Working and learning in Britain and Germany: findings of a regional study

This chapter reports on a project conducted within the Economic and Social Research Council's (ESRC's) Learning Society Programme in the United Kingdom (UK). The program examined the ways in which lifelong learning can contribute to the development of knowledge and skills for employment and in other areas of adult life. In initiatives aimed at developing a learning society, the concept of multiskilling plays a key role in relation to learning at work and organisational learning. This chapter presents the results of the project that compared the experiences of training for multiskilling in the UK and Germany. The chapter outlines the background to the study, its theoretical conceptualisation, objectives, methodology and findings, and conclusions drawn from the outcomes of the research. The research compared training systems, skill provision and multiskilling in the engineering, construction and care sectors of both countries. The major objectives were to: contribute to the exploration of a learning society; develop an understanding of the processes by which a learning culture develops; examine the contribution of government initiatives to the further development of vocational education and training (VET) in the UK and compare these with German programs to meet changing skill requirements; evaluate the extent to which the VET systems in both countries were able to meet the need for multiskilled personnel in the three industrial sectors investigated. The volume from which this chapter is taken is indexed at TD/TNC 67.145. The second volume of findings from the ESRC Learning Society Programme is indexed at TD/TNC 67.152.