Engaging employers in workplace training - lessons from the English Train to Gain programme

摘要

Despite the ambition of an employer-led vocational education and training system, a lack of employer engagement in work-place training continues to be reported in England. There seems to be a mismatch between national policy level expectations of how employers should be engaging in workplace training and the practicalities of employer engagement at the local level. This paper presents findings from insider research on employer engagement in Train to Gain, the recent UK government flag-ship workplace training programme. The study draws on interviews with training providers and government contract managers in one local area to examine the impact of programme structures and funding arrangements on employer engagement and to identify lessons to be learnt. In their interview accounts, training providers identified rigidity and instability in government funding and management system structures as having constrained employer engagement in Train to Gain at the local level. The findings have implications for workplace training policy by suggesting that programmes with stable funding and local flexibility enable more effective employer engagement.