The British Labour Force Survey indicates that work-based training is skewed toward service sector occupations and high-level workers. Few employers have a formal or systematic training approach. Lower-skilled, more disadvantaged workers have the least access to education and training. (SK)

Refutes the idea that autonomy in work is necessary for efficient coordination or to enable the organization to develop a learning structure. Suggests that autonomy is an important element for internal incentive; if training is to become an incentive factor, autonomy is essential. (SK)

Work-integrated learning has the advantages of greater efficiency, lower costs, just-in-time utility, and improved access. Taylorist work structures hinder its realization, and unemployed people are excluded. Informal learning-by-doing is achieving prominence alongside traditional formal training methods. (SK)

A study shows little congruence between in-company continuing training and the following objectives of a European Commission white paper on lifelong learning: encouraging acquisition of new knowledge, bringing school and business sectors closer together, combating exclusion, developing proficiency in languages, and raising investment in training…

The Ford factory in Cologne, Germany, uses a variety of flexible learning methods to enable unskilled and semiskilled workers to acquire vocational qualifications. Methods include tutorials, simulations, micro worlds, and hypermedia databases. (SK)

In addition to regular training, workers learn from and during work itself. Organizational change affects the learning potential of jobs. The challenge consists in integrating personal development and organizational development. (SK)

For disadvantaged youth who leave school without vocational qualifications, as well as unskilled 20-30 year olds, a combination of work and initial vocational training is an especially suitable strategy. Constant supportive counseling and adapted examinations would also help. (SK)

A study of the software industry, in which required skills change rapidly and skills shortages frequently occur, showed how work projects were designed with restricted opportunities for workers to acquire new skills. Skill development was not valued by management. The industry may thus be abetting its own skills shortage. (SK)

Design of in-company training for students must consider objectives, staff, methods, duration, and timing. Data collection tools to monitor progress and evaluate performance are critical. A support team to provide guidance, information, and placement assistance is also an important element. (Contains 30 references.) (SK)

In Qualified Vocational Instruction, one-third of instructional time consists of advanced application of theory in the workplace. Evaluation of a Swedish pilot project suggests that it is successful, but possible future paths (integration, separation, continuation, or liquidation) depend on political choices about the public/private role. (SK)

In contrast to the U.S. system of teaching management in a college setting, Germany focuses on competence development through job-based education and other European countries are somewhere in between. Management learning in class and on the job should be integrated, and diverse approaches are preferable to standardization. (SK)

Data from the European Labour Force Survey for France, Germany, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, and the United Kingdom identified the following determinants of whether workers receive training and its duration: age, gender, tenure, full-time status, and organization size. Patterns differed in each country and were largely determined by the…

A survey was conducted of 332 Spanish participants in initial vocational training in schools, occupational training for specific jobs or industries, and work-based training that takes place in a real work environment. Trainees considered work-based training most useful, vocational training second. Perceptions of usefulness differed by gender,…