Learning and Training for Work in the Knowledge Society - Chapter I. Towards Knowledge- and Skill-based Economies and Societies: New Objectives and Challenges of Human Resources Development and Training

Chapter I. Towards Knowledge- and Skill-based Economies and Societies: New Objectives and Challenges of Human Resources Development and Training

"A critical challenge that faces human society at the start of the twenty-first century is to attain full employment and sustained economic growth in the global economy and social inclusivity" (Conclusions, para. 1). This challenge has recently become even more complex and demanding. Economic, social and technological change is gathering pace and calls for continuos policy and institutional adaptation in order to meet new needs and seize the opportunities that are opening up in a rapidly integrating world economy. It has been increasingly recognised that people's endowment of skills and capabilities, and investment in education and training, constitute the key to economic and social development. Skills and training increase productivity and incomes, and facilitates everybody's participation in economic and social life.

However, the difficulties in putting into effect employment and growth-oriented policies that give high priority to education and training are formidable. Some countries are investing heavily in their human resources, e.g. the advanced countries and rapidly industrialising countries (e.g. Korea, Singapore, and others). Other countries, particularly poor countries, have not been able to maintain investments at sufficiently high levels to meet their burgeoning needs. Unless the latter, supported by the international community, implement effective, and inclusive, policies and programmes for education and training for all, the skills gap is likely to grow even wider. According to the ILO, the overall goal of the global economy should be to provide opportunities for all people to obtain decent and productive work in conditions of freedom, equity, security and human dignity. This requires the attainment of four strategic objectives that are vital to social progress: employment creation, supported by increased and effective investment in human resources development, learning and training for employability, competitiveness, growth and social inclusion of all; promoting human rights at work, improving social protection; and promoting social dialogue. The ILO's framework of decent work addresses both the quality and quantity of employment and provides the basis for new human resources development and training policies.

Learning, Education and Training Benefit Individuals, Enterprises and Society Alike

Individuals benefit from education and training - provided that these are supported by other economic and social policies. Education and training make individuals employable, help them gain access to decent work and escape poverty and marginalization. Education and training also improve individuals' productivity and income earning opportunities at work, their mobility in the labour market, and widen their choice of career opportunities. An American study found that private returns of two year Associate (middle level, vocationally oriented training) degrees were as high as 20 to 30 per cent, particularly in the business and technical fields of men, and health fields of women¹. (See Grubb, W.N. & Ryan, P.: The Roles of Evaluation for Vocational Education and Training: Palin Talk on the Field of Dreams) In France, during the 1970-93 period, possession of vocational post-secondary qualifications conferred substantial benefits to the individual, in terms of access to employment, reduced likelihood of unemployment, and significant increases in life-cycle earnings².

Education and training help individuals escape poverty, by providing them with skills and knowledge that raise their output as farmers and workers. According to the World Bank, primary education is the single largest contributor to growth and development in developing countries. A farmer with four years' schooling is much more productive than one who has no education. As poverty is increasingly concentrated among women, increasing girls' and women's access to education will reduce poverty significantly.

Enterprises also reap rewards from education and training. By investing in their human resources, enterprises can improve productivity, and compete successfully in increasingly integrated world markets. The economic performance of 62 world-wide car assembly plants around 1990, measured in terms of labour productivity and product quality (assembly-related defects per vehicle), proved to be closely associated with the presence of three dimensions of business strategy: lean production, team working and innovative human resources management (HRM) practices. Training provision, for both new recruits and ongoing employees, constituted two out of five practices in the HRM dimension. The benefits of training in terms of improved productivity was found to depend strongly on the choice of a compatible organization of production, work, recruitment and remuneration (pay) structures. In Denmark, enterprises that introduced process and product innovations, combined with targeted training, were more likely to report output growth (11 per cent versus 4 per cent, job growth (3 versus 2 per cent), and labour productivity growth (10 per cent versus 4 per cent) than those who had not introduced these innovations³. In the U.S., on-the-job training was found to have a positive effect on productivity and wage growth. Doubling the length of training raised productivity by 6 per cent, but wages by 1 per cent only⁴. (See Bishop J.: The Incidence of and Pay-off to Employer Training: A Review of the Literature with Recommendations for Policy)

Economic growth and social development of countries are invariably associated with large and sustained investments in education and training. Countries with the highest incomes are also those where workers are most educated. Witness enrollments of high income countries in primary education, which is universal, secondary education, which is almost universal, and tertiary education, which is approaching 50 per cent of the relevant age group. Some 98 per cent of the adult population in these countries are considered literate. By contrast, in the poorest (or least developed) countries, primary education enrollments were in 1997 around 71.5 per cent, secondary education enrollments 16.4 per cent, and tertiary education enrollments a mere 3.2 per cent of the respective age groups⁵. Basic literacy, essential for learning and "trainability", and for employability and access to decent work in today's world, eludes a significant share of adults in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia. Advanced countries invest at least 30 times more per student in education and training than the least developed countries. Human resources development and training contribute to improved productivity in the economy, reduce skills mis-matches in the labour market, and promote a country's international competitiveness. A comparative study of Germany and the UK found that the greater willingness of German employers to offer apprenticeship training, as opposed to the regular youth employment and informal training which came to dominate in the UK, contributed to Germany's higher productivity and better trade performance⁶.

Finally, and beyond any economic considerations, education and training bring benefits to society. Human resources development and training underpin the fundamental values of society - equity, justice, gender equality, non-discrimination, social responsibility and participation of all in economic and social life (Conclusions, para. 1)⁷.

B. Putting the Individual in the Centre of the Knowledge and Skills-based Society

The Conclusions affirm that every individual has a right to education and training, as do many national constitutions, for example, in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Spain and other countries. This right is also acknowledged at the international level, for example in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) and the American Declaration of Human Rights and Obligations (1948). Similarly, at the regional level, MERCOSUR's Social and Labour Declaration (Declaracion Sociolaboral del MERCOSUR) (1998), and the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights (2000) recognize these rights.

More than ever before, individuals want to master their own lives and expect to contribute to the economy and society. The development of individuals as active citizens of society is increasingly given a central place in statements of learning, education and training objectives. According to the EU Memorandum on lifelong learning, active citizenship is about how "people participate in all spheres of economic and social life, the chances and risks they face in trying to do so, and the extent to which they feel that they belong to, and have a fair say in, the society in which they live". Decent work underpins individuals' independence, self-respect and well-being, and, therefore, is a key to their overall quality of life. Many countries, both industrialized and developing, are putting the individual in the center of the education and training process, buttressed by financial means that help him/her access learning (see Chapter IV, C.2).

Denmark is pioneering a learner-centred approach to vocational education and training. Others, for example Tunisia, Egypt, Singapore, Argentina and many other Latin American countries, are introducing fundamental basic education reform that emphasize "essential", "basic", "key" etc. skills that are intended to promote the independence and initiative of the individual. In Sweden, the Adult Education Initiative (AEI), the largest adult education investment initiative ever undertaken in the country, explicitly puts the focus on the individual. All AEI programmes are governed by his/her needs, wishes and capacity. Education should help to improve the individual's opportunities in the labour market and provide for further study opportunities; it must be demand-led, be it in terms of organization, planning or actual courses provided. Every individual is given ample scope to make a personal choice of the study he/she wants to undertake, its timing and location⁸.

The individual is becoming the architect and builder responsible for developing his/her own skills, supported by public and enterprise investment in life-long learning. Democracy is about empowering the individual. Several factors - economic, social and technological - account for the growing emphasis on the individual. Firstly, in any modern economy today, the production of goods and services increasingly relies on human, rather than physical, capital, i.e. on its workers' individual and collective endowment of knowledge and skills. For example, Germany's endowment of human capital is today more than twice the value of its physical capital. The difference is increasing. In the 1920s, however, physical capital outstripped by far the importance of human capital⁹.

Secondly, from a passive, and teacher oriented, approach to gaining knowledge and skills, there is a shift towards learning for life and work, centred around the individual. The process of formal education and training is becoming less one of passing on information - as there is too much of it in today's world - and more one of individuals learning to learn so that they can find out for themselves. The relevance of knowledge about facts is diminishing, while the need to learn how to access, analyze and exploit information and transform it into new knowledge is increasing. It is only by giving the individual the desire, and tools, including financial means, to take charge of her/his own learning that he or she will be able to live and work in the knowledge and information society¹⁰.

Thirdly, modern communication and information technologies (ICT), in particular the Internet- based technologies, offer great opportunities. ICTs are used by increasing number of people as learning tools, since access to them is expanding rapidly in the advanced, as well as in many middle income, countries and free courses are becoming available on the Internet. A recent survey of ICT workers in Viet Nam, found that 70 per cent of those trained in computer skills had learned them via CD-ROM or on the Internet¹¹. These learning opportunities are not restricted to computer and ICT skills but cover now a vast, and rapidly expanding, range of learning opportunities for life and work in the knowledge economy and society. However, the "digital divide", i.e. unequal access to ICT and the Internet - between countries and within countries - runs the risk of growing even wider unless serious efforts are undertaken nationally and internationally to reverse the trend.

C. Formulating Learning, Education and Training Objectives and Strategies: Some Examples

Objectives and strategies of training can be formulated at various levels, e.g. national, enterprise, training institution, individual level, etc., and also at the international (e.g. OECD) and regional (e.g. European) level. Below are given a few examples.

National human resources development and training objectives have often been (re)formulated in the context of countries' efforts to undertake major education and training reforms in order to make their training policies and systems better meet their contemporary economic and social needs, e.g. in Australia, Chile, Ireland, Malawi, Portugal and Zambia. The reforms have invariably been undertaken in the context of extensive social dialogue and engagement of various stakeholders in education and training. In many less developed countries, particularly in Africa, economic stagnation and mushrooming growth of the informal economy has made a redefinition of human resources development and training objectives imperative. According to Zambia's new policy statement, promulgated as a law in 1997, the broad aims are to balance the supply of skilled manpower at all levels with the demands of the economy and act as a vehicle for improved productivity, income generation and lesser inequality among people. More specific objectives were formulated, for example: improve labour productivity, promote entrepreneurship and economic participation in order to increase economic efficiency in both the formal and informal sectors; promote the versatility, creativity, and employability of Zambians; empower women economically; and provide skills and opportunities that will respond to Zambia´s needs for poverty alleviation, improved housing and health care.

In formulating human resources development objectives, many countries, for example, Ireland, Tunisia and Zambia, identify poverty reduction and social inclusion of disadvantaged groups, including women, as explicit objectives of their national human resources development, education and training. Ireland has, as the first country in the European Union, formulated specific targets for poverty reduction. In fact, the original global target of the National Poverty Strategy (NAPS) was to reduce those who are 'consistently poor' from 9-15 per cent to less than 5-10 per cent by 2007. However, as a result of significant progress, the Irish government in 1999 set a new global target that 'consistent poverty' be reduced to below 5 per cent by 2004. Education and training are important element of the strategy (see further on the NAPS in Chapter IV,C.4).

The less developed countries increasingly express their ambition to harness education and training - both formal and non-formal - in building the base for sustainable economic and social progress, promoting democracy and mobilizing civil society in economic and social development efforts. "Basic education indeed empowers entire nations... because educated citizens have the skills to make democratic institutions function effectively"¹². It also promotes local governance since it necessitates the full involvement of diverse stakeholders and development partners, and furthers social networks and strategic alliances for resource mobilization. Basic education empowers the poor to manage, and lobby for, their education¹³.

In the particular case of countries afflicted by, or emerging from, civil conflict and war, education and training are seen as the essential stabilizing factors for society, and a crucial routine in the life of children and young people returning to normal conditions. UNICEF, and a number of influential NGOs, for example, advocate education and training as fundamental components of humanitarian interventions for children affected by armed conflict. Schools are considered "zones of peace". The Sri Lankan "National Action Programme to Address the Problem of Children and Youth affected by the Present Conflict" mentions vocational training and compulsory education.

In other countries, particularly those in the OECD area, as well as in the Philippines for example, the shift - actual or perceived - towards knowledge and skill-based societies underlies many legislative efforts in education and training. The vision of the Philippines' Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) is to develop "world class, technically skilled and educated workers with positive work values, acting as a vital force in building a prosperous Philippines", where citizens enjoy "greater economic security, social well-being and personal dignity".

Many countries increasingly formulate their human resources development objectives in terms of lifelong learning. At the individual country level, Finland is a country that has formulated a clear vision and objectives of lifelong learning. The Government's development plan for the 1999-2004 period calls for, among other things, helping more young people to apply for upper secondary general or vocational education and complete their studies; develop student's learning skills in all sectors of the education system; increase the provision of non-university higher education; expand the opportunities for adults to study for upper secondary and post-secondary vocational qualifications and to pursue other studies that improve their employability and capacity for further learning; and develop methods for recognizing non-formal and informal learning.

Statements on the subject have also been made by various international and regional bodies or organizations, (see for example the Conclusions of the joint meeting¹⁴). The Cologne Charter (1999) of the group of 8 major industrialized nations formulates aims and ambitions for lifelong learning, calling for "a renewed commitment by governments, investing to enhance education and training at all levels; by the private sector, training existing and future employees; and by individuals, developing their own abilities and careers". This commitment should be underpinned by three principles, i.e. that everybody has access to learning and training, also the disadvantaged and illiterate; that everyone should be encouraged and enabled to continue learning throughout their lives; and that developing countries should be helped to establish comprehensive, modern and efficient education and training systems. The 'learning chain' has been identified to include the following: early childhood developmental education accessible to all children; universal free and compulsory basic education; increased access for all to secondary education; training and learning opportunities in schools and enterprises; widespread opportunities to obtain further and higher education and training; accessible continuing education and training for adults; gender balance in access to education and training; access to education opportunities of minorities and other disadvantaged groups¹⁵.

At the European level, the Union's White Paper on Education and Training (1995) already identified the need of all citizens to develop a knowledge base that will help them find their way in the information society. It warned against the danger of social exclusion among some groups in society based on lack of knowledge. The Presidency Conclusions of the Lisbon European Council (March 2000) calls for "Europe's education and training systems adapt both to the demands of the knowledge society and the need for an improved level and quality of employment". They will have to develop individuals' learning abilities by offering opportunities for learning and training that are tailored to target groups at different stages of their lives: young people, unemployed adults and workers who are at risk of seeing their skills overtaken by rapid change. This new approach will include three main components: the development of local learning centres, the promotion of new basic skills, in particular in information technologies, and increased transparency of qualifications".

Most large enterprises, and an increasing number of small and medium sized firms, formulate explicit learning and training objectives that support their corporate and organizational development. The Laiki Bank Ltd. (Cyprus) has identified specific skills development objectives for all its staff. Changes in work organization demand that all employees need to learn new competencies, e.g. to perform individual tasks; manage several different tasks within the job; respond to irregularities and breakdowns; and deal with the responsibilities and expectations of the work environment. Managerial staff need skills of written and verbal communication, team working, interpersonal sensitivity, leadership, management planning, analytical reasoning, problem-solving, decision making, creativity, entrepreneurial spirit, dynamism, energy and initiative and stress management¹⁶.

D. Integrating Human Resources Development and Training Objectives and Policies with Other Economic and Social Policies

ILO has forcefully put forward that full employment should be a central objective of the entire international economic system¹⁷. It also recognizes that education and training cannot, by themselves, solve the problems of employment. Rather, they "must be coherent and form an integrated part of comprehensive economic, labour market and social policies and programmes that promote economic and employment growth "(Conclusions, para. 4). They must include "the creation of a macro-economic climate that is conducive to enterprise and job creation, policies for economic growth and technological change that maximise employment creation, and labour market and training policies that facilitate the insertion or reinsertion into productive work."

The need to pursue integrated economic and social policies is recognized by the European Union. According to the Lisbon European Council Presidency Conclusions, EU's objectives of learning, education and training are an integral part of the Union's strategic goals to strengthen employment, economic reform and social cohesion in its bid to become "the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustained economic growth with more and better jobs". To achieve this strategic goal, the Lisbon Conclusions formulate a set of mutually supportive objectives - and strategies - covering various areas of economic and social policy. Prominent among them are, for example - in addition to education, training and lifelong learning - objectives and strategies to create a friendly environment for starting up and developing innovative businesses, especially SMEs; instituting economic reforms for a complete and fully operational internal market; creating efficient and integrated financial markets; coordinating macro-economic policies and making public finances sustainable, for example by redirecting public expenditure towards increasing capital accumulation, both physical and human, and improving the incentives of the tax and benefits systems for creating employment and providing learning opportunities.

In many enterprises, workplace learning, training and staff development are becoming an integral element of their corporate and organizational objectives and strategies. This is particularly the case among those enterprises - or "high performance work organizations" (HPWOs) - that produce high value added products and services. ILO's research on the subject¹⁸ documents the practices of these HPWOs. It shows how performance, operational and people management, and learning and training objectives and processes are aligned to organizational objectives that aim to build trust, enthusiasm and commitment to the direction taken by the organization. For example, Comfort Driving Centre, a small Singapore-based enterprise that trains drivers, promotes shared values among its staff, aligns rewards with performance against company objectives, while involving employees in their work and supporting their capabilities at all levels. Management also shares knowledge and information with staff. Team-working is the principal mechanism for driving the process of learning at work. Hence, also at the company-, or micro-level, performance and growth are the outcome of mutually supportive policies and practices that encompass learning, education and other measures.

The Director General's Decent Work report (ILO 1999), recent World Employment Reports, the background report presented at the General Discussion on human resources training and development (ILC 2000), the Conclusions and many Comprehensive Employment Policy Reviews undertaken by the ILO, have documented, on a worldwide basis, recent economic, employment and labour market trends in the context of the rapid pace of globalization and integration of world markets. They converge on one central point: i.e. that these trends are producing a widening gap in terms of countries' participation in the global economy and the benefits that countries, enterprises and individuals reap from this participation. Also within many countries, the gap, in terms of access to decent work and incomes, and participation in economic and social life, is widening between various population groups. The poorly educated and trained are generally the losers in the process of economic change, even in times of economic growth and lesser unemployment.

In the industrialized countries, while total employment has increased recently, the patterns of employment have changed. Within firms in industrialized countries, labour markets have become more and more segmented. Employers have reorganized their personnel systems into fixed (primary or core) and variable (secondary or peripheral) components. Most firms contain both primary (stable, career-oriented, male-dominated) and secondary forms of employment, characterized by high-turnover, little career progression and access to education and training). In the former type of jobs are workers with high skills, in the latter those who have little or no education or possess only skills that have become obsolete. Labour markets are becoming increasingly ruthless in their treatment of un-skilled workers. The absence of mutually supportive economic employment and social policies, combined with increased non-standard forms of work, have often made many workers more vulnerable. Their career and training prospects have been restricted and their conditions of employment adversely affected.

In the developing countries, various policies and developments associated with globalization - for example, trade liberalization, industry and enterprise restructuring, and new managerial and business practices - have had profound, often negative, effects on labour markets. Unemployment has continued to rise as new labour market entrants have been unable to find productive and remunerative jobs. Unemployment has been exacerbated by massive redundancies in the private sector, as it has made efforts to face up to the challenges of globalisation, raise productivity and find new markets. Also, the public sector has shed labour as governments have cut budgets in order to raise the effectiveness of their bloated public administrations. The "working poor" have grown in number, many eking out a living in informal, low paid employment and in poor working conditions.

All countries are exposed to globalization and its various manifestations. The question is what policies and strategies are most likely to help countries access a path of sustained economic and social development, perform in the increasingly competitive international environment and reduce the growing inequalities in incomes and access to jobs that are common in most countries. Strategies pursued by developing countries in earlier years - for example, with focus on rapid industrialisation based on import substitution, or land redistribution - have lost their attraction. The wealth and prosperity of nations is increasingly based on the skills and knowledge of their workforces. A three-pronged strategy of education and training can be envisaged for addressing the challenges of globalization, improved competitiveness, while reversing growing inequalities in labour market outcomes.

The first prong of education and training strategies should address the challenge of developing the knowledge and skills necessary for competition in stiffening international markets. In the developed countries access of all to lifelong learning is becoming a prerequisite as they endeavour to make their emerging knowledge and information society all inclusive. In the developing countries, a first requirement will be the build-up of basic "digital" literacy skills, and ICT-related education and training, that will allow these countries to access, harness, and ultimately innovate in, new technologies for production and development. Widespread digital literacy must be based on a system of quality basic education. Wage and income inequalities reflect more and more people's different endowment of education and skills. Hence, equity based policies that gives broad sections of the population access to education and training are also, in the long run, likely to contribute to reduced income inequalities within - and between - countries.

The second prong constitutes education and training policies and programmes as instruments to mitigate the negative effects of globalization. Such policies would be needed to target the large numbers of workers who have lost their jobs in industrial and public sector restructuring. Education and training efforts will have to focus on helping them develop new skills that will enhance their chances of findings jobs on their own and in new, emerging industries. Invariably, training interventions will increasingly be seen as a crucial element of active, and mutually supportive, labour market policies. These will also include measures such as job-search assistance and financial support in starting up new businesses.

The third prong consists of education and training that address the increasing vulnerability of many population groups - for example, women, young people and low-skilled workers - who, for lack of education and skills, have become poor or run the danger of falling into a poverty trap. Among members of this large group of people, education and training will have to focus on developing their basic skills, including basic literacy and numeracy. Supported by other economic and social measures, skill development will enhance their employability, help them develop productive, income generating activities in either wage or self-employment, and promote their integration into mainstream economic and social life.

A massive effort of education and training, supported by other economic and social measures, will be required to assist workers gain access to decent work and mainstream economic and social life. What are then the main pillars of this learning, education and training response?

F. The Fundamental Role and Challenges of Human Resources Development and Training

In order to face up to the challenges ahead, education and training must meet the following requirements:

Basic education is the first, and an essential, element of the process of lifelong learning. It instills "foundation skills" such as literacy, numeracy, citizenship, social skills, learning to learn skills, and the ability to solve problems together. Such skills are fundamental for living and working in todays society, for acquiring advanced skills ("trainability") and for making use of new technologies. Basic education of young girls, in particular, is likely to have a powerful effect on their future employability, income earning capacity and economic and social emancipation. Ensuring basic education for all implies expanding access and participation to include everybody. The quality of this education is equally important; young students are less likely to drop out of quality education that meets their and their families' needs. A major thrust in many countries is, therefore, to invest more resources into basic education, expand the reach of basic education to become universal, and improve its quality by focusing on the development of the foundation skills that are necessary for living and working in society.

These skills, alternatively called "key skills" (UK), "critical enabling skills" (Singapore), "basic skills" (European Union), "essential skills" (Egypt), are the non-technical skills that everybody will need in order to perform satisfactorily at work and in society, irrespective of where the individual works and lives. They build upon and strengthen, and often overlap with, the foundation skills developed in basic education. They aim at enabling workers to constantly acquire and apply new knowledge and skills. They include, as in Singapore, learning-to-learn skills, literacy and numeracy (reading, writing and computation skills), listening and oral communication skills, problem-solving skills and creativity, personal effectiveness (self-esteem, goal-setting and motivation, skills for personal and career development), group effectiveness (interpersonal, teamwork and negotiation skills) and organizational effectiveness and leadership skills. Core work skills can also be considered to include so-called labour market "navigation" skills. They include job search skills, skills to present her or himself to prospective employers, skills to identify one's career options and opportunities and identify and evaluate job and education and training opportunities; and also familiarity with the Internet as many jobs, career opportunities and guidance services are increasingly available online.

Lifelong learning is the new catchword for education and training policies in the twenty-first century. It permeates new policy developments in a growing number of countries. The lifelong learning framework, according to the OECD ¹⁹, emphasizes that learning occurs during the entire course of an individual's life. (See OECD: Education Policy Analysis: Education and Skills) Formal education and training contributes to learning, as do non-formal and informal learning taking place in the home, the workplace, the community and society at large. Its key features are the following: the centrality of the learner, catering to a diversity of learner needs; emphasis on the motivation to learn, e.g. through self-paced, self-directed and increasingly ICT-assisted learning; the multiplicity of educational and training policy objectives and the recognition that an individual's learning objectives may change over the course of her/his lifetime; and that all kinds of learning - formal, non-formal and informal - should be recognized and made visible. According to the Conclusions "lifelong learning ensures that the individual's skills and competencies are maintained and improved as work, technology and skill requirements change, ensures the personal and career development of workers; results in increases in aggregate productivity and income; and improves social equity".

Developing these skills, and ensuring lifelong learning for all, is a massive undertaking in any country, even the richest ones, and can only be achieved, if ever, over a very long time frame. Fundamentally, the task is one of reaching out for a moving target. The formidable task ahead points to the need for pursuing, and speeding up, reforms of education and training started in many countries. There is a momentum that should be maintained by building on a number of recent developments. These include: the changing perception among all parties concerned - governments, the social partners and civil society - and recently given expression by the ILO constituents at ILC 2000 - about the need for increased investment in human resources development and training; exploiting to the full the "paradigm" shift towards empowering the individual to be the builder and architect of his/her own learning and self-development; developing and harnessing the full potential of new technologies for learning, education and training; and building upon social dialogue as the catalyst to engage all parties concerned - governments, the social partners, civil society and individuals - in policies and programmes for human resources development and training.

These developments are recent. The present Recommendation, dating back to 1975, gives little guidance on how countries, the social partners and individuals should build on the momentum started, and pursue new policies and programmes - a new approach to training - that takes into account "training and education needs in the modern world of work in both developing and developed countries, and promotes social equity in the world economy" (Conclusions, para. 21). The ILO has therefore embarked on developing a new Recommendation that reflects the new approach to training and which will assist the ILO's constituents to:

EMP/SKILLS - Skills and Employability Department