ED 332 028 CE 058 015 - ERIC · DOCUMENT RESUME ED 332 028 CE 058 015 TITLE Experienced...

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TITLE Experienced Workers--Reserve Capital.INSTITUTION European Centre for the Development of Vocational

Training, Berlin (West Germany).REPORT NO ISSN-0378-5068PUB DATE 90

NOTE 41p.

PUB TYPE Collected Works - Serials (022)JOURNAL CIT Vocatinnal Training; n2 1990

EDRS PRICE MF01/PCO2 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS Adult Education; *Continuing Education; Developed

Nations; Educational Development; EducatimalFinance; Foreign Countries; Independent S:udy; JobSkills; *Labor Force Development; *Middle AgedAdults; Needs Assessment; Open Education::ostsecondary Education; *Retraining; SkillDevelopment; Skill Obsolescence; *VocationalEducation

IDENTIFIERS European Community

ABSTRACTThe eight articles in this theme issue of CEDEFOP's

twice-yearly multi-lingual bulletin focus on continuing education tomaintain and upgrade the workforce. "Force--The Community's ActionProgramme for the Continuing Training in the 1990s" describes theobjectives of tW.s new program to improve the skill levels of theEuropean CommumAy's work force. "Continuing Training: The Role ofthe Social Partners" (Francois Martou) focuses on the importance oithe partners in training development. "Roles for Training: TheReshaping of Work, Mobility, and Earnings?" (Philippe Mehaut, MarieClaire Villeval) describes links currently being constructed betweenthe technological and organizational changes affecting the workplace,new methods of personnel management, and the role of retraining inthe process. "Views on the Development of Continuing VocationalEducation and Training in Great Britain" (Ken Nixon) shows thatinsufficient priority has been given to the training needs of matureemployees. "Continuing Vocational Training in the Netherlands:Developments and Debates" (Geert Kraayvanger, Ben van Onna) discusseselements of the intellectual and political debate surrounding thisbranch of adult education. "Vocational Training Redefines Its Limits'.(Jean-Francois Germe) takes stock of radical changes in vocationaleducation, considering some present-day challenges and possiblepatterns of change. "The Analysis of Cost and Financing Structures inContinuing Training" (Uwe Grunewald, Edgar Sauter) presentsapproaches to the description and analysis of continuing training."Cont:'_nuing Training in an Open Learning Centre--An Example thatCould Be Transferred to Another Culture?" (Pol Debaty) describesForespace, a Belgian prototype center for self-directed training.(YLB)

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No 2/1990

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CEDEFOPEuropean Comefor the Developmentof Vocatienal 'RainingJean Monnet HouseBundesallee 22, 0-1000 Berlin 15Tel.: (030) 8841 20;'Rolex: 184 163 eucen dFax: (030) 8841 2222

Vocational trainingRegular insbiloatlortof the European Centrefor the Developmentof Vocational Welning

This publication appearstwice a year inSpanish, Danish, German,Greek, English, French, Italian,Dutch and Portuguese

Published under theresponsibfflty of:

Ernst Mehl, Director

Corrado Poll% Deputy Director

Enrique Retuerto de la lbfre.Deputy Director

Editorial staff:

Georges Dupont

Bernd MohimennBarbara de Souza

Pansiation service:

Alison Clark

1 ClIntentand) structure

technicalproductioncoordination

Layout

WerbeagenturZOhlite Scnolz & Penner GmbH,Berlin

The contributions were received on orbefore 26. 10. 1990

The Cevre was establishedby Regulation No 337175of the Council of theEuropean Communities

The views expressed by contributorsdo not necessarily reflectthose of the European Centretor the Developmentof Vocational Raining

Reproduction is authorized,except for commercial purposes,provided the source is acknowledged

Catalogue number: HX.M.60-002-EN.0

Printed in the Federal Republic ofGermany 1991

No 2/1990

Contents Page

Dear Readers 1

Force The Community's action programme for the continuing trainingin the l990s 2

Continuing training: the role of the social partnersFrancois Martou 5

Roles for training: the reshaping of work. mobility arid earnings

Philippe Mehaut and Marie Clain, Villeval

Views on the development of continuing vocational education andtraininb in Great BritainKen NiX0f7 13 -

Continuing vocational training in The Netherlands:developments and debatesGeen Ktaayvanger and Ben van Onna 17

Vocational training redefines its limits

Jean-Fnanpois Genne 23

The analysis of cost and financing structures in continuing trainingUwe Grfinewald and Edgar Sauter 26

Continuing training in an open learning centre

An example that could be transferred to another culture?Ibl Debar), 33

In each individual country the con-cept of continuing training coversvarious fields. Within each wuntry.

official documents use different terms todenote similar things hardly surpris-ing, since, in practice, the concept of con-tinuing training is new.

In recent years, there has been a veritableexplosion of continuing training in everycountry in response to a range of social.cultural and economic needs. Since this isa field of activity in which there is as yetlittle in the way of tradition. the Com-munity can still play a harmonizing role:if continuing training is seen as the logicalfollow-up to basic training schemes, thattraining will have wnsiderable influenceon the way in which the procemes ofsocialization are organized and work isstructured. Research conducted byCEDEFOP has revealed that only asmall proportion of training is structuredand administered by law and regulations.There is a good deal of political debate inevery country on making txmtinuingtraining more accessible to all. In otherwords, the concern for *equal oppor-tunities for all' in compulsory educationthat dominated the political scene at thebeginning of the century has now resur-faced as regards training.

The purpose of our Bulletin is to set outa number of ideas reflecting present-dayrealities. Taking CEDEFOP's work asour starting point, we focus on the impor-tant role played by the social partners inthe development of continuing training.We have research to prove that the in-troduction of continuing training can beharmonious provided that it has beenpreceded by a dialogue on its structure,allocation and content.

Vocatkatal training 2/3990

Employers undeniably have a role to playwith respect to continuing training. Wemust ask ourselves whether or not thesituation as we know it is reversible.When discussing the role and place ofcontinuing training a logical extensionof education and initial training wemust speculate on the extent to which thejob skills of the working population arcpurely a matter of financial considera-tions specific to the running of bminessor industry, or whether they zonstitt,te abroader issue of concern to society as awhole, affecting both life today and thefuture of individual countries and eventhe Community.

The answer to this question will have ma-jor implications, both for the type oftraining provided and for the manner inwhich it is distributed and funded. This isthe key question at the heart of a conceptof continuing training geared towardsthe short term (satisfying employers' im-mediate requirements), one which is nor-mally narrowly based, or a concept ofcontinuing training geared towards themedium and long term with a wider andtransferable basis. Moreover, questionsarise as to the 'ownership' of the job skilland its funding: wha should bear the costof a training programme that is notnecessarily confined to the specific needsof one given firm, where the individualin the employer's view is the mainbeneficiary, sin= the training may helphim to find a better job elsewhere? Butthere is also the question of knowing whoshould provide the different types oftraining.

Ultimately, it is the reply to this questionwhich will have significant implicationsfor the way training is allocated: are thepeople entitled to continuing trainingsolely those designated by the employer(normally the most highly skilled), orshould there be a move towards aredistribution of training so that thelower skilled can catch up with others inthe competition for market oppor-tunities? And how then would respon-

sibilities be shared out between theemployers, authorities and individuals?

Alongside the problems relating to theplace and structure of continuing train-ing, there has also been a development intraining instruments, whether in theform of new teaching methods or achange in trainers' status. The introduc-tion of new technology to the trainingpromss opens up new prospects, which inturn call for a new approach to andanalysis of training requirements, as wellas the translation of those requirememsinto training programmes.

In recent years, individuals have showngrowing interest in atxiuiring new skills.To meet the demand in this field, a wholerange of new institutions, ncw program-mes and new training methods has thuscome into existence in every country. Averitable market has developed, offeringtraining to individuals and companies.Our figures show that the turnover onthis market is growing, and yet it is alsoa fact that hardly any country has regula-tions to protect the training consumer.Should we do no more than point out thisdeficiency? Does it not indicate a role forthe Community?

The is.sue cf consumer protection is justnne of many that emerge when one looksat the field of continuing training. Thisexample has been mentioned simply toshow the wide range of questions beingaddressed by CEDEFOP. In gatheringmaterial for the answers, it is our viewthat a better understanding of therealities will help to ensure that the rightquestions are asked and the correctanswers found. This is the aim of ourBulletin.

Ernst PiebiDirector

Force The Community'saction programme forcontinuing training in the1990s

Force. the European Commission'snew action programme aimed athelping to improve the skill levels

of Europe's 125 000 000 workforce,will begin in January 1991. and by theend of the year it will be fully operational

*Force is required to give a lead in makingall European employers and workers con-scious of the vital need to achieve worldclass training standards,' says Mr HywelCeri Jones. the Director of the TaskForce for Human Resources, who isresponsible for Force. *We need to helpraise the priority given to investniem intraining, and make sure that workers aregiven training opport unities at regular in-tervals throughout their working lives.The single market cannot be a successwithout a highly trained and flexibleluropean workforce.'

Force is linked closely with the urgentneed recogniNd in the EuropeanCharmof Fundamental Social R ights to give allworkers access to continuing trainingthroughout their working lives. Thisaspiration has been consistently sup-ported by both sides of industry in thesocial dialogue.

The key to understanding the need for aprogramme like Force is an appreciationof the change brought about in the cir-cumstances of European workers by an

2

COMMISSIONOF THE EUROPEANCOMMUNITIES

Task Force Human Resources.Education. Training and Youth'rue de la Loi 200B-I 049 Brussels

economy requiring that an increasingnumber of jabs are knowleoge-based.

In the Joint Opinion on Education andTraining which emerged from the socialdialogue on 26 January 1990 this was

of employees, and the active support ofnational, local and transnational pro-viders of training.

It is also clear that, whereas a great dealof high standard training exists. it is not

made clear: '...company and individualneeds must be clearly identified andplanned in training plans or programmesappropriate to the size of the firm anddrawn up in the framework of firm'soverall strategy. They should aim todevelop the individual, to enhancv hisskills and assist him or her to adapt tochanges in jobs,'

it is now widely accepted that effectivetraining cannot be delivered in one oreven two or three concentrated periods oflearning, but must be constantly re-freshed. This requires the collaborationand participation both of employers, and

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nearly widespread enough to ensure thatEuropean workers are trained to worldstandards.

Force's objectives set the scene for a newlevel of partnership between a Commun-ity training initiative and enterprises act-ing in partnership with each other, andwith training bodies and other public andprivate development organizations:

convincing enterprises of all kinds thatthey need to invest in continuing train-ing, and then encouraging them to pro-vide it:

Vocational training 211990

ensuring that they can design andmodel their training on up-to-date infor-mation and data on the best continuingtraining available;

encouraging more innovation in train-ing management. methodology andequipment:

underpinning the objectives of thesingle market by backing up transna-tional continuing training projects, andby encouraging wide exchange of ex-perience and individual mobility:

helping training systems respond tolabour market needs and changes by im-proving Community-level forecasting ofoccupational and qualification needs.

Three main actions, each of themdeveloping and using Community part-nerships in different ways to underpin amajor expansion and improvement ofquality in continuing vocational trainingfor workers in undertakinp of all typesand sizes.

.41116,

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Vocational training 2/1990

Action 1: Supporting innovation in con-tinuing vocational training, involves:

a Community continuing training net-work, including, a database of good prac-tice and information for staff in enter-prises, trainers and policymakers. a bankof useful contacts, a programme of expertseminars, focusing on the investment incontinuing vocational training, and onaccess to it, and participation in it;

setting up and support of national in-formation points;

creation and support of a network ofexpert!:

IIII a programme of exchanges benefitingfull-time instructr , staff in hiimanresource departments, staff ref nesen-tatives in enterprises, training spccialistsworking in regional training consortia;

a series of transnational and transfron-tier training pilot schemes, namely enter-

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prise-basid partnerships committed toimproving continuing training quality:

a series of sectoral surveys, major in-quiries carried out into the humanresource and continuing training plans ofselected key sectors for the developmentof the single market.

Action 2: Closer cooperation betweenMember States in their analysis of conti-nuing vocational training needs, a.their monitoring of provision, is aimed atimproving the information which enter-prises use for their planning, and whichgovernments, public authorities andtraining organizations use to determinepolicy and priorities in spending, and hasthe objective of promoting the coherentdevelopment of continuing vocationaltraining throughout the Community. Itwill include:

A common instrument for analysingand comparing existing continuing train-ing policy and practice, creating a com-mon basis for comparing policies. provi-

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sion and expenditure on continuingtraining from all public and privatesources throughout the Community.

The information will be made availablein a usable form, and at consistent andregular intervals.

III Analysis of contractual policy or con-tinuing vocational training anddissemination of good practice. involvingcollection and analysis of comparabledata from all Member States on collectiveagreements and on individual enterprise-level agreements on continuing voca-tional training, and dissemination ofgood practice, and innovatory contrac-tual agreements. There will also be an ex-change scheme for workers and foremployers' organization staff.

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Forecasting trends in demands forqualifications and occupations, based oncollection of comparable national andsectoral data, focusing on the develop-ment of enterprise or sector-based com-r -ion methodology.

Action 3: Augmenting the Force net-work with regional consortia andtransnational training partnershipsfinanced by the European Social Fund.

The purpose of this action is to add to theexpertise and the regional impact of theForce network of activities, those con-cerned with continuing training issueswithin the partnerships and consortia inObjective I regions, supported throughthe new Community initiativeEuroform.

This will involve:

admission to the network, on the ad-vice of the Force Committee, of partner-ships and consortia focusing on the mainpriorities of Fort.v their participationwill he an added value for the Force net-work, and for these consortia and part-nerships.

Further information about Force, andhow to apply to take part in it has beenpublished by the Task Force, and aspecial unit will be set up in Brussels torun it. There will also be Force referencepoints in each Member State.

Force will combine with the other actionprogrammes of the Task Force forHuman Resources including Petra,Eurotecnet, Comett. Lingua andErasmus to provide a transnationalimpetus for the estoblishment of a newEuropean training culture for the 1990s.


Continuing training:the role of the social partners

Cooperation between training cen-tres and employers is now widelyfavoured by the authorities.

something that, to an extent, has beenbrought about by the rapio developmentof new technology.

New technology, however, does notmerely influence production; it also af-fects industrial and social relations andalters the traditional pattens of collectivebargaining. It is important, therefore, forall the social partners to be involved inthis process.

A dual awareness is beginning to evolve.On the one hand, the community ingeneral and the working world in par-ticular are discovering the importanm oftraining for the advancement of society:on the other, training providers are begin-ning to recognize that they have a respon-sibility towards the whole of societyand most people in society are workers,whether in employment or seeking work.

Continuing training has become a majorcultural challenge, although thechallenge has gradually shifted into thesocio-economic field.

This fact is not lost on President GeorgeBush. At a meeting at which he convenedall the US State Governois, the Presidentvoiced his concern at the results of asurvey which showed that. after 12 yearsof schooling, one in two Americanyoungsters is unable to write a letter! In1990 the battle to reform the educationalsystem is regarded as more importantthan 'Star Wars'.

Before the recession, there was generalagreement on the importance of training.

FrançoisMartonProfessor at theCatholic Unit'ersi-ty of Louvain,President of theMouvementouvrier chretien.

Belgium


Take Belgium for example, a country Iknow quite well: in 1965, it was establish-ed that high levels of economic growthwere primarily due to the development ofthe education and training system and toeffective links between the individual.the workplace and the school.

not the whole story. There was a loss offaith.

With a slightly more buoyant economytoday, the problem of continuing train-ing has resurfaced with greater urgency.mainly as a result of demographic trends.

e+OW

These halcyon days did not last long. Onthe whole, most of the schemes organizedunder the banner of the 'right to learn'failed. Bat whose fault was that? Theemployers, the workforce. the trainingproviders? I believe that the time hascome to evaluate the failure of systemswhereby employees were allowed leavefor educational purposes. The provisionof training has not evolved along the linesthat individuals and employers wouldhave liked. In the workplace itself, therehas been little inclination to 'waste' timeand money on outside training -chemes.For many workers, the physical and men-ta demands of taking a training coursehave verged on the heroic.

And so. nearly everywhere, public expen.diture on education and training began tofan. Admit tedly. the crisis in public fund-ing and the burden of public indebtednesswere contributory factors, hut that was

In the first place. demographic trends aresuch that within 20 or 30 years thenumber of people in higher educationwill fall by about 25%.

Seoandly, with fundamental structuralchanges on the job market, the decline inindustrial employment is irreversible. In1830. 60% of the labour force worked onthe land. Today the figure is less than5%. although agricultural output ismuch higher than it was then.

Every day sees the loss ofjobs in industry.and there is no sign of this haemorrhagebeing staunched. We are moving into aservice-based society for which we are ill-equipped in terms of job skills.

Lastly, the high level of long-term struc-tural unemployment, particularly affect-ing young people and women, is becom-ing a permanent feature of the Europeansocial landscape.

8 BEST COPY AVAILABLE

All these factors speak out in favour of aredeployment of continuing educationfor adults. But the growing sectoral pro-vision of vocational training in separatefields will soon prove to be untenableonce flexible working practices andemployee mobility have to be taken intoaccount. This is perhaps why the revivalin interest in training over recent yearshas come mainly from the authoritiesand employers. This interest is notwithout ulterior motive. Many wouldsupport the view that Improving skilllevels reduces unemployment'.

There is all too ready a consensus as tothe vital need fol. the reform and expan-sion of education and training. Whowould not agree that schooling, at bothlower and upper level. is inadequate?Who does not believe that it is mainly thelower skilled who are unemployed? Whowould deny the evidence that a workerwho gains more qualifications has a bet-ter chance of finding a job?

This consensus among a vast majority ofpeople in society is built on the common-ly held (and fragile) view that 'adult train-ing' is a separate problem. Tne majoritythinking that prevails in the reorganim-tion and expansion of adult-trainingmeasures is the aim of discarding politicalconsiderations 'in a depoliticized policydebate, the outcome of efforts toneutralize.., and since those efforts aregeared to achieving a more natural socialorder. they always use the language ofnature'.1

The pa....cular position of adult training.placed as it is midway between the educa-tional system for which this is a periodof growth and the labour market.which has been reshaped by theeconomic crisis, is the reason for the con-sensus opinion that the function of train-ing is to serve as preventive and/oremergency treatment for the social con-flicts that might be precipitated by thecontradictions between education andthe working world.

Thirty years of concerted social action,for which the Belgian model is certainlyone of the most impressive, have shownthat there is a measure of interplay ofrelationships between the social partners.and any debate or conflict has inevitablyheralded an agreement.

6

In the crisis scenario, in the light of thefactors mentioned (technological,monetary, energy) and their oarollaries(competitiveness, indebtedne&s), a detail-ed agenda can be set for political deci-sions on a joint redefinition of thebalance earnings and the containment ofsocial costs.

What is created is a decor, not a context:it has too great an influence on the issueof an adult-training policy whichspecifically occupies the gap betweensocial and evaluative policies and thelabour market.

One compensation for occupying an un-comfortable midfield position is that onecan at least perceive skills in social terms.rather than as an attribute of an in-dividual person.

An adult-training policy cannot beshaped on the basis of an introspective orintra-pedagogic debate. It is only right toleave it to the education system to resolvea whole set of contradictions, the most

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important and urgent of which is un-doubtedly the radical reform of technicaleducation. Any efforts to address thesecontradictions within the field of adulttraining would he doomed to failure.

It should also be left to the labour marketand to fiscal. economic and monetarypolicyrnakers to deal with matters withintheir own sphere, in particular the in-creasingly temporary nature of recruit-ment and the tendency to organize thetransition from school to work as if itwere a process of internalizing the newrules of the market.

But the fact remains that training nowhas the wind behind its sails. Everyoneseems to agree on the need to developtraining, sometimes to the detriment ofschool-based education. Since thisunanimity is emerging from theeconomic and social sphere, it shouldpave the way for r :zonations. The pro-tagonists will dot only the authorities,employe- _did unions but also the con-tinuing education movements and theuniversities.

I P. Bourdieu, 'Moire et prescrire' (descriptionand prescription). Acres de la recherche ensciences sociaks (proceedings of social scienceresearch). May 1981.

Votviiona1 training 2/1990

Roles for training: thereshaping of work, mobilityand earnings?

An issue facing many Europeancountries is the radical restruc-turing of their labour markets,

affecting job content. job mobility andthe basic rules governing those labourmarkets. The patterns of job mobility.not only internally within companies butalso on the open labour market. havealtered profoundly, and continuing train-ing is required to perform an ever moreactive role in coping with these changes.In some countries, policies on manpowerretraining outside the company are basedon a fairly substantial mobilization of in-stitutionalized training: in the samecountries and in others, although to vary-ing degress, public and private-sectorpolicies on the provision of continuingtraining at the workplace arc helping todeal with internal chan_zs in the com-position of skills and jobs.

The aim of this article is to describe thelinks that are currently being (retcon-structed between the technological andorganizational changes affecting theworkplace. new methods of workforcemanagement and the role of retraining inthis process. the main focus being on in-company restructurin?

Thirty monographs on individual com-panies drawn up in six Member States ofthe European Community (Belgium.Federal Republic of Germany. France.Italy. Spain and the United Kingdom).have provided the basis for the followingconsiderations) Most of the companiesinvolved are large firms in various sectorsof industry that have earned a reputationfor developing an active continuing train-ing policy in the light of the laws andregulations in each of the countries in

Philippe Mehaut,Marie Claire VillevalGREE. University of Nancy IICentre national de recherche scien,tlfique (CNRS) Paris

Vocatianai training 2/1990

question. We cannot extrapolategeneralizations as to the new practicesreported on the strength of these casehistories: our paper is more of a discus-sion of the practices observed.

&fate analysing the ways in which txm-tinuing training contributes to alteringthe patterns of work organization 3t theworkplace, we describe the diversity ofthe technological and organizationalchanges taking place on-the-job. We shallthen go on to highlight the main dif-ferences among countries in their ways ofmobilizing retraining in :tupport of inter-nal change. Finally, we shall review thereasons for favouring an internal restruc-turing of skills. rather than the strategy oflooking outside the workplace andreplacing one category of manpower byanother.

Current changes and theirimpact on skill requirements

Sweeping technological and organi-zadonal changes...

The 30 monographs identified threemain categories of technological, com-mercial and organizational change as be-ing closely interrelated with employ-ment, work, mobility and skills.

Changes affecting product techno-logies

There are two opt ions: a marginal changein the product. leaving its basictechnological structure unaffected or aradical change in its technological struc-ture. An example of the latter is thedevelopment of electronics in theengineering industry, entailing a numberof wholesale changes in design, qualitytesting and assembly work. A thirdcourse of action is to diversify products togain new outlets. Nevertheless, in view ofthe tendency of industrial groups to 'goback to their knitting' to concentrateon the trade in which they specialize

1 0

any decision to diversify essentiallymeans that they develop new but fairlysimilar product lines, rather than in-vesting in entirely new markets.

Changes affecting production tech-nologies...

In the case-studies, the changes wereorganized in the light of two principles.The principle of fluidity has introducedthe process logic even into traditionallysequential industries and into thosesegments of the production line whichhave not yet been automated. Thc princi-ple of technical flexibility comes at amore advancel stage of flexible automa-tion, in that the plant normally used forlong production series can be used forshorter runs and for a variety of goods inresponse to fluctuating demand (e.g. bythe introduction of more flexiblemachines. cutting down on the timespent on retooling).

Changing the patient of traderelations...

The twofold aim is to establish newmarket openings and influence consumerbehaviour by various means. e.g. by apolicy of reducing stock levels and plan-ning production in such a way as to beable to respond more immediately to thedemands of trading partners, greaterproduct modularization which impliesnarrower ranges and demareis a morerapid adjustment capacity of theworkforce and the imposition If morestringent and extensive constrai Its onsubcontractors (through a 'just in time'policy, with the client enferprb.estipulating quality and even designstandards.

These three categories of change arecombined with a macroemlomic tenden-cy towards the distc.rtion oi sectoralstructures as a result af several trends: thelower level of induFtrial employment anda shift of employment to the service in-dustries, the changing pattern of

7

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manufacturing industries to the detri-ment of traditional sectors such as thesuppliers of intermediate goods and thetirnd towards the international concen-tration of capital, combined with thegrowth of small and medium-sizedbusinesses. This has a direct impact ondecisions on redundancies and also onthe rules governing the allocation and useof manpower.

which affect the otganizadon oflabour and skilbAll these technological, commercial andorganizational changcs imply four typesof change in the organization of labour.

A breakdown differing in degree in in-dividual countries and sectors can beobserved in the 'one job-one task-one per-son' concept. This is due to the develop-ment of various forms of multi-skillingand job enrichment through the incor-poration of responsibility for routinemaintenance and quality control into thejob. The result is a profound change inthe division of labour and inter-grouprelationships. But where (as in the UnitedKingdom) there are demarcations be-tween trades, the situation is less ad-vanced and more conflict-prone.

III Work groups are being restructured,acquiring a good deal of autonomy andassuming responsibility for the collectiveperformance of all tasks throughout agiven production segment as well as forthe internal organization of their ownwork. This restructuring of team work isparticularly advanced in Italian. Germanand French companies.

III At the same time, the hierarchicalrules are undergoing change. For exam-

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pie, formen's duties are changing; thisgroup is now more involved (in Franceand in Italy) in production managementand the training of work teams.

Finally, a trend is emerging towards areform of the rules determining wagelevels The first stage is the tendency toindividualize wages and incorporatecomplex output indicators into the ruleslindicators of productivity, quality or theachievement of targets).

These technical and organizationalchanges are inseparably bound up withthe sharp fall in the size of companies'workforces. A significant growth in ac-tivity in this period of economic upturnhas not sufficed to counteract the trendtowards a cut in the number of jobs,especially as the result of the trend maybe greater recourse to particular forms ofemployment (temporary. pan-time, etc.).The companies surveyed are thereforetrying to secure new room to manoeuvre,either internally and/or on the outsidelabour market, by offering incentives forvoluntary mobility and setting up newforms of internal mobility through m ulti-skilling, training for social advancementand continuing training.

These changing patterns are affecting jobstructure and content, and are leading toa radical rethinking of skill requirements.

We do not yet know whether the processof automation will, in the future.generate a new trend towards makingwork more routine, but as things nowstand the prevailing tendency is gradual-ly to raise the level of skills required.rather than a general downgrading. Thisraising of standards may be the result of

8 BEST COPY MAIM 11

both a passive factor (redundancy of ear-ly retirement for less skilled shopfloorworkers) and higher expectations as tothe paper qualifications of new job ap-plicants. This illustrates a strategy usedto shift from one category of manpowerto another, as well as growing workforcesegmentation, based on mcre selectiveemployment practices. If a strategy ofthis kind is employed, the higher qualityof labour at the workplace as a result ofhigher skill requirements will inevitablyadd to the dualism on the labour market.

Job skills can, however, also be improvedinternally, in particular through recourseto continuing training. Three types ofqualitative change will then affect theskills demanded of the work force:

(i) a gyowth in technical knowledge,reconstituting the basic skills ofemployees (calling for familiarity withelectronics, information technology andstatistics), as well as higher educationalstandards and the acquisition of skills innew areas to meet the need for multi-skilling:

(ii) improved communication skills link-ed, with changes in the labour organiza-tion, the rethinking of certain forms ofjob compartmentalization, the strength-ening of links between workir groupsand the impositimi of economic con-straints upon them:

(iH) an -xtensien of the organitationalskills demanded, both by greaterautonomy at work and by more stringentproduction management rules ('just intime' procedures, the optimization ofoperating times, etc.).

All this points the way to a need for ahigher basic standard of knowledge aswell as changes in the demand for thevarious forms of knowledge, expertiseand behaviour.

Faced with all these new patterns of ',in-duction. organization, work and employ-ment. the companies in question in everycountry are encountering a number ofdifficulties in the management of skills.But it also emerges clearly that the at-tempt to correct imbalances in skills andtraining by looking outside the companyis proving to be an inadequate solution.Continuing training within theworkplace today is assuming new andmultiple functions, although the degreeof recourse to in-house training may varyfrom one company and country toanother.

Vocatkmal training 2/1990

irgitakaltiintaafA composhe mobilization oftraining by the company forthe management of internalchanges

1n-house training may be mobilized bythe company to improve three factors.

Transformation of Job content

Although our sample of companies wasselected because of the firms' reputationas being more advanced in their trainingpractices than the regulations in theirrespective countries, some of them never-theless show a fairly timid trainingpolicy, heavily dependent on the externaleconomic situation and a particular set ofcontingencies to which training is ex-pected to adjust. New technologies areintroduced without prior thought as tothe structure of skills available and re-quired, and expenditure on training isvery much determined by the level of ac-tivity. Such situations are particularlycommon in British companies. Ingeneral. this is associated with slowerprogress towards questioning the Taylorapproach to work management.

On the other hand, there has obviouslybeen a rethinking of the mobilization oftraining in large companies, generallythose operating in the field of advancedtechnology and principally in France,Italy and Spain. In such companies, train-ing is directly incorporated into the pro-cess of radical change in the job content

and the functional and hierarchical divi-sion of labour. The main features of thesetraining policies are as follows:

a growing investment in training (ex-penditure often exceeds 2% of the wagebill and the average expectation of train-ing is as high as I5hoursormoreperyearper employee);

formal planning covering a period ofseveral years;

less selective access to training, withunskilled workers no longer beingsystematically excluded from the type ofcourse providing general retraining orbasic information;

more sophisticated training schemes,combining general education, theory.training on the job, courses on inter-group and intra-group communication,management training, etc.

One idea is that training can be regardedas a totally integrated part of the processof change in employment: training opera-tions are seen as part of the restructuringof working teams and the prerequisite fortheir cooperation. Job content, rules onmulti-skilling and quality control regula-tions ere established either by generalnegotiation on working conditions, plus areview of training (in particular in Italiancompanies) or, alternatively, especially inFrench companies. in direct connectionwith training schemes.

1!"Zrs/44.,Wratj4 r+-7-7a e

The second idea, according to whichtraining tends to be regarded more in an-ticipation of change, training policy isplanned even before changes in labourorganization are introduced. Change ispresented as an improvement, offering agreater degree of freedom, without aspecifically preset end objective. The in-ternal dynamics of training operationsare expected to make a further contribu-tion to decisions on the content of tasksand labour organization in the light of theskill standards actually attained byemployees and via selection among thoseemployees.

Mobility managementand regulations

Changes in job quality are affecting boththe ways in which the workforce isallocated and the entire process of inter-nal job mobility. Shopfloor jobs accountfor a decreasing proportion of the totalnumber. New trades are emerging: thcaim is greater production flexibility, ;1particular by a reconsideration of thefrontiers between jobs in the functionaldivision of labour. Once a strategy on in-ternal restructuring has been chosen, allthis implies a quant itative and qualitativegrowth in mobility, sometimes even achange in the rules governing that mobilty. It should at the same time be borne inmind that in France, for example. inter-nal mobility has tended to fall in times ofrecession because of the importance at-tached to length of service in manpoweradministration regulations and the age

Vocational trainins 2/1990 12 BEST

.4.

9

pyramid in companies, and that similartendencies have been observed in Italy asa result of guarantee,: retention of jobsand the Cassa Integrazione Guadagnisystem.

From certain case-studies, it is evidentthat training policy has not been con-structed with any particular objectiveassociated with the mobility manage-ment in mind. Nevertheless, in a greatmajority of companies, training is ex-plicitly regarded as a support of the crea-tion of new lines of mobility and rulesgoverning mobility. One of the main ob-jectives of training in multiple skills ishorizontal mobility between work sta-tions. In the British companies in-vestigated, particularly Ariking is thenumber of courses designed to increasethe standard of multi-skilling. both formaintenance workers and for youngwage-cal ars (covered by the Youthrraining Scheme). The challenge foremployers here is to bypass the tradessystem and introduce a more flexibleallocation of employees to jobs (i.e. notjust requiring empioyees to tackle a rangeof maintena nLe jobs but also to combinesnopfloor with maintenance work).Similar tendencies are encountered in theFrench. Italian and Spanish companiescovered by the monographs. The aim is todevelop a twofold set of skills to promotegreater flexibility in the allocation ofmanpower to jobs in respcnse to changesin the pattern of deniond and in theworkload allocated to teams along nieproduction line.

Another use of trainin3 is related to therealignment of vertical lines of mobility.In French wmpanies, courses are offeredin rapidly growing fields of specialization(e.g. electronics in, electrical manufactur-ing firms or quality control in engineer-ing concerns), and they ire directly usedin the process of singlin i. out employeesfor promotion. Thi. .monstrates achange in the rules hi, II,: *. nulating in-iximpany mobility. In the 1960s and1970s, promotion regulations used to bebased primarily on seniority and loyaltyto the organization. Training was givenonly after promotion, whereas thetendency today is to take the training firstand then b promoted.

The determination of earnings

If one accepts the essence of the theory ofhuman capital, the impact of ad hoctraining funded by the employer on earn-ings should be relatively low. In most ofour case histories the opposite was true:there was a positive ratio between train-ing. labour roarganization and a rise inthe level of earnings. In three Italian com-panies, e.g. where overall collectivebargaining had taken place on the labourorganization and mult i-skilling. anemployee who attended a trainingscheme tended to improve his status interms of job classifications and earnings.Similarly, in two electrical manufactur-ing companies in France and Spain.where the principal change was the op-portunity offered to the unskilled workerfor promotion mobility, success in a

w BEST CDPY HANLE it 13

training course implied an improvementin earnings.

Nevertheless, as th:ngs now stand,regular continuing training is not usuallya factor incorporated in any systematicmanner into the rules 011 srading andlevels of earnings. In most cases, atten-dance of training courses and final suc-cess in those courses. i.e. obtaining the re-quired qualifications, pave *he way for anindividual raw in earnings, withouthowever institutionalizing th.; link be-tween the level of training, paperqualifications and grading. In practice.one of the main effects of internal train-ing is to call into question the previousmethods of collective regulation of earn-ings by introducing a more individualizedmethod of fixing those earnings.

Because of its multiple effects on labourrearganization, the reconsideration ofjob mobility regulations and the mannerof determining earnings, training is seenas one of the major vectors of change ina Ford-type philosophy of wagestructures.

Specific national differencesand the method at'restructuring labour markets

Different forms of recourse to cond-luting training in individual com-panies aad countries...

Looking at the degree of recourse totraining and its role in the dynamics ofemployment and labour (bearing in mindthat it is almost impossible to arrive at areliable, comparable measurement ofwages), the situation shown by thevarious case histories may be summariz-ed as follows.

At one extreme, training sometimestends to be used purely for adaptingworkers to a given work station andfacilitating a fairly marginal degree ofmobility. These are the customary 'con-ventional' workplace situations (limitedrecourse to training and closedependence on the economic situation,narrow-based, specific training, inequali-ty of access to training) in an only slightlymodified Taylr4--type organization. Thissituation is characteristic of most of theBritish case histories. As far as job mobili-ty is concerned, of course, it is readily ap-parent that training (of the multi-skillingtype) is used to breakdown the rules andthe demarcations between tradeb. But,

. bearing in mind the nature of such train-ing, there is no sign of alternative rulesemerging.

Vocatkmal training 2/1990

The Italian. Spanish and French casehistories show a rather different igctureof the intensity of training and its effecton the philosophy underlying work andemployment. In the companies in thesethree countries, the tendency appears tobe a growing recourse to training by theemployer, the development of medium-term planning, and lesser dependence onthe outside economic situation. In theItalian case histories, training is fairlyoften an issue included in negotiations onthe organization of labour. It makes adirect contribution as developments inthe organization of labour (especially inthe forms of group work where a highdegree of multi-skilling is required) and itpromotes horizontal mobility. In France,and to a lesser degiee in Spain, a widervariety of situations is encountered: insame cases the position is the same as inItaly in that training affects develop-ments in work (but the organization andcontent of work and training are not in-cluded in collective bargaining, as in Ita-ly); in other cases, longer and moregeneral training courses are set up, mak-ing a more marked impact on verticalmobility within the company (andpossibly on eutside mobility), withoutbeing immediately related to any givenspecific task. The acquisition of roursecertificates or diplomas becomes en im-portant factor, since this criterion is in-corporated into the rules on indivitiaalassessments and career development inthe lines of mobility.

These differences can be explained byfour societal characteristics:

firstly, the structure and nature of theeducation system, which has a twofoldirfluence: on the place of general educa-tion and vocational training, and on thedegree of institutionalization of the train-ing systera (i.e. whether training is pro-

,Jy the public system of whether dif-fP.rent partners are involved, whethertraining provision is relatively indepen-dent of the labour market):

secondly, the degree of public in-tervention in the organization of conti-nuing training within the workplace: thephilosophy of job-sharing and totalautonomy of the enterprise as in theUnited Kingdom and Germany, a moreincentive-geared system as in Italy, thestatutory obligation to provide training,as in France, etc.;

thirdly, the historic nature of internaljob mobility in large companies, depen-ding on whether it is more or lessdeveloped;


fourthly, tendencies in the system ofindustrial relatior s. for example whethernegotiations are conducted on an inter-trade level and are closely interlinkedwith laws and public measures, whethernegotiations are conducted purely withina branch of industry or within a com-pany, and whether or not their results areextended to other industries and com-panies, etc.

which once again calls into gins-don the relationships between inter.nal and external labour markets

Even where the decision is to embark onthe internal restructuring of manpower,this does not exclude collective redun-dancies. The need for lay-offs arise, e.g.from higher work productivity anddistortions in the sectorial job distribu-tion. In the case histories considered,redunds icy was sometimes accom-panied by collective training measures toencourage people to leave the companyor to seek alternative employment. Inthis respect, it is of interest that the coun-tries in which the authorities havedeveloped incentives and compulsorymeasures in the field of in-company con-tinuing training are also those in whichsubstantial regulations exist on4he sub-ject of mobilizing training in the event ofwide-scale redundancies. For example, inFrance and Spain (where in-house train-ing is on the increase), measures havebeen introduced by the public sector andby certain sectors of industry tr. supportcompanies during restructuring and pro-vide help with training, something thathas not happened in the United Kingdomand Germany. Italy is a special case,because the existence of the Cassa In-tegrazione has served as a substitute foralternative support measures.

Quite apart from the aim of achieving netjob losses, however, the principle ofrecourse to the external market (by mak-ing employees redundant and thenrecruiting others frcin outside) may beadopted for other reasons. Someemployers may regard redundancy,followed by repla.ement. as a strategy toalter the nature of their workforce at alower most. In such companies, earningsare often related to length of service. Theidea is to re& ^-e the wage bill by bringingin young people to replace olderemployees. But there may be otherreasons for such substitution besides thepurely financial. A changeover maymake organizational changes more ac-ceptable and easier to introduce. Thelongest-serving employees in a company('hard-core' employees) are often thosemost reluctant to accept the introduction

1 4

11 0-'4% L'"'"

of changes affecting their basic job skillsand status. In the same way, whereunionization is strongly rooted in thephilosophy inherent to a given trade.trade unions may oppose a measurebecause it threatens their power base.Recruiting young people with no tradi-tion of unionism particularly at a timeof job shortages and high youthunemployment to replace existingemployees may then be a means of side-stepping union opposition.

These substitution strategies, however,have marked limitations. Attempts torecruit a new workforce may befrustrated by shortages of skills on the ex-ternal market. There is no guarantee thatat the time of recruitment training asevidenced by a diploma can really replacecertain aspects of the redundant workers'knowledge and expertise as regards theproducts manufactured, production pro-cesses and control practices. The relativestability of existing employees may infact be a guarantee of work groups shar-ing a common identity and beingreasonably efficient in their work,facilitating the pursuit of common ob-jectives.

In practice the tendency to opt forsubstitution or for other strategies for theinternal restructuring of skills with thehelp of continuing training depends, atleast in part, on the prevailing structureon the national labour market. InFraace, Spain and Italy, where secon-dary-type labour markets or internalcompany markets predominate, andwhere the educational system is (or was)predominantly public and general, thereis at presen rowing recourse to continu-ing training by employers. The formercharacteristics of internal job mobilityhave helped to create specific job skills,and untrained workers may have had opportunities for promotion within theircompany usually by virtue of the ruleson length of service to posts thatwould have been closed to them on theopen market. In such cases there is strongresistantx to redundancies, since theworkforce perceives the risk that theskills it has acquired may be devalued inthe eyes of the outside world. This may beevidenced by the substantial drop involuntary mobility between one com-pany and another in France during therecession and the ensuing strengtheningof institutional regulations protectingworkers and providing support for exter-nal mobility. On the other hand, internalmobility is rendered easier and more ac-ceptable on this type of market than onthe open market. The continued development of in-company job mobility

1 I

(transformed through the moresystematic inclusion of mitinuing train-ing) helps to contain the cost of adjust-ment and operational problems linkedwith restructuring, mainly because of theexisting collective job skills. On the otherhand, technological and organizationalrequirements such as thase describedabove make it necessary to remodel jobskills and revise the rules on mobility.New lines of mobility have to be con-structed which are less closely related tolength of service and 'demographic'criteria, and which are based on greaterinteraction between theoretical and em-pirical knowledge and on new forms of intratroup cooperation calling for bettercommunication skills.

In the United Kingdom, on the otherhand, and perhaps to a lesser degree inGermany, where "trade' labour marketsdominate (although with major dif-ferenms between the two countries) andwhere initial vocational training has a dif-ferent status, employers seem to resort to

12

continuing training to a lesser extent. In-ternal restructuring may be made moredifficult, in certain companies, due to thegreater compartmentaliyation ofknowledge and the strict rules regulatingaccess to certain jobs and mobility. In theUnited Kingdom. it is clear that attemptsto alter the lines of demarcation betweentrades and vocational groups; call intoquestion not only the struct ure of appren-ticeship. but the very foundations oftrade unions. This makes it unlikely thatunions would press for the developmentof training as such to hack this kind ofrestructuring. At the same time, from themanagement point of view, the rules onaccess to johs at the heart of labourmarket regulations must be radicallyrevised before in-company continuingtraining can he developed to a trulysignificant extent.

These few analytical ideas have emerged,we would point out, from a very smallsample of companies. If the growth in in-company training is confirmed. at least in

' !MO tr7::"..71710trfr,7Ptitt "1;0' l',.."7,"Mpt.

mrtain countries, great importanceshould be attached to far more detailedinformation on this phenomenon, whichis often not covered by existing statisticsand observation. The importance ofpublic intervention in this movement hasbeen noted elsewhere. This raises thequestion of Community-level possibili-ties and forms of incentive, which ob-viously should be related to the in-dividual features of each country's na-tional system of employment and work.

BEST COPY AVAILABLE 1 5

This &scum ion paper is based on research con-ducted on ts half of the European Community:Mehaut. P . Villeval. MC.. La mobilisation dela format ir ,r) par l'enterprise dans des operationsde rewnversion interne et externe de la main-d'oeuvre une comparairon sur six pays de laCEE (The mobilization of mining by the contpany in the internal and external restructuringof labour a comparison of six EEC countries).1990, Nancy. GREE Research Report for EEC(DC, V1 photocopied document.


Views on the development ofcontinuing vocationaleducation and training in GreatBritain

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Several recent reports and articles onBritish vocational education andtraining begin with statements like

those above. The stated need is to im-prove the skills and competence of allthose at present working. Yet the writersinvariably continue to confuse the needsof mature workers with the educationand training of young persons and newentrants to the workforce. Despite ourquite rational perception that mature.adult workers need more and better continuing training and education, ourprimitive, emotional feeling is that theneeds of young employees are moteurgent and important.

This paper will try to show that this pat-tern of thought and policy has persist-ently repeated itself in Britain at least forthe last 25 years. Time and again the pro-blem has been identified that improved

Ken NixonCentre for Con-tinuing Voca-tional Education.SheffieldUniversity

Vocational mining 211990

continuing education and training is vitalto our British economy and society as,indeed. it is to any modern economy. Yetthe problem is still with us and is as acuteas it has ever been. It will also be arguedthat, even though there are currentlysome hopeful ideas and initiatives, pre-sent policies do not seem likely to give suf-ficient priority to the training needs ofmature employees.

defuse a chronic economic and social pro-blem. Moreover, the resources saved onsupporting and training unemployedyoung people offer an opportunity tomeet the needs of that much larger group,the existing workforce.

The most important message from thenumbers in the table is that there are atthis present time three times as many

Labour force projections, Great Britain

Age 1939 2001

16 19 2 413 2 15820 3 671 2 79725 34 6 818 6 68835 44 6 532 7 55345 - 54 5 103 6 10255_59 10/64 gmj6010165 1n11 +

2.679827

2.883673

°le Change

10.623.8

1.9+ 15.6+ 19.6+ 7.6

18.6

All ages

Sornr. limploment Departmcnt

28.042

The table shows that in Britain in 1989there were about 6 million employmaged 16-24 and 18 million aged 25-54. aratio of I to 3. In 2001 there will be 5million aged 16-24 and 20 million aged25-54, a ratio of I to 4. This change hasbeen presented, alarmingly, as *thedemographic time bomb'. The figurescertainly do show a significant change inthe numbers of young people entering theworkforce over the next decade and inthe ratio of younger to matureemployees. Some employers, notablythose who employ young workers onshort engagements at low wages, will nodoubt find it difficult to recruit youngpeople. However, since youth unemploy-ment has been with us for several years,far from being a 'time bomb' this drop '3their numbers seems more likely to

1 6

28.883 + 2.9

mature 'prime age' employees as there areyoung ones. Statistics on training andeducation are sparse and difficult to inter-pret. but the evidence is that about half ofall training and more than half of alleducation is received by people under 25.One in three employed adults in Britainreport that they have never received anytraining, a sitnlar proportion have noeducational or vocational qualifications.This lack of training at work and the im-balance in provision for younger andmature workers must be remedied if Bri-tain's economic performance is to im-prove over the next few years.

There are simple messages in the table'sdata which are continually overlooked.There are 28 million workers in Britainwith about 600 000 new entrants each

13

year. Inevitably, the workforce is re-newed about every 40 years. A young,new entrant takes, say, three to five yearsto become a full contributor; perhaps fiveto fifteen years to become a fully activecraftsman, professional, supervisor ormanager. In many sectors of employ-ment working methods, organizationand, particularly, technology changeevery few years. We know all this verywell and yet carry on devoting our mainresources to the young when we knowthat there is a huge unmet requirement toeducate, train and retrain those alreadyin employment.

The creation and growth ofthe Manpower ServicesCommission (MSC)

In 1973, after a national debate on Bri-tain's training arrangements, the MSCwas created. Its mission was to takecharge of national manpower policy: 'toelevate the importance of vocationaleducation and training and redefine itscontribution to productivity and na-tional development'.

The Commission itself was a board of 10persons representing employers, tradesunions, local authorities and educationwith a government appointed chairman.

4

J

In i 974 a Labour government took overfrom the Conservatives. AlthoughLabour were probably more ideologicallycommitted to the MSC becoming 'apowerful body responsible for thedevelopment and execution of a com-prehensive manpower policy', cir-cumstances intervened. Inflation and alarge balance of payments deficit madepublic money scarce; growing numbersof unemployed workers called for im-mediate measures. Long-term plans hadto wait: temporary employment subsidiesand job creation programmes were quick-ly introduced. The attention quicklyturned to the young unemployed. Voca-

There had been dissatisfaction amongstemployers with the costs andbureaucracy legally imposed by therecently formed Industrial TrainingBoards. All political parties recognizedthat vocational education and trainingwere not meeting industrial and wmmer-cial manpower needs. This new body wascreated to revitalize the nation's man-power and make education and trainingmore relevant to its economic goals.

14

BEST

'tional preparation for young peoplebemme a priority. Although it publisheda new report in 1976. 'Towards a com-prehensive manpower policy', the MSCwas obliged to act on behalf of theSecretary of State for Employment. Thismeant more measures to combat the ef-fects of rising youth unemployment. Thepolicy was applied only to the needs ofthe young at school, unemployed andin employment. Apart from a modest

Y AVAILABLE 17

. . -

training opportunities programme forsome of the unemployed, older workers,employed or not, were left largely to fendfor themselvtts. By the end of the Labouradministration in 1979 the MSC hadgrown in size and importance but im-plementat.ion of its grandiose plans fornational manpower and trainingme4t7.ures had been restricted mainly tovarious schemes for young persons: awork experience programme; the youthopportunities programme; unified voca-tional preparation to provide a bridge be-tween school and work.

The contribution ofIndustrial Training Boards(ITBs)

1TBs were created by the IndustrialTraining Act of 1964. By 1970, 27 =Mrsof industry were covered by these Boards,from agriculture and air transport toshipbuilding and steel. In their earlyyears ITBs were funded wholly by levieson their respective industries but from1973 the government, through the MSCpaid all their operating costs.

1TBs were concerned almost totally withpeople in employment. Although theywere used by the MSC as agents to set upschemes of work experience and trainingfor the young unemployed, their primaryconcern was to ensure that the firms intheir sector had proper training ar-rangements for all employees, particu-larly those with skills vital to their in-dustry. Some skill shortages receivedspecial help. The Air Transport andTravel 1 TB, for example, secured govern-ment funds to set up a training schemefor helicopter pilots for North Sea oil ex-ploration.

There was, then, a mismatch between theITIk concern for their industries andemployees, the government% concern forthe unemployed, and the MSC's concernfor national manpower needs. Whetherfor those or other reasons, in 1981 thegovernment settled the matter byabolishing 17 of the 24 ITBs then inoperation. More recently all the re-mainder, with the sole exception of theConstruction ITB, have lost their legalstatus.

It is impossible to estimate how muchcontinuing vocational training was doneas a result of ITBs' efforts. The 'Fundingstudy' of vocational education and train-ing in Britain, published by the TrainingAgency in 1989, showed a much largervolume of training being paid for byemployers than many observers had ex-

Vocational trainina 2/1990

WA: ct,10 '..; *NC

pected. ITBs may have been more effec-tive than is commonly supposed.However effective ITBs actually were,their main concern was with our subject:continuing vocational education andtraining. Their abolition strengthens ourmajor thesis: that the training needs ofthose in employment are said to be apriority but that actions taken do notmatch the rhetoric.

The MSC is replaced byTraining and EnterpriseCouncils (TECs)

In 1979 a Conservative Government waselected; unemployment continued torise; the MSC carried on. Again, the mainpriority was the youth opportunities pro-gramme to provide employment andtraining for unemployed school leavers.In 1981 a policy document was issued of-fering: `A new training initiative'; thethree principles stated in this documentinfluenced national training policy forthe next seven years. The principleswere:

To make skill training more flexible,available, relevant and progressive.

To give all young people under 18 op-portunities for education or planned,work-related training.

To create wide opportunities for adults`to acquire, increase or update their skillsand knowledge'.

The aim was consistent with the MSC'soriginal purpose; to transform the entireworkforce. As previously, however, themain priority remained young people.There were several initiatives aimed atemployers local grants to employers,local employer networks and others. Inlater years these were amalgamated intoa programme called business growthtraining with five strands to cover allsizes of business from the individual start-ing up to the large firm introducing a newtraining idea. The funding and staffresources devoted to these adult initia-tives was never more than a fraction ofthose aimed at young persons and, in-creasingly, at initiatives in further andhigher education.

In January 1989 a Government WhitePaper was issued setting out future policyfor training. This announced the settingup of Training and Enterprise Councilsin England and Wales to assure localmanagement of training. In April 1990several of these began operating. It isplanned that 80 will be set up within twoyears.


In parallel with this TEC initiative thescope and power of the use declined. Firstthe Employment service was separatedand the MSC became the Training Com-mission. Then, when the trade unionsrefused to support Employment Training(E1"), a scheme to provide for the long-term unemployed, the Commission wasdisbanded and the organization becamethe Training Agency, reporting direct tothe Secretary of State for Employment.

Because TECs are taking over respon-sibility for the Agency's main schemes,YT and ET, many of the staff in Sheffieldare no longer needed. Staff members arereducing. A review of the Agency'sfuture is being carried out.

'More means worse', arguing that givingmore students access to higher educationsimply means lowering standards.

Sir Christopher is much more optimisticabout the maintenance of standards butrealistic about any increase of funding.He advocates expansion; increasingcohesion between education and voca-tional training; an increase in publicfunding and an even greater increase inprivate funding; and much greater accep-tance by employers of their respon-sibilities for solviiig the problems of skillshortages.

Again, however, the report fails fully toacknowledge the overriding importance

0.

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Higher and further education

In Britain higher education leads to aqualification beyond GCE 'A level or aNational Diploma (NVQ levels 4 or 5)further education is far less well defined.'The Senior Chief Inspector sharplydescribes it as "a jungle in which talentand ability are lost".'

This last quotation, and much of thecon-tent of this section comes from an ex-cellent report, 'More means different', bySir Christopher Ball, published by theTraining Agency in 1990. The subtitle ofthe report is 'widening access to highereducation'. The main title is a response toa previous report by traditionalists.

18 BEST

of better provision for the mature. Atten-tion continually turns to the largenumbers of young people who do notreceive any higher or furthee education.The report does say that:

Past-compulsory education is a muddle:it requires restructuring'.

I understand that Sir Christopher isworking on another report to suggestways of doing this.

Conclusion

Our conclusions about past measures andfuture policy should by now be clear. Pastattempts to improve continuing voca-

Y MAIM 15

tional education and training for themature employed have been constantlydiluted or diverted by concern for theyoung and unemployed. Presentmeasures, both in education and train-ing, are muddled and inadequate to thetask. There is concern in many quartersabout our training arrangements. Thecurrent response to this is the formationof Training and Enterprise Councils; anact of faith of which outcomes are as yetuncertain.

Precisely because Britain has trained andeducated too few young people in thepast it has now many mature adults wholack development but are capable ofbenefiting from it.

Instead of concentrating on better provi-sion for the young and hoping that someadults will also participate we should en-sure much wider and deeper participa-tion for adults in all forms of educationand training.

It is often observed that our universitieswent through their most exciting andproductive phase after the Second WorldWar. Mature men and women recom-mencing their education after serving inthe forces or in other demanding workbrought experience and skills whichgreatly enriched undergraduate life andstudy. The success of the Open Univer-sity shows mature demand. There existsthe opportunity to create a mix of themature and the young in highereducation.

In Britain governments seems to fear thatthe more resources they provide for train-ing the less employers will feel obliged totrain. Study of other systems in Europe.notably Germany and the Netherlands,suggests that if government is willing toprovide resources and support for initialvocational education then employers willreciprocate with continuing training. Aworking hypothesis is that governmentconcern and example fosters employercommitment and provision. Similarly.the evidence is that the more educationand training individuals have had in thepast, the more they are likely to demandin the future.

16

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References:'Training for the future'The rise and fall of the Manpower Services Com-mission by Patrick Ainlay and Mark Corney,Cassell. London 1990

More means different''Widening accms to higher education'Sir Christopher BallRSA/Truining Agency. May 1990

BEST COPY AVAILABLE / 9 Vocational training 2/1990

TY7171_, :,10Z

Continuing vocational trainingin The Netherlands:developments and debates

Continuing vocational training inThe Netherlands is in a state offlux: the number of participants

is growing, increased funding is beingmade available and policy-makers arefocusing greater attention on the ques-tion. It is also in the throes of restructur-ing and transition as a result of newlegislation. These are also features of theintellectual and political debate surroun-ding this branch of adult education.Some of the main elements of the debateare discussed below. First, however, weoutline the reference points of the debate,i.e. the radical developments taking placein continuing vocational training 1ef.Kraayvanger, et al.. 1989).

Diversity and complexity

The field of continuing vocational train-ing in The Netherlands is a diverse andcomplex one and the great variety of theschemes often makes it difficult for theoutsider to see the wood for the trees.Many certies with differing interests areinvolved, at national, regional and locallevels, in widely differing and often in-adequately coordinated arrangements. A

GeertKranyvanger,Benvan OnnaInstltuulvoor ToegepasteSocialeWeten.whappen(In). Nijmegen,The Netherlands


comprehensive legislative and regulatoryframework is still lacking, though legisla-tion covering particular aspects of thefield is now being prepared or im-plemented; to what extent future legisla-tion will bring greater coherence intowhat is currently a fragmented situationremains to be seen. In the private sectortoo a restructuring of activities andresources is under way.

The core of continuing vocational train-ing comprises mainstream vocationaleducation for adults, training in theframework of employment services andthe training actitivies of particularemployers and industries. The field iscompleted by guidance, bridging andsupervisory activities, elements ofgeneral education in both main-stream/public and commercial/privateinstitutions and the training componentsof other public schemes.

The diversity of continuing vocationaltraining is reflected in. among otherthings, the varied nature of the ar-rangements, encompassing providers,

managers, management forms, par-ticipants and objectives and in the quan-titative and qualitative developmentsnow taking place. In The Netherlands,continuing vocational training has tradi-tionally been highly compartmentalized,marked in the public sector by com-plicated, non-uniform and often uncoor-dinated legislation. Since 1986 theMinister for Education and Science has

had responsibility for, and the job of coor-dinating, adult education (except in theareas of personal development and socio-cultural work). The main legislativeresponsibility in the area of continuingvocational training rests with theMinistry for Education and Science andthe Ministry for Economic Affairs,which also constitute the major source offunding. Legislation on adult education,both vocational and general, has manyinterfaces with other areas of publicpolicy. notably employment and labourmarket policy, economic andtechnologiad policy, general culturalpolicy, equal opportunities policy, policywith respect to minority groups, etc.

20 BEST WY AVAILABLE17

- 7.

Restructuring and newlegisladon

For many years there have been calls forlegislation aimed at harmonizing thevarious forms of adult education, and in1985 an Adult Education FrameworkAct fmally came into force. Furtherlegislation was needed to flesh out themain components of the Act, however,and this is still under consideration. Asignificant advance was neverthelessmade in 1987 when the National BasicEducation Scheme came into operation,bringing in its wake a uniform planning,policy und funding system for educa-tional activities and services aimed atadults with a low level of education.Another scheme which began operationin 1987 is intended to ensure coherentprovision at regional level for employ-ment-related training for groups whoselabour market position is weak. Finally,the Recognition of Educational Institu-tions Act also came into force in 1987; itspurpose is to ensure the quality of thecourses offered by recognized commer-cial educational institutions and the clari-ty of their contractual obligations.

Perhaps the most radical legislativechange is due in 1991, when the Direc-torate General for Employment Servicesof the Ministry for Labour and SocialSecurity is to be hived off under theEmployment Services Act. The Act isbased on the principle that employmentservices are the joint responsibility ofgovernment, employers and tradeunions, and both the national board andthe various regional boards compriserepresentatives of all three. This jointresponsibility also extends to trainingpolicy.

Other legislative proposals now underconsideration are concerned with thestructure, quality, planning and coor-dination of facilities and activities in thearea of part-time vocational training(with the exception of such planning astakes place under the Adult EducationFramework Act and the EmploymentServices Act). Part-time vocational train-ing includes courses both for adults andfor young people who are no longer re-quired to be in full-time schooling. Theproposed legislation encompasses the ap-prenticeship system, part-time in-termediate vocational education andspecific training, but not higher voca-tional education. Part of this field, name-ly part-time intermediate vocationaleducation and specific training, iscovered by the pier ning arrangements ofthe administrative structure for employ-

18

r,e

mem services, but the apprenticeshipsystem remains outside this planningstructure.

Proposals have also been formulated ongeneral and academic secondary-leveleducation for adults. These envisage atwofold purpose for such provision,namely as 'second-chance' education forthose who missed out as youngsters andas a bridge to other forms of educationand training. Institutional planning foradult secondary education will be in ac-cordance with the procedures laid downfor mainstream secondary education, ex-cept that institutions will have fixedbudgets instead of being funded on anopen-ended basis. The planning of ac-tivities will be based on tit legislation,now in preparation, which is to flesh outthe Adult Education Framework Act.

Other new legislation will enable schcand colleges to provide training services(in the framework of their normal ac-tivities) to employers and individuals ona contract basis, charging economicallyrealistic fees. Finally, new legislation isalso planned for part-time highereducation.

The planning and funding system foradult education in The Netherlands,both vocational and non-vocational, isthus due for radical restructuring. Public-ly funded provision will in the near futurefall into four broad categories:

(i) basic education,(ii) secondary education (general andacademic),(iii) vneational education in a narrowsense,(iv) higher education.

Change in the private sector

In the private sector too the recent pasthas brought rapid change in the field ofcontinuing vocational training, affectingnot only its scale and funding, but alsothe institutional frameworks in which itis provided. These changes have comeabout partly as a result of the WagnerCommittee's proposals (Advisory Com-mittee on the Progress of IndustrialPolicy, 1983a,b) and the agreementsreached in 1982, 1984 and 1986 in theJoint Labour Council, the central con-sultative forum of the employers'organizations and the trade unions.

Following a sharp decline in interest andactivity in the 1970s, reflected in the run-

21

t

down of company training schemes andsome sections of the apprenticeshipsystem, in the 1980s, due, among otherthings, to technological innovation,changing markets and workform restruc-turing, industry has been forced to renewits efforts in this field. In particular therehas been an incluse in training provisionaimed at tne permanent core of firms'workforces, but in addition new, oftenregional, collaborative structures havebeen set up to promote continuing voca-tional training, training funds have beenestablished, and in various industries andfirms training agreements have beenreached in the course of collectivebargaining. Some collective agreementshave included declarations of intent orcommitments regarding the study oftraining needs. In any event there is aclear tendency to expand and intensifytraining, with agreements increasinglybeing reached on general trainingmeasures not aimed solely at young peo-ple. In some cases agreements have beenreached on the conversion of workingtime into training leave, and there arealso schemes involving the use of non-worked shifts for training purposes. In afew industries, agreements have beenreached on various types of trainingcourse.

Calls within the Joint Labour Council forcollective bargainers to focus greater at-tention on the needs of the long-termunemployed have not produced any clearincrease in recent years in the number ofcollective agreements that include provi-sions aimed at this target group. Similar-ly, despite the fact that a Joint LabourCouncil working group has drawn atten-tion to the difficult position of womenreturners and ethnic minorities, little ifanything has been done to incorporateprovisions designed to serve their needsinto collective agreements.

Despite the growth of interest in continu-ing vocational training, the sums involv-ed remain relatively modest in com-parison with other European Communi-ty States. OECD figures for 1987 showDutch spending on employee training at0.36% of the GNP, as against 0.69% inFrance, 0.78% in the Federal Republicof Germany, 0.85% in the UnitedKingdom and 0.92% in Belgium; theequivalent figure for Sweden, a non-ECState, was 1.11%. These figura, whichhave not shifted much in TheNetherlands' favour since 1987 (cf.Ritzen, 1989), can usefully be borne inmind as we look more closely at some ofthe central issues in the Dutch debate oncontinuing vocational training.


1.7N 77714177747^7?4 .17: W4.1114/614: 4 4.1

Ade&

Human resources

There has been widespread recognitionover the last l 0 years of the ever-growingimportance to society of continuingvocational training. This is the result notonly of the changes taking place in thesocial context (unemployment, changingjob requirements) and in the kinds ofqualifications needed within theworkforce, but also of the growing in-volvement of the two sides of industryand the ensuing influence they have beenable to exert in consultative fora at na-tional, regional and sectoral levels. Thisinvolvement and inflfience has in turnentailed consequences for the perspectivein which the importance of continuingvocational training is viewed. The nowcustomary arguments demographicpressures, the need to remedy inade-quacies in workers' basic education andto update obsolete knowledge and skillsin a world of rapid technical andorganizational change, the importance ofeducation and training in social and oc-cupational terms are increasingly ap-plied in the context of the sentiment thatpublic and private investment in newtechnologies and new forms of organiza-tion represents a waste of social resourcesunless accompanied by investment incontinuing vocational training. Express-ed in positive terms, this means that theopportunities offered by automation andinformation technology can only be ex-ploited to the full if human resources aredeveloped and used effectively (ef. Kluyt-mans, 1989).

Education and training are among thecore strategies for the development ofthis potential. Firms, especially those


744k. 9

with a shrinking workforce, thereforeneed to integrate their product, personneland training policies. These are principleswhich are by no means universally ap-plied. however. A further argument isthat the introduction of new technologies

at least where investment aimed atwidening and deepening capital is con-cerned is a long-term matter, requiringdifferent planning rhythms: on theeducation and training side too,therefore, such investment requires morestrategic planning in place of ad hoc andshort-term responses. This applies not on-ly to industry's own training endeavoursbut also to the joint activities of govern-ment, employers and unions, who have aduty to ensure. among other things, thatinitial and continuing education andtraining fit together in terms of contentand structure in such a way as tofacilitate life-long learning.

Social and economicconsiderations

In parallel with such thinking ir terms ofeducational investment in humancapital, the links between education andtraining and the labour market are defm-ed in largely social and economic terms.Continuing vocational training has thejob of meeting the need for changingskills in a changing environment and thusfocuses particularly on the position of theworkers, the various internal markets ofthe firms and the corresponding need onthe part of employers for a workforcewhich can be deployed in accordancewith requirements. In this context, themuch-used term *flexibility' is thus con-cerned more with the flexible, short-term

deployment of manpower within thefirms than with flexibility between com-panies and sectors (cf. Hovels et al.1989). Providing (future) workers withthe skills for the external labour market isstill predominantly seen as the job of in-itial vocational trainine;.

In this context, consideration:, nlating tothe removal of social inequalities on thelaboar market also stand in a new light.Whereas in the 1970s such considera-tionv wen; primarily based on objectivessuch as SOCial justice, today the focus isincreasingly on the efficient use ofavailable and potential human capital.This reflects not only demographictrends, the scarcity of labour already af-fecting certain sectors and the fact (asmentioned above) that industry has inthe past neglected or abandoned its train-ing functions; it also reflects the senti-ment that more and better efforts areneeded in the area of human resourcedevelopment if technological andorganizational change is to proceedsmoothly. In the larger organizations atleast, in-service training provision is nolonger aimed primarily at the higher andmiddle levels of technical and commer-cial/administrative occupations. Suchendeavours are also aimed in part at im-proving the employment position ofwomen, ethnic minorities and the dis-abled: a combination of genera: (e.g.basic) education and initial and continu-ing vocational training enables thesegroups to cope with new technologies,lowers the barriers which prevent theirfull participation in society and allowsthem to enter or re-enter employment.

New configurations andscenarios

Among the topics attracting attention inthe Dutch debate on continuing voca-tional training are the changes in educa-tional contexts and challenges withwhich individuals and groups are con-fronted. We have already mentioned thegreater emphasis now placed on life-longlearning and hence on general skills suchas *learning to learn' with which continu-ing education can equip individuals.What is involved here are not onlydemographic and labour market factorsand the strategic planning of educationby employing organizations, which inturn implies career planning. Life-longlearning also has a preventive function inrespect of early ageing and allows for thegrowing significance of older people associal actors.

22 BEST COPY MAIM19

rt,

Moreover the configurations andscenarios in which adults learn, for voca-tional or other purposes, are growingever 1110Te complex. Initial (school- or col-lege-based) training, further and conver-sion training and training provided by theemployer are increasingly interfacing, asare the various actors in the field of voca-tional training in general. The latter in-clude not only the two sides of industry(to which we shall return later), but alsothe many types of education and traininginstitutions. There are distinct statutoryframeworks and a multiplicity of flexibleand modularized learning paths and pro-jects to be found in this context. Flexibletime budgets and differentiated labourmarket orientations also effect a differentconsumption of educat.ion and training.To a large degree this complex environ-ment reflects social reality itself; on themore institutional side, however, itrepresents to some degree the negativeconsequence of government policy.Organizational complexity is an adversefactor notably from the viewpoint ofthe lesser skilled, who have difficulty fin-ding their way through the maze ofschemes and courses on offer andtherefore reinforces existing tendenciesin the direction of a segmented laboursupply. In this situation it is importantnot only for the government andemployers to offer suitable incentivesand appropriate and understandablelearning paths, but also for the trainingmarket to function at the level of the in-dividual, which means that training pro-visions should reach the individual con-sumer so that the latter can find what heor she needs.

In such a complex environment, it isnatural that independent and self-directed learning should gain in impor-tance. This implies not only that increas-ing importance is attached to the amountof time invested by the individual in thelearning process, but also that educa-tional investment by the government andindustry is complemented by obligationswhich the individual must meet if op-timal results are to be obtained. Educa-tional consumption has thus becomemore product-oriented and less process-oriented (except for those who are ac-quainting themselves with the educa-tional field) and, certainly in the case ofvocational education, has less to do withindividual development and more with arather more detached familiarizationwith roles which appear relevant to one'swork, personal career and general socialutility.

The role of employers andunions in public policy

Changes and innovations in the area ofcontinuing vocational education are notonly influenced by considerationsrelating to successful transactions on in-ternal and external labour markets andthe relevant functions of trainingschemes, either at the level of organiza-tions or individuals. As we have alreadynoted, they are also strongly influencedby the changed role of the government,employers and trade unions and by thechange in the processes of negotiationbetween these parties on the road be-tween education and employment.

t-

Vocational training in The Netherlandstraditionally emphasized school- and col-lege-based learning. Policy on the formand content of vocational training wasfor a long time and to some extent stillis determined by the government,primarily the Ministry of Education andScience, and the organizations represen-ting teachers, schools and colleges. Therole of the employers and unions thuslong remained marginal, except of coursein relation to the apprenticeship systemand company training schemes, whoserole was, however, often only modest.This situation underwent radical changeas a result of the slump in the late 1970sand early 1980s, when vocational train-ing as a whole began to be regarded as akey social and economic element in astrategy for national development andthe two sides of industry, as the underly-

" BEST COPY MAILABLE 2 3

ing pillars of that strategy, were expresslyaccorded a major role in ciecision-makingon vocational training.

Under the influence of the Wagner Com-mittee, established by the Dutch Govern-ment, which played an important role inairing these ideas, employers' organiza-tions and trade unions have been admit-ted to important decision-making bodiesat national level. The work of such bodiesalso relates to changes in the structure,funding and design of vocational educa-tion as outlined in the first part of thispaper, and to that extent we have biddenfarewell to the government-dominatedcentralist planning model. Moreover,steps are being taken to establish sector-

based consultative structures involvingthe government and industry. Acceptingthe need to gear the provision of trainingtowards the needs of society and in-dustry, the employers and unions involv.ed in these structures have been accordeda major role in the development and for-mulation of occupational and trainingprofiles and training syllabuses. The viewof the relationship between educationand employment which still dominates inthis connection is one based on more orless exclusive links between trainingcourses, occupations and jobs, in whichprocesses of mutual adjustment playlittle, if any, part a view long abandon-ed in the research field.

A further development since the start ofthe 1980s has been the tendency of thecentral employers' and trade union

Vocational trainins 211990

organizations to urge those involved insectoral bargaining to include, in collec-tive agreements, provisions coveringemployment and training in return forthe unions refraining from demandingpay increases or indexation. Not onlyhave such accords helped to increase thenumber of practical training placeswithin the apprenticeship system (in-cluding those for adults), but a growingnumber of collective agreements havealso included provision for updating andconversion courses for workers. Thepractical effects and results of suchagreements are, however, not en-couraging.

In the mean time the government haspursued a policy of deregulation in thevarious sectors of continuing vocationaltraining with a view to enhancing train-ing institutions' financial and manage-ment autonomy. The hope is that thiswill enable training provision to be moreflexibly geared to the diverse needs of thelabour market. By making the manage-ment and operation of employment ser-vices a joint responsibility of governmentand the two sides of industry, it is hopedthat the educational element of labourmarket training for the unemployed andthose threatened with unemploymentcan be better matched to current needs.In this context the principal conse-quences are to be found at regional level.

The radical changes taking place in thestructure and design of initial and con-tinuing voutional training may help it tolose its traditional introverted orienta-tion and its social position as a`pedagogical province'. If this happens itwill make for greater transparency allround, with employers and unionsbecoming more clearly aware of theirresponsibility. However, such develop-ments also involve the risk that optionsregarded as important by the various par-ties concerned will be realized in an un-balanced fashion. HOvels (1990) pointsout that in a social situation in whichthere is little if any tradition of anchoringthe qualification component in thelabour relations system. there is a dangerof an unbalanced distribution of in-fluence between the two sides of in-dustry, with possible adverse implica-tions notably for the trade unions.Thrnugh a lack of tradition, but alsobecause the new developments have af-fected mainly administrative andbureaucratic tasks, the qualificationsdebate has not got properly under waywithin the trade union movement, whichis therefore unable to exert sufficient in-fluence on these developments. More-over, central government, which tradi-


tiolially offered some counterweight tothe power of the employers, is seeking toreduce the scope of its own influence andis unclear as to its own share in the socialdivision of responsibility.

The government's decliningadministrative and financialinvolvement

No intensive discussion is taking place inThe Netherlands on the content futurequalifications. There appears to be agree-ment on this issue, where the tendencyexists to delegate the matter to the twosides of industry or the educational in-stitutions. The debate is mainly concern-ed with the division of responsibility andrelated qt!estions. Major reports oftenconstitute the occasion for more inten-sive discussions.

The government's current reflections onits own role in education policy mainlyrelate to its management philosophy.Reasgnizing the deficiencies of itsmanagement capacity in a number ofrespects, the government has begun amore selective form of organization andhas transferred management respon-sibilities to other levels. Against abackground of increasingly diverseeducational needs and with a view to en-suring a high-quality educational pro-duct with a high return, the governmentsets much store by 'autonomous' educa-tional institutions, and this also applies tothe field of continuing vocational train-ing. Such institutions are intended tohave a certain degree of scope in policymatters, so that they can make choices inareas such as the use of available finan-

_

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cial resources, st fling and establishmentpolicy, career development and in-servicetraining, cooperation and/or competitionwith other institutions, curricula andtimetables. This again assumes the crea-tion of expert management.

From the employer's side andemployers tend to see education as aweapon in the context of internationalcompetition there are calls for conti-nuing vocational training institutions tobe taken over by industry. This couldhave a positive impact on the range oftraining provisions, the rental ofbuildings and machinery, the grantingand lending of equipment and contractactivities, whereby corresponding in-stitutions would run firms' trainingcourses. Employers believe that it shouldbe compulsory for teachers to participatein a placement in industry, e.g. at inter-vals of 10 years; conversely, industrycould provide the corresponding institu-tions with the teaching staff. In-companytraining courses and the courses providedby educational institutions should becoordinated from the planning stage on-wards. To this end the institutions needgreater scope to develop initiatives incooperation with industry to drawgreater benefit from such activities thanis possible in the traditional system.

The most far-reaching proposals so farwere put forward by the RauwenhoffCommittee (Temporary Advisory Com-mittee on Education and the LabourMarket) in the report entitled 'Educationand the labour market: heading towardsan effective path', it submitted to theMinister for Education and Science inmid-1990. One theme of the report is thecommittee's belief that the various par-

nt.04:

Y UWE 21

ties individuals, colleges, firms,government involved in initial andcontinuing vocational training have beenprevented from improving the links be-tween education and the labour marketby red tape. the weight of the various in-terest groups and the fact that educationis concentrated on the younger genera-tion. It is only if these obstacles areremoved and replaced by creative andbinding relations of joint sponsorship be-tween individuals and colleges, firms andcolleges and colleges and the governmentthat there can be any prospect of achiev-ing the necessary flexibility. Anothertheme is that of life-long learning and theneed for its incorporation into an educa-tion system in which the varioussegments are intercoordinated and in-dividuals have a life-long entitlement toacquire the minimum qualificationsnecessary for access to the labour market.The report's proposals on funding arealso geared to this objective: following in-itial education, every individual wouldhave a period of five years in which to ac-quire his or her initial labour marketqualification with the help of public fun-ding. and any unexpired portion of thatperiod could be used later on. Finally, thereport urges a radical dualization of theeducation and training system in the lastphase of vocational and university educa-tion, with a view to ensuring an adequatebalance of supply and demand on thelabour market; this would be one of theorganizational forms of the relations ofjoint sponsorship. mentioned above.

The Rauwenhoff Committee's unortho-dox ideas and recommendations have astrongly administrative bias and seemdesigned notably to strengthenemployers' and industry's grip on voca-tional training (the committee did not in-clude trade union representatives). Theirproposals also appear to anticipate fric-tions on the labour market, namely thecoexistence on the supply side of

22

qualitative and quantitative shortfalls,with a hard core of long-term unemploy-ment and a hidden reserve of labouramong the recipients of disabilitybenefits and women. This is also evidentin the way in which the problem of im-balances in labour supply and demand isdefined: in the committee's view, theissue is chiefly one of meeting the de-mand for the workers and skills needed inthe context of technological andorganizational change. Questions of ab-sorption, utilization and distribution arescarcely uddressed in the report, apartfrom the viewpoint of the individual con-sumer of education and training. Theidea of dual learning mutes, however in-teresting, will not be easy to put into prac-tice, since the availability of trainingplaces in industry greatly varies depen-ding on the state of the economy, andnotably on the prospective demand forlabour. Finally, the committee adopts nostance on the regulation of training leavein collective agreements, which mighthave offered a way of translating the en-titlement to life-long learning followinginitial training inn 'initially binding ar-rangements cover, g employers andemployees (cf. Letinse, 1990). Elementsof general education, which are of grow-ing importance in the context of continu-ing vocational training, could have beentouched upon in this context.

Conclusion

The debate in progress in TheNetherlands on continuing vocationaltraining is currently mainly concernedwith its administrative, organizationaland financial aspects. A measure ofcreativity has been shown which will nodoubt have its impact in the not too dis-tant future on the structure of educa-tional institutions and on educationalfunding. A new kind of institutional divi-

sion will probably develop in the field ofeducation and the labour market, inwhich the dominant parties will exercisecontrol. Issues of educational renewaltend to remain in the background. Thepragmatic nature of the discussion isreflected in a somewhat one-sided inter-pretation of the essentially complex rela-tions between education, work and thelabour market, in which the focus is onthe qualifications needed by workers toadjust to changing circumstances. It isthus hardly surprising that our assess-ment of the ways in which initial and con-tinuing vocational training can an-ticipate technological and organizationalchanges lags behind that of otherWestern European countries.

References

Advisory Commiuee on the Progress of IndustrialPolicy (Wagner Corr initteet Report onactivnies 2thi DutchA The Hague, 1983a.Advisory Committee on the Progress of IndustrialPolicy iWagner Committee). Report on activities 3

Dutchl The Hague. 1983h.Hovels B. Social partners. organizations. in .dividuals and vocational education (Paper given atCedefop conference held 25.27 June 1990 in Nij-mewn).HOvels B.. Gains J. and Van Wel 3.Opkidingtheleld fawn markt en siuring (Trainingpolicy between market and command). The Hague.Organisatie voor Strategisch Arbeidsmarktondernick. 1989.kluytmans. F. 1..Iman resource manageme.it,schone schijn of sprong voorwaarte (Htmanresource management, pure show or leap for.wards?) Tadschrlfi ivor Arbeidsmarkwraagstuk.ken, 1989, 5, pp. 29 35.Kraayvanger G,. Hovels B., Van Onna B. Thefinancing of adult education in The Netherlands(Final report on Focus 2). Nijmegen. ITS. 1989,Leinse F.. Therheid en beroepsgerichte seholing'(The State and vocational education). TildschrifiIvor polltieke ekonornie, 1990. 12. pp. 114132,Ritzen 3.. 'Economische aspeeten vanvolwasseneducatie' (Economic aspects of adulteducation). FM, 11 I .1989.Temporary advisory Committee on Education andthe Labour Market. Ondernils-arbeidsmankt: naareen wentzaam miler: (Education and the labourmarket: toward: an effective pathway). Alphen a/c1Rijn. Samson HD T,lPenk Wilhnk. 1990,

25Vocational training 211990

;

Vocational training redefinesits Ihnits

..1.11

0 ver the past 15 years there hasbeen a radical change in voca-tional training. We shall try to

take stock of some of these develop-ments considering some of the present-day challenges and possible patterns ofchange.

Two striking developments are wellknown: on the one hand, it is the perceiv-ed role of vocational training that itshould contribute towards making oureconomies more competitive and in-novatory, while, on the other, it is used asa means of reducing unemployment.especially through youth employmentprogrammes and schemes to combatlong-term unemployment.

In other words, vocational training hasbecome one of the forms of economic ac-tion available to the parties involvedthe State, employers and trade organiza-tions. Vocational training is now part ofthe economy, but has it moved too faraway from its social and cultural role?Does it and should it not amount tomorethan fitting a person to a job, creating amore rational and more productive homoeconotnicus? Should vocational trainingbe regarded as no more than a sector ofeconomic activity providing training, ona par with other industrial sectors?

nefore trying to answer this question, weshould take a more detailed look at cur-rent developments in vocational training.A closer investigation in fact shows thatour traditional reference points havevanished. The comparisons used as abasis for our arguments 15 years ago are

Jean-FrancoisGenneDirector. Agencenationale pour ledeveloppement deIiiducation per-manente (ADE&Paris


no longer as reliable as they were for in-terpreting the realities of the present day.

Whether one looks at the role of thesocial partners in vocational training orthe organization and content of training.the greater economic significance of

developments have upset the previousbalance between the role of the variouspartners in vocational training andeducation. What then are the role andresponsibility of the State; does it decide.does it negotiate, does it let things hap-pen. does it anticipate?

."...11111.-

a

training has transformed our percep-tions. Let us try to illustrate some of theways in which frontiers have shifted inthe field of vocational training.

The role of the State andemployers

Employers adapt people to jobs, the Stateprovides for their social advancementand formulates policies to combatunemployment; the employer is responsi-ble for organizing short training courses,the State for longer-term schemes offer-ing qualifications to the less skilled.

This sharp contrast is not only undesir-able but does not even correspond toobserved realities. Economic and social

a

Does the employer have only short-termconcerns and demands to make of theeducational system? Can this job-relatedconcern be contrasted with a techno-logical and educational concern that on bthe State would be able to promote?

The workplace is changing

Organizational changes in the workplaceand in job skills are forcing employers tolook for, or to develop, a pattern of voca-tional training aimed at more than merejob adaptation. The emphasis on skills. sncommon today, shows the extent towhich people are nexded. It also showsthe extent to which work has changed.For example, a skilled mechanicalengineering technician was once ex-pected to know about processes and com-

26 BEST COPY HAM 23

ponents and to have expertise in a specificfield. Now that most plants are auto-mated, this knowledge and expertisehave been partly taken over by machines:what is expected of the worker is havingthe ability of troubleshooting, carryingout maintenance work, arriving at a'quality' diagnosis, etc. An employeemust, therefore, offer a range of skills; hemust have not only a technical qualifica-tion in the traditional sense, but also aquality appraisal capability, mainte-nance skills and the capacity to com-municate with other installations.

When we look at the development of jobskits, we also see the changes that havebeen occurring in business and industry,underlying the changing pattern ofqualifications. i.e. different contractualterms, new operating methods and newways of organizing production units. Forexample, reducing the number of rungson the hierarchical ladder hia widespreadeffects on the whole range of qualifica-tions. Closer links between commercndand manufacturing functions, betweendesign office and worxshop, betweenmaintenance a nd production, have reper-cussions pt. the entire system and henceon questions of job skills. Increasingly,the emphasis is on how the individualplans his own work. Apart from thedevelopment in individual technical skills

which is what emp1oyers arc lookingfor there is also a set of qualities which,paradoxically, do not nemssarily dependon initial or continuing training:autonomy, flexibility, interpersonalskills, an ability to work as a team, etc.

This changing pattern of qualifications isforcing firms to cease regarding initial orcontinuing vocational training le; merelybeing geared to a particular job and to seeit as having much broader aims and astxmtributing to personal developmentand the level of basic skills. The ability totake the longer-term view is not the solepreserve of the State a process,which it is not always successful nor isit always absent from firms or tradeorganizations. For the employer.however, it may depend on the technicalfields involved. There are those in whichthe investment concept predominates, in-cluding investment in job training, andothers where short-term effectiveness isthe prime concern. It also depends on thetype of firm. Some look ahead and seek tofoster good relations with their environ-ment in order to be adaptable. To a largeextent, the ability of large companies tolook ahead would seem to run counter tothe short-term concerns of small firms.

ARIL

training systems and training incentiveswhich can stimulate the demand formore sophisticated vocational trainingwithin firms.

The State

For their part, employers are no longersystematically seeking to match trainingto jobs, nor is State intervention in thefield of initial and continuing trainingconfined to categories excluded from thejob market and the less skilled. The past15 years have seen a strengthening of theState's role of giving the economy thequalifications it requi in addition to itstraditional role of p, Jing basic train-ing and education. In ale case of France.this change has been particularly markedin the initial stages of higher educationand among public-sector providers ofcontinuing training, which have sought

"-to adapt to the needs of the economy.

One of the challenges currently facingvocational training, however, is to devise

24

Thus. the relationships between trainingand employment have undergone pro-found change. The French situation. ft rexample. reveals a far greater level of in-terpenetration by the action of the State.employers and trade bodies than in thepast. One stage in this interjrnetrationhas been the development of alternatetraining, both in the schools and at thecontinuing ttaining stage, as well as thejoint State/employers management ofspecific initial or continuing trainingschemes.

Clearly, the Sta te cannot abandon it., roleof compensating for inequality of access

MST COPY MAILABLE 2 7

MM.

to continuing training, but it also has therole of helping to maintain a balance incontinuing training between the evolu-tion of basic qualifications for employeesand the changing pattern of employmentas a result of joint action and partnershipamong the various parties concerned.riamely the employees, employers, tradeassociations, unions and the local com-munities.

Work and training

The distinctions that used to be made'there is a time for training and a time forwork; there is the workshop and thenthere is the classroom' no longervalid. Vocational training needs thestimulus of the workplace to improve.and work must be organized in such away as to leave scope for training.

The dividing line between those aspectsof qualification dictated by technologicaldevelopment and the need for new skills,on the one hand, and behavioural matters. on the other, has not always heenfully analysed. It is not obvious thattraining is the universal panacea. Takenegotiation, for example: can the abilityto form personal relationships really betaught? Are optimum manufacturingmethods always something that can bepassed on by instruction?

Do organizations have a role infacilitating and promoting this kind of ap-prenticeship in order to ensure that train-

Vocational training 2/199U

77.z al. It

ing schemes are fully efficient? Apartfrom the training provided by the educa-tion system, the changes taking placewithin organizations have an importantbearing on building up the skills that areneeded today. There are some organiza-tier s that bring out the qualities of in-telligence and creativity, others wherethe level of skills imparted are rather lesssatisfactory, but it is not just a question ofhow training is used. For example. someorganizations do not always know how tointroduce a young person properly into afirm: not enough thought is given to thesubject, and there is a lack of organiza-tion and guidance for providing oppor-tunities for internal mobility. Here thereis need to change management andorganization methods.

At the same time, there has to be a newinteraction between training and work: ifit is linked to work, training will help inthe acquisition of new skills through newapproaches offering something morethan gimmicks. such as a three-daymodular course on human relationships.Once a person is in a job, some of thetraining requirements can be directlyrelated to the problems encountered inthe corse of that job.

The key objective for the development ofcontinuing education is to transform ex-perience into knowledge and to makeknowledge an instrument in the serviceof experience. The changing pattern oftraining provision and the organizationof alternation between training and workare vital in this respect, over and abovewhat is done in terms of traineesh;ps. Itpresupposes the development of produc-tive organizations where training is clear-ly a component of Vie work. Conversely.continuing training is not confined to theclassroom, but should be organized inresponse to the specific needs in theworkplace and of job-related activities.Training time could just as easily betaken from the workbg day as fromleisure time if training is to ma ke an effec-tive contribution to the creation of farbroader, more transferable job skills.

Education and training

The final contrast we should like to ex-amine is between education and voca-

Vocational tramms 211991)

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tional training. Confined to the area of in-itial training, education apparently seeksto achieve a combination of social,cultural and personal objectives, whereastraining aims to prepare or adapt peoplefor a particular job. It is said that theformer develops the ability to adapt,whereas the latter simply adapts. Therole of the former should be to ensureequality of opportunity and contribute tosocial cohesion, whereas the latter shouldhave a purely economic role, namely toproduce the requisite job sKills.

This contrast has lost something of itsrelevance. Firstly, education as a pro-vider of initial training is far from attain-ing all its objectives. It helps to excludepeople and does not always ensure equali-ty of opportunity. The criteria ofacademic success are restrictive and thereis an inability to develop all kinds ofpotential. What is needed, therefore, is adiversification of the paths to success,mainly through initial or continuingtraining. Even tnough universal schooleducation is, and will remain, the majorachievement of this century, today itslimitations by comparison with theorif.inal ambitions are revealed.

The issues toclay, then, are the educa-tional aims of vocational training and thejob-related aims of education.

Two ways forward

The first solution, within the frameworkof continuing training. is to provide ac-cess to education and hence to longerperiods of academic study. Admittedly,there are problems of cost and lifestyle,and this solution is very limited in theface of such major needs. The number ofpeople who might return to all or part oftheir inital education is substantial, andthere must be an effort of imagination. Interms of time, cost and training methods,new solutions can b found. The pre-requisite is to set aside a priori considera-t ions and to draw on the joint financial ef-forts of the State, the adults beingeducated and employers, taking advan-tage of the fact that the dividing lines be-tween the State and employers, betweenwork and training, and between educa-tion and training are becoming increas-ingly blurred. A shorter working weekand economic growth may have a

28

0.1..

beneficial spin-off for training. Mixedtraining arrangements covering bothworking and leis.ire time could be found.especially by recourse to alternateschemes.

The second solution is that academicteaching opens out far more to theeconomic and working world. Educationis not just a process of intellectual,cultural anr civic learning based on anumber of d sciplines; it can also draw onjob-related It %ming. On the other hand,vocational tn. ning may have an educa-tional objective if it isnot confined to nar-row technical learning but is set the taskof imparting a mastery of areas of voca-tional expertise and seeks to promote acritical and innovatory spirit.

A fresh relationship between initial andcontinuing training is needed. Neithercan continue to function in entirelyseparate worlds, one of them a regulatedsystem (initial training), the other a freemarket-driven system (continuing train-ing), often operating on a small scale.

There is much evidence to suggest thatthe dividing lines in the field of trainingare becoming blurred. Yet this is only atrend, and it cannot be consolidatedunless we find new methods of funding,organizing and deciding on th ntent oftraining. The effectiveness of the cam-paign against the exclusion from educa-tion and training of a substantial propor-tion of the population, something thathas probably become more marked in re-cent years as a result of greater competi-tion and competitiveness, depends onsuch solutions being found. Even if it isrecognized that specific measures to com-bat exclusion are and will be necessary, itis the duty of the training providers tomake those measures superfluous.

Training is not simply a right, but a vitalneed, not just for the economy, but forsociety as well. That is why fresh com-promises have to be found between thesocial, economic and personal dimen-mons of training and education. Onlythrough the participation of the variousparties involved in this quest can thelasting nature of these new solutions beguaranteed.

25

The analysis of cost andfinancing structures incontinuing trainingA model for the European comparison

For some years, CEDEFOP hasbeen trying to add analyses of costsand financing in continuing train-

ing to the studies on the financing of in-itial training that have been organizedand coordinated by the Centre.

Most Member States of the Communityhave now submitted national mono-graphs. containing a wzalth of detailedinformation but permitting no more thana rudimentary international analysis.This is an unsatisfactory situation whenit is recalled that the technical andeconomic restructuring likely to accom-pany Eukopean integration will changethe qualifications required of workersand that the new skill.; will principallyhave to be learnt in the context of con-tinuing training, since over 80% ofworkers who shall be in employment inthe year 2000 have already completedtheir initial training today.

The Council of the European Com-munities takes a cautious view of con-tinuing training in the Member States. Inthe guidelines to its decision establishing

UweGriinewaldEdgar Sauter

BIBB,Bundesinstinit fiirBerzesbildung.Berlin, Germany

2 6

an action programme for the develop-ment of continuing vocational training'there is no reference to the harmoniza-tion of continuing training: its goals arean improvement in the 'convergence ofinitiatives by the Member States' in thearea of continuing training and 'greaterconvergence between the objectives ofvocational training and employment'.Yet even if these goals are to be achieved.the organizational, cost and financingstructures of continuing t raining must bemade tratw 'int. The brief descriptionof continua', .raining in a CEDEFOPpublicatio& makes the problem explicit:'The continuing training "system" is notin fact a system: it is a mixture of market-oriented elements and uncoordinatedisolated training actions.'

The following article presents ap-proaches to the description and analysisof continuing training, going beyond theabove, still very imprecise outline. Theconceptual approaches will also be ex-plained and iliustrated against thebackground of the structures of Germancontinuing training.

Common structural featuresof continuing training iuEurope

Unlike initial training, continuing train-ing is not a single, closed system in anyCommunity country. This does not meanthat comparative description andanalysis is impossible. If the structures ofcontinuing training are compared withthose of initial training, the opposite con-clusion is more likely to be drawn.

Although the overlapping of the varioussegments of continuing training and thecomplexity of the financing structuresmake it more difficult to develop ap-

29

propriate analytical models, the dif-ferences in the structures of continuingtraining in the various Member States areless pronounced than they are in initialtraining.

Historically, continuing training is theyoungest branch of the educationsystem. It is therefore far less integratedinto that system than e.g. initial training.Its systems elements' are closely linkedto initial training; continuing trainingcomplements, compensates for andpreserves initial training.

In reality, there is an overlap of threesegments, each structured and organizedto satisfy different requirements:

publicly funded continuing training.in-company continuing training. andindividual continuing training.

Two aspects are vital in any study of thedifferent structures of continuingtraining:

An analysis of the motives of thevarious parties involved in continuingtraining and of the decision-making pro-cesses that form the basis for the conver-sion of these motives into practical train-ing measures.

An analysis of the flows of funds incontinuing training, from the initialsource to the financing of the individualtraining measure or individual par-ticipant.

In the following, a concept for theanalysis of flows of funds and decision-making processes is presented for discus-sion and illustrated against thebackground of the structures of Germancontinuing training.

Continuing training in the variousMember States differs primarily because


44,

their initial training systems differ. This istrue in two respects: firstly, initial train-ing, or the initial introduction of youngpeople to the world of work, forms anorganizational part of continuing train-ing in some countries le.g. the ap-pre t issage in Francel; secondly depend-ing on the results achieved in initial train-ing at macro-level in one country, in-dividuals, firms and public bodies may beforced to arrange for compensatory continuing training in areas which form partof initial training in other countries.

In qualitative terms too, the skills learntin initial training have implications fordecisions concerning the areas on whichcontinuing training should focus. Na-tional vocational training systems inwhich on-the-job training plays a promi-nent part, as in the dual system in theFederal Republic of Germany. relievecontinuing training bod ies of much of thetask of preparing young people for entryinto the world of work.

If it proceeds analytically from the struc-tural implications of the different initialtraining systems in the Member States.an international comparison based on thecomplex financing structures and on themotives of the various parties involved incontinuing training will not be a futileexercise.

A concept for the descriptionand analysis of continuingtraining for the Europeancomparison

Continuing training is expected to behighly flexible in terms of content, dura-tion, intensity, the period over which theskills learnt rrmain useful, specificity,target groups, admission requirementsand satisfaction of labour market needs.Funding structures in continuing train-ing are also flexible. Besides funding bythe individual and the firm arranging thecontinuing training, many permutations,some including public funds, are possible.Financing may begin with the partici-pant, with the training measure or, a levelhigher, with the training institute. Finan-cing arrangements may also involve in-dividuals or firms in the funding of conti-nuing training measures, even thoughthey themselves do not derive any directbenefit from such measures.

A systematic international comparisonof the complex financing structuresseems appropriate and necessary becausethe actual form of a financing arrange-ment is likely to have a significant bear-ing on the content of continuing training

Vocational training 211 990

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and thus on the achievement of the goalsof specific continuing training measures.

For an international comparison, adistinction should therefore be made be-tween the following analytical levels.

Pardcipauts

Participants in a continuing trainingmeasure form the lowest analytical level.They form the target of continuing train-ing. Only they will ultimately revealwhether the predetermined objectives ofa continuing training course (adjustmentto technical changes. reintegration intothe labour market, attaining a higherlevel of qualification, etc.) have beenachieved. The question as to whether agiven type of continuing training hasbeen appropriate for its intended targetgroup can similarly be answered only byreference to the participants. Similarly.the cost of continuing training measuresto the individual and the scale of any off-sets can be determined only at this level.

Measures

This level mainly concerns the content ofcontinuing training. Analyses will givesome insight into the structure of conti-nuing training and reveal focal areas inthe various segments. Qualitative aspectssuch as the duration of measures, thetype of instruction, places and methodsof learning and forms of certification canbe analysed at this level.

Training establishments

The training establishment is the place atwhich a continuing training measure

30 BEsT

takes place or where its content andorganization are decided. It may bepublicly owned or belong to a privatefirm, or it may he an independent com-mercial body offering training courses inthe market place.

The training establishment is the level atwhich an institutionally oriented analysiscan be made of the cost of continuingtraining measures, since it is here that alldirect costs are incurred and, in manycases, entered in the accounts. It must berecalled, however, that, while the courseslisted in directories are not necessarilyidentical with those actually im-plemented. analyses are often based onan evaluation of such documents.

Initial and final sources of funds

Given the complex financing structuresin continuing training, if the flow offunds is to be appropriately investigatedeven where mixed financing systems areused, a distinction should be mr 'e be-tween the initial and final souru.s offunds.

The initial source is the body which ar-ranges for a continuing training measureby providing funds. A general distinctioncan be made between three initialsources: firms, private households andpublic bodies.

The funds needed to finance continu-ing training merge at the level of the finalsource. Except in the case of mixed finan-cing systems, which are, however, veryimportant in a number of the Communi-ty's Member States, the initial and finalfunding levels are identical ie.g. when an

Y MAKABLE 27

0."..fr* -

industrial firm arranges updating train-ing courses in its own training establish-ment). Nevertheless, it is wise to make adistinction for the purposes of analysis,so that the decision-making proceseswhich ultimately shape the educationpolicy environment for a continuingtraining concept may be taken intoaccount.

It must be assumed that in the case ofmixed financing systems the initialsources of funds form part of complexdecision-making structures whichrestrict their creative influencesignificantly.

Offtetting costs

Besides the two levels of financing,another acpect must be considered in thiscontext. All initial sources of funds(public bodies, firms and privatehouseholds) have specific means, under awide range of statutory and otherschemes, of reducing their expenditureon continuing training measures. Theseschemes may have a major influence onthe attitude of those concerned towardscontinuing training, often in a way thatwas not intended by their originators.

Private households, for example, deductthe cost of continuing training from theirtax bills as professional or special ex-penses. This form of deduction excludescertain groups (e.g. the unemployed andnon-working women) from co-financingby the state. The scale on which costs canbe deducted is, moreover, income-related. The higher the income, thehigher the deduction. In principle, publicbodies have little influence on this deduc-tion of costs. Nor is anything knownabout the scale and breakdown of theamounts among social groups.

The structure of the segmentsof continuing training in theFederal Republic of Germany

The structural environment in which thecontinuing trp.Ming 'system' has evolvedis characterized by the following:

(i) a pluralism of suppliers and

(ii) a continuing training market;

(iii) a fragmentation of the statutoryfoundations and

(iv) the subsidiary role of the State.

28

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Pluralism of suppliers

A wide variety of training bodies andtheir establishments act as suppliers tothe continuing training market. Apartfrom public bodies (State and localauthorities), most are large social groupsor associations (e.g. trade unions,employers. Churches), firms and com-mercial suppliers.

Continuing training market

The continuing training market ischara--.erized by numerous restrictionsand distortions due, for example, to thesubsidization of training bodies, confu-sion over what is available and the forma-tion of monopolies. The commercialnature of continuing training varies fromone segment to another. A functioningmarket can be said to exist primarily inthe case of continuing training financedby private households. The suppliers in-clude a wide range of training bodies of-

BEST if AVAILABLE

fering courses that differ in price and con-tent. Distortions arise, however, inregional terms and through the use ofpublic funds to subsidize training bodies.

The market is also subject to restrictionson the demand side. Most would-beclients, for example, lack a clear insightinto what is available, in both quan-titative and qualitative terms.

Fragmentation of the statutory foun-dation

The historical evolution of the varioussegments of continuing training isreflected in the fragmentation of theirstatutory foundations. The FederalGovernment is responsible for non-school continuing training (e.g. in finns),while die Under are responsible for con-tinuing vocational training in schoolsand for non-vocational. i.e. general andpolitical, continuing education.Statutory arrangements exist side by side

941Vocational training 211990

'4-=.'tr-.9"

and unrelated at both Federal and Landlevel: at Federal level the VocationalTraining Act lays down the foundationsfor the long-term orgvnization and struc-turing of continuing training with thehelp of provisions on further training (ex-aminations); the Employment ProlT10-tion Act uses continuing training as an in-stilment of active labour market policy;the Distance Study (Protection) Act is in-tended to protect consumers who con-clude private contracts with distancestudy institutes.

The Education Acts of the Undergovern continuing training to technicianlevel, for example. The ContinuingTraining Acts of the Under are mainlyconcerned with the promotion of in-stitutes which provide general or politicalcontinuing education, but also offer con-tinuing vocational training (e.g. languagecourses at adult education centresleading to the award of certificates thatcan be used professionally). The Educa-tional Leave Acts include provisions thatentitle employees to leave to attendcourses of continuing vocational trainingand political education.

The subsidiary role of the State

The heterogeneity of the abovemen-tioned statutory arrangements, whichhave emerged to deal with problem situa-tions that could not have been resolvedwithout government assistance, ex-emplifies the subsidiary role of the State.The State intervenes only when the in-dividuals and social groups concernedcannot cope with the tasks they face.

The figure on page 30 shows the struc-ture of continuing vocational training inthe Federal Republic as it has evolved inthe field of tension consisting of themarket, public responsibility and govern-ment regulations. The segments are:

Individual continuing training: Theclients are for the most part individualswho use the services of training bodies inthe continuing training market andfinance their participation themselvesdeducting the costs where they canregardless of their position in the institu-tional set-up (e.g. as employees of a firm).

In-company continuing training; Inthis segment it is the firms that want thequalifications; they are also suppliers ofcontinuing training for their ownemployees, either developing the coursesthemselves, or buying them on the conti-nuing training market if their own in-frastructure is inadequate.

Wit:manta! training 2/1990

kk4;'

Continuing training assisted underit. Employment Promotion Acts'The actors and clients in this serpent arethe Federal Institute for Labour and itsregional offices, which assist individualsfinancially under the Employment Pro-motion Act (AFG) und also largely deter-mine the content of courses for the targetgroups of the labour market policy,especially the unemployed. This serviceis funded from contributions paid byemployers and employees, any budgetdeficits of the Federal Institute forLabour being made good by the State.

Clear dividing lines cannot be drawn be-tween the various segments of continu-ing training, particularly in financingterms. They overlap to varying degrees.Individual continuing training may, forexample, be assisted by the State (FieldA), continuing training measures in firmsmay be assisted under the AFG (Field 13),and individual continuing trPining in thefirm's interests may be assisted by theemployer (Field C) and also subsidized bythe State (Field D).

Individual continued training

Aims, target groups and measures

No specific quantitative data on this sei4-ment are available. Some indication ofaims, target groups and measures can beobtained by interpreting results ofrepresentative surveys of the overall con-tinuing training sector (especially theReport on Attitudes towards ContinuingTraining 1988) and statistics relating tospecific aspe3s of this segment, such asdistance study, which must generally beconsidered a form of individual continu-ing training, and the type of continuing

ta% '71477, - 0", r`"- ""4

training assisted under the AFG (FieldA), that is mainly concerned withassisting employees undergoing updatingtraining.

Participants in individual continuingtraining are primarily interested in up-dating training and courses of adjust-ment training and retraining that lead tothe award of certificates, Most areemployed people who are educationallymotivated and achievement-oriented.They attend courses on their own in-itiative and usually at their own expenseand are principally interested in updatingtraining as a means of achieving profes-sional advancement. They regard conti-nuing training as an investment in theirown future, which will pay for itselfthrough promotion or other rewards.Most of the courses are therefore likely tobe medium- to long-term and to lead tothe award of recognized certificates.

Participants in distance studies form atypical group in that they normallyundergo continuing training while inemployment, on their own initiative andat their own expense. More than halfprefer courses in commercial practice(with certificates), courses in whichschool certificates can be obtained, andcourses in business management andtechnical subjects leading to the award ofappropriate certificates.4

Costs and financing

There are as yet no empirically backeddata on the scale of the costs incurred byparticipants in this segment of continu-ing training. According to the findings of

'11

Et' tik

a

0,v

BUTWYMAUBLE 29

The Report on Attitudes towards Con-tinuing Training 1988, only a third of theparticipants interviewed incurred costs.'Estimates of costs incurred by individualparticipants in continuing training haveproduced very different results: the In-stitute of German Industry puts expensesincurred by participants in continuingtraining in 1988 at DM 2.5 billion. Theinternal estimates of the Federal I nst it utefor Vocational Training are far higher:DM 18 billion for individual continuingtraining.' In empirical surveys of thecosts incurred by participants in continu-ing training the opportunities they haveto offset these costs under the AFG,through the firm or through the State(tax deductions), for example must betaken into account.

In-company continuing training

Alms, target groups and measures

Measures in this segment consist largelyof adjustment training, with the em-phasis on data processing, marketing.business management, technology andstaff management.' Although coursesconcerning behaviour and values (inter-disciplinary subjects) are gaining in im-portance, they are still of secondary im-portance in most firms.

30

The target groups include far moreemployees above skilled worker level(managers 13.8%; technical white-collarworkers 39.7%; commercial staff 30.5%)than skilled workers (11.9%) and unskill-ed and semi-skilled workers (4.1%).'

Most of the courses are of short duration(up to a week); just under a third of in-company continuing training consists ofon-the-job learning.' A large proportionof such training (in the cr rts. for exam-ple) is provided by the manufacturers ofequipment; as a rule, certificates are notawarded after such courses.

Costs and financing

Continuing training in the private sectorcost DM 26.2 billion in 1987, withcourses accounting for some DM 9.9billion (44%). on-the-job learning forDM 8.1 billion (24%). informationmeetings for DM 3.4 billion (13%), thecost of continuing training staff for aboutDM 2.4 billion (9%) and other costs forDM 2.5 billion (10%)." To this must beadded the cost of continuing training foremployees in the public service,agriculture, the liberal professions andnon-profit organizations. No more thanrough estimates of these costs areavailable at present; the Institute of Ger-

33

man Industry puts them at DM 12.2billion (1988) for the whole sector, whilethe Federal Institute for VocationalTraining estimates the cost of continuingtraining for public servants alone at DM10 billion (1989).'2

As a rule, the cost of continuing trainingarranged by firms includes the continuedpayment of wages and salaries andrelease from other work where training isnot on the job In some cases, advantagecan be taken of facilities based on com-pany agreements Or arrangements undercollective agreements.

Continuing training assisted underthe AFG (Employment PromotionAct)

Aims, target groups and measures

Three-fifths of measures assisted underthe AFG concern adjustment training,about a fifth updating training, the re-mainder retraining and job familiariza-tion. Within the extremely wide range ofsubjects, in which it is virtually impossi-ble to recognize focal areas, newtezhnologies account for around aquarter of instruction time)'

Continuing training assisted under theAFG is intended prima for the pro-blem groups in the laliour market, andespecially the unemployed. In 1986 two-thirds of participants were unemployedbefore attending courses (in 1989 aboutthree-fifths).

Most measures last between four and 12months. The majority of courses endwithout a recognized mrtificate beingawarded. Full-time measures generallydominate.

Costs and financing

In 1988 the Federal Institute for Labourspent some DM 6 billion on continuingtraining (further training, retraining, jobfamiliarization) and a further DM 2.1billion on language courses for ethnicGerman immigrants. Maintenanceallowances and training expenses ac-counted for half of the expenditure ineach case.

The funds are raised from contributionspaid by employees and employers inequal proportion. The State covers anybudget deficits of the Federal Institutefor Labour. The assistance provided com-prises maintenance allowances and train-ing expenses (e.g. participants' fees,travel expenses. learning aids). The scaleof assistance differs depending on


whether training is regarded as'necessary' (especially for theunemployed) or advisable' (especiallyupgrading training for employees) inlabour market terms. Maintenanceallowances are usually based on par-ticipants last net income (currently 65%.for iUcipants with families 73%) andare not repayable where assistance isdeemed 'necessary': training expenses arerefunded in full. In the case of 'advisable'assiStainCe, where the continuing trainingof employees has priority, maintenanceallowances are granted as loans. Lumpsums per participant-hour are paidtowards training expenses.

Summary and prospects

This article has sought to present fordiscussion a methodological approach tothe international comprative analysis ofcontinuing vocational training systems.The description of the structure of con-tinuing training in Germany is also in-tended to encourage experts in otherEuropean countries to describe theiroverall system or comparable segmentsalong similar lines.

Other expectations are associated withthese aims:

Improvement of analytical in-strumentsThe categories and criteria for com-parative descriptions and analyses outlin-ed above must be tested and examined forviability. It is hoped that the debate onthe methodology underlying this ap-proach will produce an improved set ofinstruments.

Promotion of the formation of asystemDescribing continuing training with theaid of the categories mentioned improvesthe prospect of the segmented parts ofcontinuing training being perceived as asingle entity and shaped accordingly. Thesegments can be linked with a view toachieving common goaLs (e.g. increasingparticipation in continuing training) anddeveloped into a system; this will not onlyprovide guidance for everyone involvedin continuing training but will also and inparticular facilitate action by the 'par-ticipants in the market'.

Improvement of the data situationAppropriate information and data areneeded if continuing training is to bedescribed and analysed. The example ofGerman continuing training reveals gapsin the available data, but also indicateshow they can be filled; the description


shows what information and data areneeded. In general, an improvement inthe data situation will help to pave theway for effective, goal-oriented action bythose involved in continuing training.

For the identification and d:scription ofcontinuing training structures --especially when cost and financing struc-tures are taken into account fouraspects, which also form the basis of thisarticle, are of prime importance.

(1) The interests of the various parties in-volved in continuing training differ.The segments create organizationaland structural conditions that make iteasier for the various parties toachieve their respective aims.

Ar

(2) Continuing training is related to in-itial training. The closeness of thisrelationship and the extent to whichcontinuing training is ;ntegrated intothe education system are determinedby national concepts of education.Even where fresh approaches to link-ing the two are being adopted. conti-nuing training reacts to the overallstructure of initial training or to itsshortcomings.

131 The funds provided determine thescale and structure of continuingvocational training. The partialoverlapping of the interests of thevarious parties involved in traininghas gi-..en rise to iximplex mixed finan-cing systems in many countries.

34 BEST MALAN 31

ta4 4tsltitt.

Alternative financing arrangementsare often suitable for a given trainingobjective and the action taken toachieve it.

01 A comparative analysis should, in ouropinion, begin with the segmentationof continuing vocational trainingafter the main initial source of funds.This ideal type of breakdown willenable the structural environment tobe identified and the overlapping ofthe segments to be appropriately ex-plained.

Past monographs on the cost and financ-ing of continuing training have producedmany interesting findings. With the helpof the approach presented here the nowseparate sets of information and datacould be merged and a contribution madeto an 'overall view' of continuing train-ing. We hope structural analyses thatmake it easier for 'foreigners' to under-stand the system will emerge in the futurewith the aid of the common analyticalmodel and description concepts.

32

Notes

3

4

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.4.79.7717rT-

Council Decision of 29 May 1990 establishingan action programme for the development ofcontinuing vocational training in the EuropeanCommunity (Force), L 156, 1990.CEDEFOP (ed.). 'Education and training inEurope', CEDEFOP Flash Special. 1190. p. 7.The public authorities (Federal. Land and localgovernment) do not form a separate continuingvocational training segment. Although theyspent about DM 3 billion on continuing trainingin 1988. these funds were, with very few excep-tions, devoted to general and political continu-ing education. Expenditure on employees in thepublic service and state-owned enterprisesforms part of the In-company continuing train-ing' segment.Federal Ministry of Education and Science led).Berufsbildungsbericht 1989, Grundlagen undPerspektiven far Bildungund Wissensehaft. 24.Bonn 1989. p. 147 et seq.Infratest Sozialforschung/Institut far Em-wicklungsplanung und Strukturforschung.Berichtssystem Weiterbildungsverhatten 1988.Entwwfravung des Integrierten Gesamt.berkhts. Munich/Hanover, April 1990, p. 188.Weiss, R. 'Strukturen der Weiterbildungsfinan-zierung'. Streitsarhe: Finanderung der Welterhi/dung, Institut der deutschen WirtschaftCologne, 1990. p. 24.Schmidt, H. 'Probleme der Berufsbildungs-finanzierung und LOsunpansatze. Streirsache.

35

rilt7MMIRM

Flnanderung der Weiterbildun$. Institut derdeutschen Wirtschaft led.). op. cit.. p. 93 et wa.

8 Institut der deutschen Wirtschaft. Projekt:Kosten Lind Strukturen betrieblicher Welter-bildung. Kw-damns der Erwbnisse(Mimeographed MS), Cologne, 1988. p. 18.

9 Bardeleben, R. von, et at. 'Stnikturenbetrieblicher Weiterbildung. Ergebnisse einerempirischen Kostenuntersuchung', Berichtezur heruflkhen Bildung, No 83, BIBB, Berlinand Bonn, 1986, p. 62.

)0 Institut ckr deutschen Wirtschaft: Projekt:Kasten und Strukturen betrieblither Weiter-bildung, op. cit.. p. 21.

11 Ibid.. p. 48.12 Schmidt, H. Probleme der Berufsbil-

dungsfinanzierung und Losungsansatze'. Streit.saehe: Finanderung der Weiterbildung, Institutder deutschen Wirtschaft Cologne. 1990.p. 93.

13 Institut far Entwicklunpplanung mid Struktur,forschung. Bestandsaufnahme der beruflichenWeiterbildung in Niedersachsen 1986(Mimeographed MS). Hanover. 1987, p. 2.


nnfOrMR 7,1ri 14. :iNVII"VrMIWW5F;773-:

Continuing training in an openlearning centre -- An examplethat could be transferred toanother culture?

0 n 1 August 1989, on the 23rdfloor of an office tower block inthe heart of Brussels a new centre

was opened: Forespace, a prototype cen-tre for self-directed training, launched byForem. the new Office communautaireet rdgional de la formation profession-nelle et de l'emploi (vocational trainingand employment board at language, com-munity and regional level).

Forespace is a prototype in that it pro-vides 100 training workstations, basedsolely on self-directed methods. Thetrainin it offers makes use of audiovisualtechnology and computer-aided teach-ing, in some cases combined with avideodisk. The workstations are in a land-scaped office space where 100 'pupils',working side by side, have access tocourses on a whole variety of subjectssuch as languages, business administra-tion and management, office technologyand information technology. These areindeed essentially service sector subjects,and it should be borne in mind that thecentre is in Brussels, which "Is above all aservice-oriented city. The coursewarelibrary in other words, the set of pre-packaged courses could, however, beexpanded to include more technicalcourses on subjects such as electronics,numerical control and robotics. Picture ahundred students, all of them progressingat their own pace and studying during thehours they themselves choose to work.

Brussels, Belgium

Poi DeftlyTechnical advisor.Office Com-munautaire etregional de laformation pmfes-sionnelle et del'emploi (Forem).


each with different prospects and goals,and you might well find a hundredtrainees working on a hundred differentprogrammes. This demonstrates thevalue of a computer-managed centrewhere all courses can be provided on harddisk, floppy disk, videotape andvideodisk, using all the transmissiontechniques appropriate tc training pro-grammes that are entirely geared to theindividual, in design and in their monitor-ing of the trainee's performance. Thecomputer centre management softwarehandles applications as a whole, and evenincludes the facility to book a trainingplace for an applicant if he so wishes.

With the volume of resources deployedand the substantial budget entailed, thisrepresents a new approach to meeting thetraining needs of employees andemployers in Brussels.

This centre is the first in a chain of self-training centres whose aims are not justto contribute to the general campaign forthe improvement of job skills, but will gofurther, by offering workers alternativeways of learning.

In fillISSels, the number of peopleemployed by companies is about350 000, more than half of them work-ing in small and medium-sized firms.They have been educated to at least up-per secondary standard, but they havehad no further opportunity to train whiledeveloping their careers. When they docome up against the need for continuingtraining and this usually happenswhen the computer is introduced into thesmall firm they work for what theytend to look for is the kind of learningrelationship they experienced in theirchildhood at school: a teacher whoteaches and gives, a pupil who learns andreceives. But today the learning environ-ment has changed: the aims are direct,

self-evident and limited. The newknowledge and skills acquired areevaluated immediately by being put tothe practical test of everyday use.

The problem that arises, then, is thechoice of training facilities, immediatelycalling the traditional system of continu-ing training into question, particularly inthe length of courses, the technical andteaching skills of the teachers and coursecontent.

The same choices also have to be made byinstitutions. The provision of training inBrussels is substantial, but how can thecontinuing training needs of such vastnumbers of potential clients be met, usingthe conventional methods of a teacherstanding in front of his class? It is the ex-perience of all industrialized countriesthat the content of training is as sooften pointed out notoriously out ofline with the job skills required byemployers.

The need, then, is fOr alternative ways oflearning: the aim is to define a teachingrelationship that suits each individuallearner but can also be extended to thelargest possible number of learners whileretaining its special features.

lt is a real problem that the expansion ofeducational resources to cater for a muchwider target group often entails a loss ofquality. Classes arc overcrowded, youngpeople fail at school or get left behind,teachers lose heart. Paradoxically, il-literacy is on the increase in industrializ-ed countries at a time when the school-leaving age is being raised. We must notmake the same mistakes in continuingtraining by opting for the commondenominator of exactly the sameteaching relationship, one that takes noaccount of different needs and differentresources, and applying it to everyone.

33

People must learn in different ways, andthe adult trainee must be given greater in-dependence and a greater sense ofresponsibility. To achieve this, he mustbe placed in a situation in which he isbound to succeed. The father of pro-grammed instruction. B.F. Skinner, usedto say that unless 80% of pupils obtained80% scores in programmed learning, it isthe programme that is poor. not thepupils.

This implies that people should be taughtin different ways.

A teacher, going over the same lesson forthe fifth or sixth time. who turns to hisclass and says. as he has for the past fiveor six years, 'Are there any questions?',knows what he is about to hear from thethree or four youngsters who put theirhands up. They ask the same questions,revealing the same difficulties inunderstanding the substance of thelesson. For a long time, enlightenededucationalists have been developingforms of teaching that allow for learningproblems by pre-programming the in-structions. When the computer arrived,it helped to give these instructions thenecessary flexibility, overcoming the dif-ficulties encountered with programmeson paper, which were slow and cumber-some even when they were applied byteaching machines.

These courses and pre-packaged lessons.this `teaching software' as we would nowsay, are the fruit of work done by teamsof educationalists, audiovisual techni-cians, information technologists and ex-pens in all subjects, who have thus ex-tended the educational relationship intime and space.

The relationship is extended in time inthat the courses can be used over arelatively lengthy period, depending on

produced and broadcast the TV series onlearning Dutch, 'Spreek met ons mee',the 16 000 television viewers whosimultaneously took the course (which is,incidentally, included in Forespace'scourseware library) benefited from theeducational expertise of the whole groupof specialist trainers from Forem andRBTF.

/OW

the general applicability and topicality ofthe subject. It is extended in space in thatthe teaching programme is recorded andstored on magnetic tape, record, floppydisk and videodisk. which means that theeducational teams can teach from adistance.

This assumes that specialists in the con-struction of programmed courses shouldfirst have had experience in traditionalteaching and are able to define what iscalled the 'educational scenario' of thecourse before they even start on its pro-gramming or conversion into visualform.

The originator of an expert system isalways an expert. Distance teaching.then. does not do away with the teacherbut alters his function, adds to his effec-tiveness, extends his field of action anddiminishes the constraints on the instruction he impai ts. At the same time, hebecomes a partner to colleagues workingin the traditional environments ofschools and training centres, to whom hecontributes a new tone of voice and a newatmosphere. in that broadcasting andcomputer technologies enable him topass through walls and overonme thelimitations imposed by time and humanfactors.

The courseware library is made up of thewhole set of teaching software. Users ofthe training facilities at Forespace meetsmall teams of trainers, who in turn havethe constant backing of many teams ofexperts operating from a distance: thewriters of the various audiovisual and

'computer products that make up theteaching library.

When Forem. in collaboration withBelgian Radio and Television (RBTF).

34 BEST OPY MAILABLE 3

What needs to be done therefore, is tolearn to teach la new ways.

This cannot be improvised. Everybodyhas memories of somebody with abrilliant mind and honora rY degrees fromthis and that university, but who is alamentably poor educator and teacher.Everybody can also think of somebodywho is quite the opposite.

It is the merit of courseware that it bringstogether multi-disciplinary teams andthis also implies inter-disciplinary teamsin which educationalists, on the onehand, and technicians, on the other, areboth pan, each of them 'giving an inch ortwo' for the greater good of the end pro-duct. It will certainly be one ofForespace's functions to serve as ameeting point for trainers from a wholediversity of worlds not only from theeducation authorities in the Belgian com-munities and public training agencies,naturally, but also from companies isomehave already showed interest) and agrowing number of firms specializing inthe development of teaching pro-grammes.

This 'training the trainers' functionshould be combined with another: thetraining of courseware developers.Forem's recent experience with youngteachers/jobseekers has shown that theycan acquire a genuinely new qualifica-tion by putting their university educationand their newly acquired skills to goodadvantage in producing scenarios foraudiovisual methods or writing com-puter programs.

It is no longer just a matter of audiovisualteaching theory. defining the methodswhereby teachers can introduce intotheir lessons sounds and pictures record-ed by highly sophisticated techniques;the objective is to use those same teehni-ques and resources to reproduce thelogical paths taken by the learner in thelearning process. This objective cannever be wholly achieved witheverybody, and it is unlikely that therewill ever be such a thing as fully'automated' training, except perhapswith limited goals. It is estimated that aminimum of 20% of training activitiesbased on traditional resources willsurvive.


Although there is a need to prepareteachers for this new role, it is just as ins-portaht to teach pupils to learn in newways.

At the level of school education. it is hardto visualize self-directed learning beingused in any more than a partial. transi-tional fashion, and then only for specificpurposes. Computer-aided teaching is,for example, used for children andyoungsters who. being quite uninhibitedby keyboards and terminals, play withequations just as they would playnoughts and crosses. For the risinggenerations who will soon be makingtheir first cmtact with the working worldand with continuing training. Forespacewill probably be nothing out of the or-dinary. for they will have encounteredsimilar methods in the workplace and inspecialist training centres. The same doesnot apply to adults, the potential clientsof a selltraining centre. They would behappy to return to the security of aneducational environment with itsfamiliar features of dependency on theteacher. the syllabus, methods andresults. To find themselves alone in frontof a screen and terminal. headphonesclamped over their ears, even knowingthat an expert is within call. will createpsychological problems for very manytrainees, not to mention the naturalreluctance of the uninitiated to play witha machine that seems intelligent butwhose reactions often seem brusque,especially when it comes to evaluation. Itwill take a little time, particularly formanagers ai.d executives, to get used totraining on their own. Secretarial staff.who are used to keyboards and a rapidresponse from typewriters and word pro-cessors, will be readier than others to ac-quire a positive and welcoming attitudeto 'electronic' pictures. messages andresponses.

The fact remains and this is somethingwc have observed with educationaltelevision that some trainees will notachieve sufficient progress in their sub-ject through self-directed trainingmethods to be able to proceed with thesemethods. Forespace is just one resource.but there are other more traditionalresources in Brussels which Forem hasmade available to the company personnelfor almost 20 years. Nevertheless, webelieve that cases of computer allergy willgrow rarer as time goes by. as has beenthe case with other audiovisual techr --ques for learning languages and typing.The reason is not just the one we havealready mentioned the arrival of ayounger generation but also that thehardware and software used in educationand training will be the same, or at least

VcicAttiona) training 2114440

will be presented in the same way, as themanagement and administrative hard-ware used in working life. One result ofthe move from theory to practical ap-plications found in everyday working lifewill be to break down the barrier betweenthe place of training and the workplaceand even, going one step further, theplace of recreation. This has already hap-pened with television. We should.however, be cautious about goingbeyond ttns. In the light of the experienceof certain centres which have been open-ed to the public by large companies.where young people come in to play theirelectronic games side by side withworkers arriving with their software ap-plication programs. this coexistence hasbeen of little benefit to the latter.Forespace is a self-training centre foradult workers who have clear-cut voca-tional objectives.

If they are not yet clear about those ob-jectives. the team of instructors specializ-ing in various subjects is on hand to helpeach individual draw up his own trainingplan in the light of his actual needs.

What role will Forespace andits counterparts perform inthe future, as distinct fromthe other training mourcesprovided for workers in smalland medium-sized firms?In the space of one year. 2 000 workershave spent almost 150 000 traininghours in Forespace. a demonstration thatthe prototype in the form of this centreseems to be satisfying a major demand.

Forespace is a prototype, as we b tvepointed out. Does this mean that therewill be similar self-training centres moreor less everywhere, reproducing the samemodel in french-speaking Belgium orBrussels? This might well be the scenario.although the architect ure and running ofthe centre in the exceptional environ-ment of the Tour Madou 23rd floor make

something entirely original.

On the other hand, the principle of self-training and the use of pre-producedcourseware will no doubt very quickly beextended elsewhere and to larger targetgroups. Even today. in certain trainingcentres in large companies, in universitydepartments and even in Forem's owntraining centres, there are self-trainingworkstations where people can check onwhat they know, catch up on what theyshould know, brush up what they alreadyknow and in some cases engage in ge-nuine self-training. In education, thereare also projects along the same lines.

38

Even so, all this combined adds up to littleby comparison with the substantialpublic- and private-sector budgetsdevoted to meeting the continuing train-ing needs of personnel employed by largeenterprises.

Two years ago. a survey amducted onbehalf of Sobemap on companies inBrussels and french-speaking Belgiumshowed that 80% of small and medium-sized companies not only failed to pro-vide any training for their workforce. butdid not even propose to do r.o or to en-courage such training in the years tocome. This will mean that workers willhave to continue to invest in improvingtheir own job skills, with the help ofpublic or private resources madeavailable to them. Self-training shouldtherefore bessime an important activityfor most workers. Sin= technicalresources offer high quality oppor-tunities for communication and are evenevolving towards becoming interactive,without indulging in futurology wemight well predict a new role for theForespace centres that are lobe set up: toserve as centres for the dissemination ofaudiovisual and computer courseware.

Belgium is a country where cable televi-sion is more common than anywhere elsein the world and where each householdhas a television set with access to almost20 different channels. There might wellhe an intercomm unit y educational televi-sion channel that 'delivers knowledge tothe doorstep'. In the French community'in Belgium. Forem has been conductingmany experiments in this field and apply-ing them in practice for more than 15years, and proposes to conduct a numberof others as well. But there will be moreand better training once actual multi-media teaching programme distributioncentres have been set up and everybodyhas accm to interactive education andtraining resources at home or in theworkplace. This is certainly not a Uto-pian dream. Existing achievements inneighbouring countries and in Americaare Arcady moving along these lines. Thetrue problem that arises will once againbe with the software, not the hardware.Forespace and its counterparts will bethere to serve as agents for the develop-ment of the necessary educational soft-ware. meeting the manifold needs ofeveryone in the field of continuingtraining.

1990 Statistics

Since the self-training centre opened inAugust 1989, about 2 000 people have

35

made use of the services provided byForespace, 1 316 of them since January1990. Of these, 20% were jobseekers andthe others were employees and managxrsfrom companies in Brussels. Thecours.,ware library (i.e. the set of teachingpackages available to trainees) consists ofsome 65 titles in the fields of informationtechnology, language learning (English.Dutch and (ierman). business manage-ment (including general and analyticalaccounting) and various subjects such asa course on in-house use of the telephone,leading a working team and bankingsystems.

As of September 1990. 58 000 traininghours have been used by the 1 316trainees since the beginning of the year,i.e. an average of 44 training hours perperson. This average does not reflect thereal picture, however, since some of thetrainees take r, single 20-30 hour coursewhile others (especially those learninglanguages) study for more than 100 or150 hours.

Most of the demand is for computer sub-jects(69%). followed by languages (21% )and business management 110%).

in more recent months, the demand forlanguage learning seems to be increasingby comparison with computer subjects.

The centre is open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.from Mondays to Saturdays. with 15%of places being booked on Saturdays.

The evenings show the highest attend-ance levels (30% from 6 to 9 p.m.).followed by the mornings (24%. mainlyjobseekers). then lunchtime, and finallythe afternoons.

Breakilmn of training hours by smbjects

Other (0.5%)

Languages 122.2%)

Management (9.7%)

Computer technology (67.6%)

Forespace - Employed persons plus jobseekers

Breakdown of training hours by time of day

Saturdays (12.8%)

Evenings (25.4%)

Afternoons (22.3%)

Mornings 126.8%)

Lunch time (12.7%)

a

J

5000

4500

4000

3500 D

3000

2500

2000

1500 'D

1000

500 t

Forespace - Employed persons

2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

ComputerIII Miscellaneous.' Management technology L I Languages

12

36 39 Vticational training 211990

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40'

he local investment

The new CEDEFOP manual is concerned with the social and vocationalintegration of young people The experience and opinions of competentpractitioners and the examples provided by selected local protects andinitiatives are a source of ideas and advice for organizationalplanning for all those

who are searching for nevv forms of general and vocationaltraining provision.who wish to adapt this provision to local and individualneeds

As a Ccrnrnunity organization,CEDEFOP also has a contribution tomake towards the achievement of theinternal market Through its research.comparative studies, its informationand documentation service and itswork on the comparability of trainingqualifications, CEDEFOP plays its partin promoting the social dimension ofthe 1992 objective

CEDEFOPEuropean Centre for the * * *Development ofVocational Training *BUndoliallet0 22134000 Berlin 75Tel.: (030) 88 41 20 *Telex: 184 163 eucen dTelefax: (030) 88 41 22 22 * * *

Write to us if you would like toreceive this study.

Young people in transitionthe local investment

A handbook concerning the social and vocationalintegration of young peoplelocal and regional initiativesJeremy Harrison and Henry McLersh

1987 182 pp.Languages, ES, DE, GR, EN. FR, IT, NLISBN 92.825.6877 6r;alalogue number HX-46-86.b81-EN-CPrice (excluding VAT) in LuxembourgECU 4: IRL 2 90, UKL 2 50, USIJ 4

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