Education Training and the New Workplace: Some Introductory Remarks

• Author: Errol Miller
• Pages: 37-43

37CARIBBEAN HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT

The topic ‘Education and the New Workplace’ can be both

straightforward and paradoxical at the same time, depending on the

assumptions made. Clarity, therefore, demands at least some cursory comments

on the range of assumptions that can be made.

First, there seems to be the assumption that at least one, if not the sole or

main, aim of education and training is preparation for the workplace. One is

left in doubt as to whether the contemplated connection between education

and the workplace is mainly for the purpose of gaining entry to the workplace

or doing the work competently or making a living or increasing production

and productivity or comparative advantage or all of the above. What is certain

is that the topic assumes that there is, or ought to be, some connection between

education/training and the workplace – whatever that connection may be.

The point to note is that the relationship between education/training

and the workplace is by no means simple. In many instances, the education

required to obtain entry to a highly competitive workplace is in excess of

what is needed to do the work. The reverse is often the case where the demand

for workers in a particular workplace far exceeds the supply of workers. In

other words, there is no linear or casual relationship between education and

training to gain entry to workplaces and the education and training needed

to do the work. Context is therefore highly important in examining and

discussing any relationship between education/training and the workplace.

Second, there could be the assumption that education/training occurs

prior to the workplace. Put another way, there could be mutual exclusivity

between education/training and the workplace. In which case the delivery of

education and training has no contact with the workplace and conversely the

activities of the workplace do not accommodate education and training. The

‘and’ in the topic appears to open the door of interpretation to include

interactivity between education, training and the workplace.

Education/Training and the New

Workplace: Some Introductory Remarks

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