Increasing Participation in Learning. Symposium 19. [Concurrent Symposium Session at AHRD Annual Conference, 2000.]

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29

Access to Education; Administrators; Adult Education; Adult Learning; Basic Skills; Case Studies; Continuing Education; Education Work Relationship; Enrollment Influences; Environmental Influences; Foreign Countries; Individual Development; Insurance Companies; Labor Force Development; Lifelong Learning; Literature Reviews; Longitudinal Studies; Management Development; On the Job Training; Organizational Climate; Participation; Predictor Variables; Transfer of Training; Work Environment

United Kingdom; United Kingdom (Scotland); United States

This document contains three papers from a symposium on increasing participation in learning that was conducted as part of a conference on human resource development (HRD). "Factors Influencing Employee Participation in Training: An Empirical Investigation" (Reid A. Bates) reports on a mediated model of employee participation in training activities at a highway department. "Personal Development--I'm Not Really Interested!: Perceptions on Barriers to Learning for Mid-Career, Middle Level Managers in the Scottish Life Assurance Industry" (Martin McCracken, Sandra Watson) begins by reviewing the literature on potential barriers to learning for mid-level managers and proceeds to use empirical evidence from a qualitative study of mid-career managers in five Scottish life insurance companies to demonstrate that flatter organizational structures and changes in the traditional psychological contract can affect participation in learning, training, and development activities. "Lifelong Learning and Knowledge Transfer to the Workplace: A Longitudinal Case Study" (Graeme Martin, Judy Pate, Phil Beaumont, Jim McGoldrick) reports on a study of 114 participants in a lifelong learning program sponsored by a major United Kingdom employer, which demonstrated that participation in lifelong learning facilitates transfer of knowledge to the workplace and thus provides support for proponents of investment in lifelong learning and situated learning theorists. The papers contain reference sections. (MN)

2000

ED441107