This working paper is a product of a regional study in industrial South Wales of the determinants of participation and non-participation in post-compulsory education and training, with special reference to processes of change in the patterns of these determinants over time and to variations between geographical areas. Based on this data, three alternative ideal-typical orientations to education and training are proposed to supplant the current utilitarian human capital model. Type A orientation holds that if there is some knowledge or skill that is required on the job, then either it will be picked up as the employee or potential employee goes along, or the employer should arrange for the employee to acquire it. Type B orientation, credentialism, holds that education and training credentials give one a better chance of the job one wants, but considers the actual content of the education and training to be unimportant. Type C orientation holds that one should educate oneself before one gets the job so that one will be able to do the job better. Employers usually hold to Types A and B orientations. Type B, which is closest to the human capital theory, has been the determinant of educational and economic policy in the United Kingdom (UK), but this orientation may not be helpful to economic success in the country. Those countries, such as Germany, which have been more successful, have more Type C oriented-workers who prize education for its own sake and for making them better workers. Thus, the UK's policy of producing more Type B-oriented workers may not improve the country's economic position, despite enormous amounts of money spent on training. (Contains 72 references.) (KC)