Purpose: Employers often claim that the lack of employee competence is a limitation in their enterprises' success and viability. Consequently, employers are important stakeholders in considerations for workforce continuing education and training (CET) policies and practices. Hence, the authors undertook an exploratory investigation to understand…

Governments are currently mobilising their national workforces to compete effectively in a globalised economy where being export-effective and import-competitive are necessary to secure national economic and social goals. Australia is no exception here. Yet, in this country, as in others, similar mobilisations occurred in earlier times, most…

This paper evaluates the need and prospects for older workers to develop and deploy effective and critical personal epistemologies in order to maintain workplace competence, successfully negotiate work transitions and secure ontological security in their working life. Furthermore, it addresses different ways of reflecting by workers, which types…

Learning throughout working life results from everyday thinking and acting, shaped by work practices. The quality of learning depends on the kinds of activities and interdependencies available. Individuals' ability to maintain vocational practice is shaped by their opportunities for engagement and interaction. (Contains 64 references.) (SK)

This book, which is designed for human resource practitioners and students in courses on professional development and adult and vocational learning, examines strategies for effective practice in workplace learning. The introduction discusses interest in and ambivalence toward workplace learning and key premises of workplace learning. The following…

Internationally, governments are keen to identify and enact policies to encourage increased contributions from enterprises for the skill development of their employees. However, the goals for these policies often remain unclear and the means of securing these purposes are vexed. Drawing on a review of international literature and interviews with…

Interviews with skilled mine workers in Queensland, Australia, suggest that informal learning in the workplace enables authentic activities, access to experts, and sociocultural environment conductive to the development of expertise. Skilled work means technical competence in a context of sociocultural values. (SK)

Increasing enterprises' expenditure on their employees' vocational education and training (VET) is of concern for governments in many countries. This article identifies and discusses policy goals for increased enterprise expenditure on VET and elaborates options for achieving these goals. Throughout, measures that attempt to mandate and regulate…

Any setting can contribute to learning, and learning theories must account for settings, enculturation, and social contributions. Theories of learning in informal or "natural" settings must be quite distinct from existing theories of formal learning. (SK)

Learning situated in authentic settings such as the workplace can provide peer and expert models and a physical environment that enhance problem solving and transfer of learning. In such settings, learners can access the social and cultural aspects of vocational skills. (SK)