In the light of changes the government has launched as part of its welfare to work initiatives, this text explores apprenticeship. The authors set the historical context and discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills for competence.

This book, the first to address issues of reflection in the context of work, is an accessible entry point into the theory and practice of work reflection for students and practitioners. It consists of contributions from a diverse range of international authorities in the areas of management, education, organizational psychology and sociology.
While there has been previous work on reflection in educational settings and reflective practice in the context of the work of individual professionals, none of these deals with the challenges faced by reflection in organizations and in a variety of work groups. A key innovation of this book is its focus on the social collective aspects of reflection--people reflecting together in the workplace.
Crossing the boundaries of different disciplines, this book draws together different views of reflection delivering a secure grounding in academic thinking and working practice. Topical and timely, with international appeal and world-renowned contributors, this well-written text engages both students and practitioners and will be a valuable asset to those in the fields of HRM, organizational behavior and education.

Across the western world, there is a growing awareness of the importance of workplace learning, seen at the level of national and international policy, as well as in the developing practices of employers, training providers and Trades Unions. This key text is the first on workplace learning in a new series published in partnership with the Teaching and Learning Research Programme (TLRP). Authoritative, accessible, and appealing, it presents key findings on work-based learning, bringing together conclusions from five different projects, and investigating a variety of workplace contexts. An extensive practical treatment, the included research has a unique combination of breadth of coverage and depth of understanding which significantly advances the understanding of workplace learning. This exceptional volume, grounded in rich and detailed empirical studies, challenges conventional thinking. It shows how workplace learning can be improved if close attention is paid to the relationship between organizational context, individual worker biographies, and regulatory frameworks. broad perspective on workplace learning as in, for, and through the workplace. A unique and broad-ranging text, Evans, Hodkinson, Rainbird and Unwin bring together social and individual perspectives to give an accessible overview of the key debates and explain the uneven impact of workplace learning policies. Practitioners, policy makers, students and academics with an interest in learning at work will find this an invaluable addition to their bookshelves.

As policy makers increasingly focus on workplace learning as a way of improving organizational performance, the debate about the learning organization has grown. Counterbalancing the often over-optimistic assumptions made about the future of work and learning, this book argues that without a contextualized analysis of the field, our understanding of the learning environment is limited. It reconsiders the true role and nature of workplace learning in context.

Grounded in original research, the book features case studies which illuminate how the workplace environment can provide both barriers to and opportunities for learning. It explores learning in different organizational contexts and different countries, sectors, types of public and private sector organization, and by different occupational groups. This multi-disciplinary approach provides a coherent perspective of the institutional, organizational and pedagogical contexts of workplace learning, and as a result, policy-makers, trainers, trade unionists and educators alike will welcome this groundbreaking text, as it gives the intellectual tools required to understand how learning in the workplace can be improved.

In the light of changes the government has launched as part of its welfare to work initiatives, this text explores apprenticeship. The authors set the historical context and discuss the theoretical and practical aspects of acquiring the necessary knowledge and skills for competence. The Dearing Report has proposed a work related route for some students and this book focuses on a number of academic and professional perspectives on apprenticeship and its revival. The book concludes with a look at the future of apprenticeship.

Contents:
List of Illustrations. Notes on Contributors. Acknowledgements. 1. Comparisons Between an Area of Research in Germany, Great Britain and Italy A. Jobert, C. Marry, L.Tanguy 2. Education, Vocational Training and Employment in Germany C. Marry 3. Thirty Years of the Sociology of Education B. Krais 4. Relationships Between the Educational and Employment Systems M. Frackmann 5. Social Change and the Modernisation of School-to-Work Transitions W. Heinz and U. Nagel 6. The Relationship Between Education and Employment in German Industrial Sociology I. Drexel 7. Labour Market Transitions and Dynamics of Transitions in Germany K. Schomann 8. Institutions and the Market L. Tanguy and H. Rainbird 9. The Transition from School to Work and Its Heirs D. Raffe 10. Labour Market Approaches to the Study of the Relationship Between Education and (Un)employment in the UK D. Ashton 11. Is This a Way of Understanding Education-Work Relations? L. Chisholm 12. The Social Construction of Skill H. Rainbird 13. The Approaches of Economists to the Relationship Between Training and Work D. Marsden 14. Employment, Education and Training in Italy A. Jobert 15. Analysis of Research in the Sociology of Education: 1960-1990 L. Benadusi and P.Botta 16. Youth Employment and Public Action in Italy M. Giovine 17. Connections Between Collective Bargaining, Job Training and Educational Research in Italy S. Meghnagi 18. Industrial Development and Training Policies V. Capecchi 19. Socio-economic Approaches to the Labour Market P. Calzibini. Index.

As policy makers increasingly focus on workplace learning as a way of improving organizational performance, the debate about the learning organization has grown. Counterbalancing the often over-optimistic assumptions made about the future of work and learning, this book argues that without a contextualized analysis of the field, our understanding of the learning environment is limited. It reconsiders the true role and nature of workplace learning in context.

Grounded in original research, the book features case studies which illuminate how the workplace environment can provide both barriers to and opportunities for learning. It explores learning in different organizational contexts and different countries, sectors, types of public and private sector organization, and by different occupational groups. This multi-disciplinary approach provides a coherent perspective of the institutional, organizational and pedagogical contexts of workplace learning, and as a result, policy-makers, trainers, trade unionists and educators alike will welcome this groundbreaking text, as it gives the intellectual tools required to understand how learning in the workplace can be improved.