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Edition 3 of Praxis: ‘An appetite for learning: increasing employee demand for skills development’

In ‘An Appetite for Learning’ Ron McQuaid, Colin Lindsay and Steve Johnson explore the policy implications of research undertaken for the UK Commission for Employment and Skills on how to stimulate greater demand for learning amongst employed people and in particular low skilled workers.

It seeks to answer two key questions: what stops people from demanding access to and engaging in learning and what can be done to increase demand?

The authors argue that to effectively engage the UK workforce in lifelong learning we need better quality and integrated information, advice and guidance (IAG) and financial support; flexible provision; and a greater use of peer-based support systems. And all this should be in the context of a (more) stable institutional landscape, and strengthened by actions that clearly demonstrate and communicate the benefits of learning to individuals. Successful adult learning policy in the UK must above all address “generalised cultural attitudes” that can prevent certain groups of people from participating in learning.

This paper aims to start a conversation with our stakeholders about how we can increase the levels of demand among the UK workforce for opportunities to learn and develop.

Download Praxis no.3 here

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  1. asasasasas
    As someone currently writing a lifelong learning strategy for the professional body that employs me, I found the summary of barriers to to skills development to be a useful checklist. I would certainly like to see what comments you get on the paper.
    zoe parker on 11th Feb 2010
  2. Thanks for your message, we also eagerly await responses to the issues raised. When we took a draft of this paper to stakeholders across the UK, we got some very interesting feedback, including innovative examples of engaging people in learning by embedding basic skills learning in 'non-learning' environments (e.g. at the gym); strong feedback on the importance of high quality Information, Advice and Guidance and finding the right way of talking to people about skills development (e.g. through peers, friends or work colleagues). We hope this paper will stimulate debate and bring forward views from a wider audience than we've been able to reach thus far and so inform our work to try to raise individual motivation, confidence and aspiration to invest in their skills.
    Carol Stanfield on 19th Feb 2010

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