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Disparities in learning opportunities endure. This paper aims to investigate whether the learning representative schemes in the UK and New Zealand (NZ) may redress disparate opportunities for learning.

An interview study of UK trade unions' educational officers and an interview study of representatives of bodies involved in designing the NZ learning representative scheme are used to consider each scheme's capability to address disparate learning opportunities.

The paper finds that the UK scheme allows trade unions to initiate vocational and non‐vocational learning opportunities locally. Legislative and financial support allows some redress of inequalities in learning opportunities. The NZ scheme was introduced through a tripartite alliance of central organizations, without legislative support, to provide vocational opportunities. This scheme may facilitate learning opportunities at companies where the constituents of the central organizations support the initiative.

The UK scheme is firmly established, while the NZ scheme has only been developed recently. The potential for further developments in the New Zealand scheme must be acknowledged.

Union‐backed learning representative schemes in different countries have been introduced to redress the unequal distribution of learning opportunities that exist at work. However, to date, there has been limited research into the potential for learning representative schemes to promote learning in different organizational contexts. There is a need for further research in this area.

The paper presents findings from the first comparative study of the learning representative schemes in the UK and NZ.

The article explores the growth of EDAP‐style employee led development (ELD) schemes in the 1990s and critically appraises the arguments offered in their support. The dominant claims for ELD sit with equal comfort in the discourse of trade unionists promoting “bargaining for skills”, and managerialists promoting populist notions of the “learning company”. However, the article draws on recent research which suggests that ELD is better understood as a marginal addition to the effort‐reward bargain; a “fringe benefit”, a “way of giving something back” in a period characterised by an intensification of effort, upheaval and uncertainty. Its contribution, therefore, to the emergence of sustainable human resource development is minimal – at least in conventional terms. Through the exposition of two case studies a reformulated argument is offered which seeks to place ELD in a framework of theory and practice which is both more durable and liberating. The article concludes that the ability to make and act upon an informed and rational interpretation of one’s interests, as an individual, or as a member of a collective within the workplace, must surely be premised on the development of an ongoing educational process; a process toward which a reformulated notion of ELD may well contribute.

Organisational learning practice within the public sector is relatively under researched. This paper draws on case study data from a local authority committed to the creation of a “learning organisation” culture; data generated through the evaluation of two programmes implemented as part of this strategic objective. The article contends that tensions between the need to deliver specific improvements in the organisation and the desire to encourage creative innovation led to an uncertainty surrounding the most appropriate model of learning to pursue the broader goal. Both programmes exposed tensions between opportunities for individual growth and traditional values which constrained that growth beyond the individual. The article concludes that for organisational learning in the public sector to be effective it must be collective, processual and above all cognisant of organisational power patterns.

The purpose of this paper is to verify whether higher education increases the likelihood of young Italian workers moving from non‐standard to standard wage contracts.

The authors exploit a data set on labour market flows, produced by the Italian National Statistical Office, by interviewing about 85,000 graduate and non‐graduate individuals aged 15‐29 in transition between five labour market states: standard wage employment; non‐standard wage employment; self‐employment; unemployment; inactivity. From these data, an average six‐year transition matrix was constructed whose coefficients can be interpreted as probabilities of moving from one state to another over time.

As the authors find evidence for the so‐called stepping stone hypothesis (that is, a higher probability of moving to a permanent job for individuals starting from a temporary job), the authors expect graduates to be more likely to pass from non‐standard to standard wage contracts than non‐graduates, because the signalling effect of education is enhanced by the stepping stone effect of non‐standard wage contracts. Nevertheless, the authors find that non‐standard wage contracts of graduates are more likely to be terminated as bad job/worker matches.

This paper adds to the empirical literature on the probability of young workers moving from non‐standard wage contracts to a permanent job. By separating graduates from non‐graduates, it was found that education reduces the likelihood of passing from non‐standard to standard wage contracts. The authors interpret this result as evidence of the changing labour market that makes it more difficult to infer the productivity of graduates as opposed to non‐graduates.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a selection of papers on the subject of graduate training and development, covering current trends and issues.

The paper outlines the special issue which identifies developments in the field of training for graduates, recruitment, their transition to work, and their continuous development.

The papers discuss various ways that generational differences play in competitiveness and success among graduates and it is argued that “Generation Y” possess very different characteristics from their predecessor generations. Companies have become more wise to recruitment, managing the pool of talent with potential positions in mind.

This paper, a part of the special issue, considers recent developments in the field of graduate recruitment and development.

The purpose of this study is to explore employability skills that employers, university lecturers and graduates value to bring to the workplace, when graduates are applying for entry‐level graduate jobs in the field of computer science in Sri Lanka.

A total of three samples were selected for this exploratory study, namely, graduates, employers, and university lecturers. Three self‐administered survey questionnaires were developed targeting the three groups. In addition to descriptive statistics, paired sample t‐test, Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and correlation analysis were used for the data analysis.

The findings suggested that there are differences in the priorities given for employability skills by the four groups – male graduates, female graduates, employers, and university lecturers. Further, the findings suggest that employability skills are influenced by the gender of the graduates. Overall, the findings of the study could be used to assist universities, graduates, employers, and career advisers in applying strategic decisions in managing graduates' careers.

Although a considerable amount of the literature addresses employability skills, much of the information is theoretical in nature and offers policy recommendations and prescriptive advice. Further, a majority of the research studies has primarily examined the experiences of a particular higher educational institute where remedial actions were taken to impart employability skills. The paper presents findings of a survey that investigated and compared employability skills that employers, university lecturers and graduates value to bring to the workplace when graduates are applying for entry‐level graduate jobs.

Explores the impact of the establishment of a learning centre, within an industrial estate, on the development of lifelong learning in the workplace. It draws on data generated as part of an evaluation of a European social fund project to establish information and communication technology (ICT) based learning centres on each of three industrial estates in the East Midlands. The project sought to develop amongst participating companies and their employees a commitment to continuous development and lifelong learning. The purpose of the paper is to focus analysis upon one company (the organisation which housed the learning centre on one of the industrial estates) and to explore the impact of the intervention, first in terms of the organisation itself and second in terms of its wider impact on the industrial estate.

Research into the experience of BSc Psychology students and graduates in the graduate transition was carried out to enquire if ontology is central to educational transformation; if professional work experience is important in the process of becoming; and how graduates experience the transition from student to professional. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In this qualitative longitudinal in-depth interview investigation four one-year work placement students were interviewed twice and five graduates were interviewed at graduation and again two years later. Student transcriptions were analysed thematically and graduate transcriptions received interpretative phenomenological analysis.

Placement students became legitimate participants in professional life. Graduates thought that BSc Psychology should enable a career and were dissatisfied when it did not. Professional psychology dominated career aspiration. Relationships and participation in work communities of practice were highly significant for learning, personal and professional identity and growth.

Ontology may be central to educational transformation in BSc Psychology and is facilitated by integrated work experience. A more vocational focus is also advocated.

The UK Bachelor’s degree in psychology is increasingly concerned with employability however becoming a professional requires acting and being as well as knowledge and skills and Barnett and others have called for higher education to embrace an ontological turn. This is explored in the context of BSc Psychology student experience and reflection on work placements, graduation and early career development.

Establishes a connection between the concepts of “learning organisation” and “human resources development”.

A brief and broad overview of the current state of human research development research.

One conclusion to be reached is that the subject is healthy. Another conclusion is that human resource development research is developing the potential to lead in fundamentally changing the nature of organisation, management and work. A final conclusion is that the concept of human resource development and that of the learning organisation have much in common.

Provides possible links between the concepts of a learning organisation and human resource development.