- Title
- What are the pros and cons of gaining qualifications through work?
- Creator
- Smith, Erica; Smith, Andy
- Date
- 2009
- Type
- Text; Conference paper
- Identifier
- http://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/HandleResolver/1959.17/41781
- Identifier
- vital:3540
- Abstract
- An important plank in lifelong learning policy in both the UK and Australia has been the opportunity for workers to gain qualifications through work. In Australia this opportunity has often been provided through the traineeship system which is a form of ‘modern apprenticeship’ that has now been in place for twenty years. Two national Australian research projects on the delivery of qualifications through work have been undertaken over a five-year period by the authors and colleagues. Both projects involved research with workers, managers, training providers, industry bodies, and relevant officials at State and national level. The 2003 project surveyed 400 companies that provided qualification-based training at work and also included twelve enterprise case studies. The 2008 project involved six indepth industry case studies, each of which involved interviews with relevant senior stakeholders and two enterprise case studies, as well as in-depth interviews with senior policy officials, employer peak bodies and trade unions. The studies showed that many advantages accrue to workers as well as to employers from the delivery of qualifications through work. However there are also some disadvantages and problematic areas for workers, some of which may become more apparent as the global financial crisis affects employment. In the discussion, some parallels are drawn between the Australian and the UK approach to delivering qualifications to lower-level workers through work.
- Publisher
- University of Stirling, Scotland :
- Relation
- Paper presented at 5th International Centre for Research in Lifelong Learning Conference : Lifelong Learning Revisited : What Next?, University of Stirling, Scotland : 23rd-26th June 2009
- Rights
- Open Access
- Rights
- This metadata is freely available under a CCO license
- Subject
- Lifelong learning; Vocational education and training; Workers; Traineeships; Research; Case studies
- Full Text
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