Learning and Training for Work in the Knowledge Society

The report has illustrated some contemporary trends in human resources development and training. The focus has been on recent developments in legislation and policy developments and actual practice of delivering learning and training programmes. The report cannot be exhaustive. Instead it has endeavoured to provide examples of developments from a vast array of countries, and also groups of countries as regional economic and political integration influences national policy and implementation in the human resources field.

The Report has documented the pursuit of the dual objective of learning and training. The knowledge and skills endowed in a country' labour force, rather than its physical capital, determine its economic and social progress, and its ability to compete in the world economy. Promoting innovation, productivity and competitiveness of individuals, enterprises and countries is therefore the first pillar that underlies contemporary learning and training policies and provision. In a similar vein, individuals' possession of knowledge and skills increasingly determine their employment outcomes and lifetime incomes. Ensuring all people access to learning and training opportunities, during their entire life cycle by means of lifelong learning, therefore becomes the second pillar of human resources development and training policies and programmes.

The pursuit of learning and training for work has been shown to be a shared endeavour of many partners and actors. Depending on the objectives of education and training, governments, the social partners and individuals have distinct investment responsibilities. It is through social dialogue that all segments of society, through their representative organizations, can defend their interests, participate in policy-making, and share in investments for learning and training. Lifelong learning has become a key subject in dialogue among social partners, and between them and governments. Partnerships between government, the social partners, enterprises, and a wide range of institutions and representatives of civil society, increase the effectiveness and resource base, and improve the equity outcomes, of learning and training programmes.

The report has also highlighted the gradual shift from teacher-centred education and training towards learning by the individual. Rapid growth in information available, and individuals' need to use it selectively for knowledge creation, has accelerated the shift. More and more, individuals use the workplace, ICT and the Internet as sources and media for their learning. Such learning tends to be informal. Therefore recognition and certification of informally acquired skills and knowledge become central to policies that endeavour to enhance individuals' motivation to learn, improve their access to further learning opportunities, and reward them for qualifications gained.

The report has also dwelt on international cooperation to promote the educational emancipation of less developed countries. The main priorities of the international community is to pursue cooperation policies that promote universal access to basic education and skills training, the pillar of sustainable policies for economic and social progress in these countries. Such polices are best pursued in the context of dialogue and consensus building between governments and the social partners.

EMP/SKILLS - Skills and Employability Department