Encouraging more low-skilled people to take part in training

Citation

(2004), "Encouraging more low-skilled people to take part in training", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 36 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/ict.2004.03736dab.005

Encouraging more low-skilled people to take part in training

Encouraging more low-skilled people to take part in training

Training experts from six European countries are investigating ways of getting unemployed people and workers with few skills more involved in continuing education and training.

“Nouvelles Approches et Motivations pour Apprendre Tout au Long de la Vie”, a project under the European Union Grundtvig programme, brings together training experts from Denmark, Germany, Greece, Spain, France and UK. They are investigating some 40 cases in which people with few or no vocational skills have been successfully encouraged to take part in vocational education and training.

The 40 cases have overcome two main barriers. First, people with fewer skills, who associate learning with negative experiences from school, are often reluctant to put themselves forward for new learning. Secondly, the long-term unemployed and so-called “marginalized” groups are often far removed from training processes.

The aim is to overcome the problem whereby the fewer skills a person has, the less likely he or she is to gain access to continuing training. Research carried out in France, for example, has revealed that some 56 per cent of engineers and 42 per cent of supervisors have access to continuing training, but only 12 per cent of unskilled workers.