Vocational education aims at preparing students for their future as professionals; thus, students are often required to undergo a form of on-the-job learning. Assessment of professional performance during on-the-job learning is not based on single observations, but on prolonged participation at the workplace culminating in judgement by a workplace…

In recognition of the importance of education attainment to individual economic mobility and state workforce development needs, state leaders are advancing policies to support access to pathways into postsecondary education, training and the workforce. Although college and career readiness has long been a priority for policymakers, a growing…

Online learning continues to grow at unprecedented rates. K-12 had more than 275,000 students enrolled in full-time virtual schools in 2011--2012 and over 2 million participating in at least one online course. Despite this growth, there is little research on model formation and model validation for online learning. Two research-based models were…

Purpose: Earlier studies of social capital have focused on its influence on various aspects of business. There is substantial void in the literature on how social capital enables learning culture in organizations. The purpose of this paper is to explore direct and indirect relations between dimensions of social capital and learning culture in the…

This paper explores the design, delivery and evaluation of a new bespoke reflection tool for enhancing informal learning in the workplace via reflection in and on action, as part of an undergraduate reflective practice course component. The rationale underlying the tool is presented first, followed by the results of a mixed-methods study…

The present study aimed at contributing to the science-practice gap regarding the application of evidence-based actions for maximising training effectiveness in corporate practice. Training and development professionals employed at companies from diverse branches of industry and among the best employers in Germany were assessed cross-sectionally…

Purpose: It is vital in today's society that teachers are proactively involved in educational change. Given that proactive motivation is a critical driver of proactivity, this study aims to investigate how teachers' formal and informal workplace-learning experiences were connected with their proactive motivations to implement educational change.…

"Career Pathways: From School to Retirement" brings together leading workforce researchers and practitioners to provide new perspectives on school-to-work and workplace career pathways. This groundbreaking book explains the transformations that have taken place in the workplace over the past several decades and how those transformations…

Purpose: This paper aims to challenge the alleged gender-neutral character of Argyris and Schön's theory of organizational learning (1978). While theories in organizational science seem gender neutral at the surface, a closer analysis reveals they are often based on men's experiences. Design/methodology/approach: This paper uses the method of…

Grounded theory is an inductive enquiry that explains social processes in complex real-world contexts. Research methods are cumulative cyclic processes, not sequential processes. Researchers remain theoretically sensitive and approach data with no preconceived hypotheses or theoretical frameworks. Literature is reviewed as lines of enquiry and…

Survival of organizations nowadays depends on their ability to learn properly and quickly increase their efficiency and their performance and to adapt to the changing environment. Creating an organizational learning culture (OLC) could achieve an increase in the survivability of organizations. This paper examines the OLC questionnaire, the…

Purpose: This study, which consists of two parts, investigates the influence of structure on the learning of individuals in organizational settings. This second paper (Part II) builds on the conceptual paper (Part I) and explores the relationships between three structural dimensions of individual work -- formalization, specialization and…

Cooperative education (co-op) enables students to alternate periods of classroom study with periods of employment related to their academic major. A key educational goal of co-op is for students to integrate classroom learning with workplace learning. The aim of this study was to give voice to and to make sense of how college students who have…

Differences in race, ethnicity, gender, and age have shaped the most diverse workforce in recent years and have also influenced the workplace learning environment. Variability in age created several generations that presented an instructional challenge in the workplace for trainers who have not recognized and understood generational differences.…

Purpose: This paper aims to investigate the business operations of informal clothing manufacturing micro enterprises (CMMEs) and identifies ways to support owners to achieve economic sustainability. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach applying a case study design was used to study the business operations of 13 informal CMME owners…