Balancing the skills equation

Key issues and challenges for policy and practice

Susan James editor Geoff Hayward editor

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Policy Press

Published:27th Oct '04

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

Balancing the skills equation cover

Governments worldwide assume that national competitiveness can be improved by developing workforce skills. This book critically examines this 'high skills' vision at both policy and practice levels. It challenges an oversimplified policy rhetoric that underestimates the complexity of the processes involved in developing a skilled workforce. The book focuses on key issues relating to the high skills agenda: skills and political economy; different investment strategies for producing skills; qualification systems and learning. A multidisciplinary team of authors from a range of disciplines, including economics, management and education, provides the cross-cutting international and comparative analysis. Editorial comment links their explorations to wider questions of skill formation processes and overarching questions are addressed through in-depth analysis of the roles of higher education, apprenticeship and formal school learning in skill formation.

"... provides an in-depth understanding of many complexities of skills development, which are often over simplified or ignored by policy makers ... the real value of this text is its critical perspective, as well as the range of issues explored that provides a wide spectrum of views on education, learning and training policy." Work, Employment and Society
"This is a very topical work of high policy relevance that represents an important contribution to the analysis of skills supply. It clearly stands out from the competition." John Field, Division of Academic Innovation and Continuing Education, University of Stirling

ISBN: 9781861345752

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

264 pages