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Experts Call for New Approach to Workplace Learning

                

• 'Radical new thinking’ required around work-related learning
• Immediate action needed on the ‘biggest challenge of our time’
• Employers urged to resist short-term temptation to cut training budgets

Dublin, 18th February 2009 -- The critical role of workplace and lifelong learning at a time of unprecedented economic change was the subject of a major Seminar in Dublin today, organised jointly by the National College of Ireland (NCI) and the National Centre for Partnership & Performance (NCPP).

Entitled ‘How To Make Learning Work’, the Seminar was addressed by a high-level panel of Irish and international experts and academics, including Professor Knud Illeris, author of How We Learn and The Three Dimensions of Learning, Professor Birgitte Simonsen of the Danish Centre for Youth Research, and Leo Casey, Director of the Centre for Research and Innovation in Learning and Teaching, NCI.

The Seminar, which was attended by more than 130 learning and human-resources professionals, also examined the question of why some people are more successful at learning than others. In addition, the event provided a platform for learners, trainers and employers to share real-life experiences of best-practice responses to the challenge of promoting and providing education and upskilling in Ireland’s workplaces.

Among the key messages arising from today’s Seminar were:

• The critical role of learning to support reskilling in new areas of employment
• The need for more effective ways of engaging young people in learning and in how young people approach learning and working life
• The vital impact that learning has on individual well-being by providing a sense of challenge and purpose to those who find  themselves outside the workforce.

National College of Ireland president Paul Mooney commented:

“There is no doubt that we are facing the biggest challenge of our time. With unemployment figures at a 10-year high, immediate steps must be taken to safeguard our future. For the newly unemployed and those at risk of unemployment, there are clear advantages to participation in learning. The question of why some people are successful learners and others are not is absolutely critical to the future of our economy. To make our National Skills and Workplace Strategies work, we need radical new thinking around work-related learning, especially for the low skilled. We can’t hide our heads in the sand. The scale of the problem is huge, the timeframe is narrow and resources are limited – and we simply cannot afford to get it wrong.”

Lucy Fallon-Byrne, Director, NCPP, said:

“It is a well-established fact that workplace learning is a critical component in building innovative and successful enterprises.  Innovation itself must be a major part of our response to the present economic situation, since only the most innovative companies will survive in the longer term.  Innovation increases in times of crises, so we need to grasp the opportunities presented by the current downturn.  In short, we need to make every effort to support learning in our workplaces and organisations.  Rather than simply slashing training budgets, I am calling on our employers to put their energies instead into working with their employees to develop innovative and creative alternatives in these very challenging times.”

ENDS

To view/download a PDF version of this release, please click HERE

Note to Editors:

National Centre for Partnership & Performance (NCPP)
The NCPP was established by Government in 2001 to promote and facilitate innovation and change in Ireland’s workplaces. In January 2007, the Centre was placed on a statutory footing as part of the National Economic and Social Development Office (NESDO).  Through a combination of research, advocacy and communications activities, the NCPP provides information and guidance on improving productivity and performance through increased levels of employee involvement and engagement to all Irish businesses and organisations.  The NCPP is also responsible for promoting implementation of the Government’s National Workplace Strategy, which aims to bolster Ireland’s competitiveness by developing our workplaces in a manner that will support our transformation to a modern knowledge economy.  In collaboration with Enterprise Ireland, the NCPP also manages the Workplace Innovation Fund, which provides funding support to promote innovative workplace practices in indigenous Irish enterprises.  For more, please see www.ncpp.ie and www.workplacestrategy.ie.

National College of Ireland (NCI)
NCI has been shaping the world of work and business for well over half a century. Evolving with the changing employment landscape, the College has built a reputation for designing programmes that are relevant to the workplace. NCI is committed to advancing knowledge in its specialist areas and offers a range of flexible part time and evening courses in business, human resources, finance, computing and community studies. All courses are accredited and delivered from the College’s state-of-the-art IFSC campus and across a network of 30 regional centres. NCI’s Centre for Research and Innovation in Learning and Teaching is concerned with the investigation and development of new approaches to technology enhanced learning in the workplace and other contexts. For more, please see www.ncirl.ie.

For further information, please contact:

Conor Leeson
Head of Communications
NCPP
TEL: (01) 814 6398     MOB: (086) 211 9511     E: conor@ncpp.ie